Italy
ROME — An immigrant illegally living in Italy went on a rampage with a pickax in Milan at dawn Saturday, killing a passerby and wounding four others, police said. The attack, which police say was carried out by a Ghanaian immigrant with a criminal record, revived political debate over whether Italy should crack down harder on immigrants or facilitate the path to citizenship.
Iran
New candidates jolt presidential race
TEHRAN — A pair of powerful and divisive figures registered Saturday to run in Iran’s presidential election, jolting the political landscape ahead of next month’s vote to pick a successor to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president, and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a close confident of Ahmadinejad, submitted their paperwork just before the deadline. Each has a good shot at winning , raising a challenge to candidates loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
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Myanmar
Cyclone could hit refugee camps
YANGON — Myanmar’s government warned Saturday that a cyclone now forming in the Bay of Bengal could slam into the country’s western coast next week, raising fears that storm surges or heavy rains could swamp low-lying camps housing tens of thousands of people who fled sectarian violence last year. The storm is currently barreling northwest toward Bangladesh. But its direction could shift and hit Myanmar’s Rakhine state when it makes landfall at midweek, officials said.
France
Deadly virus ruled out in three cases
PARIS — France’s health minister said Saturday that tests on three suspected cases of a deadly new respiratory virus related to SARS are negative — but a fourth needs tests and a fifth suspected case has been discovered. The minister spoke in Lille, where a 65-year-old man who contracted the virus is hospitalized. The Health Ministry has said the patient fell ill after returning from a vacation in Dubai.