BAGHDAD (AP) — Officials say a bomb that went off at a Baghdad restaurant has killed four civilians.

By Lawrence Summers (Reuters) - The economics commentariat and no small part of the political debate in recent weeks has been consumed with the controversy surrounding the work of my Harvard colleagues (and friends) Carmen Reinhart and Ken Rogoff (RR). Their work had been widely interpreted as establishing that economic growth was likely to stagnate in a country once its government debt-to-GDP ratio exceeded 90 percent. ...

By Timothy Heritage MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian protestors unfurled a huge banner demanding the release of "political prisoners" on Monday, at the start of a day of protest against President Vladimir Putin intended to revive their flagging opposition movement. The banner, declaring "Freedom for the May 6 prisoners!", rippled over three floors at the top of a high-rise apartment block on Novy Arbat, one of Moscow's busiest streets. It was quickly taken down and one man was arrested. ...

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Billionaire Warren Buffett says he doesn't like owning bonds right now, and he doesn't think average investors should either.

ROME (AP) — Giulio Andreotti, Italy's former seven-time premier and a symbol of post-war Italy, died Monday at his home in Rome, Italian officials said. He was 94.

By Michael Martina BEIJING (Reuters) - China issued veiled criticism of Israel on Monday as its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, began a visit, saying China opposed the use of force and urged restraint and the respect of sovereignty after Israel launched strikes in Syria. Israeli jets devastated Syrian targets near Damascus on Sunday in a heavy overnight air raid that Western and Israeli officials called a new strike on Iranian missiles bound for Lebanon's Hezbollah. ...

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Inspectors from Portugal's bailout creditors are returning to Lisbon to assess whether the government's latest austerity measures merit unblocking a due disbursement of rescue funds.

ZANZIBAR, Tanzania (AP) — A police commander in Tanzania says four Saudi Arabian citizens have been arrested following a bomb attack on a Catholic church.

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — A new group of Tuareg leaders in northern Mali says it wants to hold negotiations with the Malian government.

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — The US Navy says envoys from 41 nations have gathered in Bahrain to begin anti-mine drills in the Persian Gulf amid efforts by Iran to expand its naval presence there.

ROME (AP) — Italy's highest court has denied a defense motion to move Silvio Berlusconi's sex-for-hire trial and tax fraud appeal away from Milan.

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's top appeals court on Monday rejected a request by former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi to move two trials he faces out of Milan where, he has maintained, he cannot get a fair trial. Berlusconi's lawyers argued that prosecutors and judges at the Milan court have "persecuted" the center-right leader for his conservative politics. The 76-year-old media magnate is not a member of the current government, but his party is one of the main supporters of Enrico Letta's broad right-left coalition. ...

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Investor Warren Buffett says he expects Berkshire Hathaway to own a stake in ketchup-maker H.J. Heinz Co. forever, and he doesn't see a problem in taking a partner — the Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital — in the $23.3 billion deal.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Aerosmith canceled a show in Indonesia after authorities there said they had foiled a bomb plot targeting the Myanmar Embassy.

BRUSSELS (AP) — A Belgian university says that biochemist Christian de Duve, who won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 1974, has died in an act of euthanasia. He was 95.

By Tova Cohen TEL AVIV (Reuters) - The Central African Republic could face a ban on exports of its diamonds if the Kimberley Process (KP) initiative, set up to stem the flow of conflict diamonds, approves a suspension at a meeting on May 10, the head of the process said on Monday. Controls there have collapsed after a March coup, Welile Nhlapo, KP chairman told reporters at a meeting of the World Diamond Council in Tel Aviv. ...

MILAN (AP) — European stocks edged lower on Monday as the momentum from an unexpectedly strong U.S. jobs report last week faded.

By Dan Williams JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A senior Israeli official accused Google on Monday of setting back Middle East peace hopes by putting the name "Palestine" under the banner of its search page for the Palestinian territories. (www.google.ps) Palestinians hailed Google's move as a virtual victory on the long path to the state they seek in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, which Israel seized in the 1967 war. ...

MOSCOW (AP) — Moscow police say a man helping construct the stage for a major protest rally has died after a column of sound equipment collapsed.

By Ruma Paul DHAKA (Reuters) - At least seven people were killed on Monday in clashes in Bangladesh between police and hardline Islamists demanding reforms that critics say would amount to the "Talibanisation" of a country that maintains secularism as state policy. Clashes began on Sunday after about 200,000 Islamist supporters marched in Dhaka to press their demands and were met by lines of police firing teargas and rubber bullets. ...