Iraq PM Maliki leads Baghdad, the big election prize

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki held a wide lead on Saturday in early results from Baghdad, the major prize in parliamentary elections Iraqis hope will stabilise a nation riven by years of sectarian warfare.

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• Iraq PM takes slender lead over rivals, early results show
• Iraq PM locked in tight poll contest with secular rival

Vatican says bid to link pope to abuse issue failed

The Vatican rallied around Pope Benedict on Saturday, dismissing suggestions he had tried to cover up priestly child abuse in Germany.

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• Pope named in new twist to German pedophile priest furor
• Vatican says wrong to single out Church over abuse

Explosions hit Afghanistan's Kandahar; 27 dead

Twenty-seven people were killed and more than 50 wounded when a series of explosions hit the centre of Afghanistan’s southern city of Kandahar after nightfall on Saturday, a hospital official said.

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Haitian recovery takes root in field of skepticism

By any human standard, the sprawling tent city across from the collapsed National Palace in the Haitian capital remains a living hell. Large families huddle in rickety shacks thrown together with tarps, sticks, twine — whatever can be scavenged.

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• Gallery: Haiti, two months later
• 'My family is here,' says GG as she returns to Haiti
• Gov. Gen. tells Haitians they 'are not alone'
• Port-au-Prince needs 'rethink': Montreal mayor
• Haitians must lead rebuilding of nation: Haiti PM
• Weeks later, Canadian's remains found in Haiti hotel's rubble
• Haiti frees U.S. missionary held over kidnapping

3 freed in Ireland after Swedish cartoonist 'plot' arrests

Three of the seven Muslims arrested over an alleged plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist who drew the Prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog have been released without charge.

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• Mohammed cartoon published again in Sweden
• 7 held in Ireland over Swedish cartoonist 'plot'
• 'Jihad Jane' accused of promoting terror in U.S.