Shooter of John Paul II pays respect at tomb
VATICAN CITY – The Turkish gunman who shot and wounded John Paul II in 1981 laid white flowers Saturday on the saint’s tomb in St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican officials said.
The surprise visit by Mehmet Ali Agca, believed to be his first time in the Vatican since the assassination attempt, lasted a few minutes, a Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini, said. As with other flowers left by visitors to the tomb, the blossoms later were removed by basilica workers.
Benedettini said there are no legal matters pending against Agca in the Vatican, and he was free to visit. Agca’s trip came on the 31st anniversary of his meeting with the pope.
John Paul, who forgave his attacker, visited Agca in a Rome prison Dec. 27, 1983, and later intervened to gain Agca’s release in 2000. Agca was extradited to Turkey for the 1979 killing of a Turkish journalist, and he completed a 10-year sentence there in 2010.
When Agca was apprehended after shooting the pontiff in St. Peter’s Square during a public audience, the Turk said he acted alone. Later, he suggested Bulgaria and the Soviet secret services masterminded the attack on the Polish-born pontiff, whose championing of the Polish Solidarity labor movement alarmed Moscow.
An extremist leader surrenders in Somalia
NAIROBI, Kenya – A leader with the Islamic extremist group al-Shabab, who had a $3 million bounty on his head, surrendered in Somalia, a Somali intelligence official said Saturday.
Zakariya Ismail Ahmed Hersi surrendered to Somali police in the Gedo region, said the intelligence officer, who insisted on anonymity.
Despite major setbacks in 2014, al-Shabab remains a threat in Somalia and the East African region. The group has carried out many terror attacks in Somalia and some in neighboring countries including Kenya, whose armies are part of the African Union troops bolstering Somalia’s weak United Nations- backed government.
U.S. mission in Cuba heavy on Havana
HAVANA – A half-century after Washington severed relations with Cuba, the United States’ seven-story mansion looms over Havana’s seaside Malecon boulevard as the largest diplomatic outpost in the country.
Cuban guards stand at close intervals on the street outside, and islanders line up by the thousands each year for a shot at a coveted visa.
The gleaming U.S. Interests Section suddenly is poised to become an even more important presence in Cuba, as the two countries negotiate the first phase of their historic detente – transforming the complex into a full embassy that would reflect the Obama administration’s hopes of new influence on the communist island.
Roberta Jacobson, assistant U.S. secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, will be the highest known U.S. administration official to visit in decades when she comes next month.
The discussions are expected to cover expanding staffing in the two countries’ interests sections and letting diplomats travel outside their respective capitals without having to ask permission.
Associated Press
