Vatican City
Pope plans to visit Egypt next month
Pope Francis will visit Egypt on April 28 and 29, reflecting improved Vatican-Muslim dialogue after years of tension that developed during the papacy of Benedict XVI. In Egypt, presidential spokesman Alaa Youssef said the visit to the majority Muslim nation comes in response to an invitation from President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who met Francis when he visited the Vatican in late 2014. The pope also was invited by Catholic bishops in Egypt, Coptic Orthodox church leader Pope Tawadros II, and the grand imam of the Al-Azhar mosque, Sheik Ahmed el-Tayyib. In May 2016, the imam came to the Vatican, where the pope embraced him. (AP)
Iran
Late president’s daughter gets jail
TEHRAN — The outspoken daughter of Iran’s late President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has been sentenced to six months in prison for ‘‘spreading lies against the judiciary,’’ a semiofficial news agency reported Saturday, as the country prepares for a May presidential election. Hard-liners have been cracking down on reformists before the vote. Hashemi protested with others over Iran’s disputed 2009 presidential election. She served six months in 2011 on charges of propagandizing against the ruling system. She received a six-month suspended prison sentence in 2014 on charges of slandering top officials. (AP)
Russia
Space official found dead in prison cell
MOSCOW — A top official of Russia’s space agency has been found dead in a prison where he was being held on charges of embezzlement. Russia’s Investigative Committee told the state news agency RIA Novosti that the 11 other people in Vladimir Evdokimov’s cell were being questioned. Investigators found two stab wounds on his body, but it has not been determined whether they were self-inflicted. Evdokimov, 56, was the executive director for quality control at the space agency. He was jailed on charges of embezzling $3.1 million from the MiG aerospace company. (AP)
Israel
Airstrikes in Gaza follow rocket attack
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military carried out airstrikes against two Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, in response to a projectile fired from Gaza into southern Israel. No injuries were reported on either side. The military says it carried out the airstrikes early Saturday after the projectile landed in an open field. No militant group has claimed responsibility for the firing. Gaza is ruled by the Islamist militant Hamas group. Since a war between Israel and Gaza militants in 2014, a cease-fire has largely held. But militants in Gaza occasionally fire rockets at Israel. (AP)
