Millions of early risers in Asia turned their attention skyward to view a rare "ring of fire" eclipse as it crossed their skies Monday morning.

President Barack Obama and NATO allies declared Sunday that the end of the long and unpopular Afghanistan war is in sight even as they struggled to hold their fighting force together in the face of dwindling patience and shaky unity.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Baton-swinging police clashed with anti-war protesters marching on the NATO summit in Chicago on Sunday and a lawyers' group representing the demonstrators said at least 12 people were injured, some with head wounds from police batons. More than 60 people were arrested in a melee at the end of a march attended by at least 3,000 people, according to Sarah Gelsomino of the National Lawyers Guild, which represented protesters and attended demonstrations. Chicago police did not immediately provide figures on the number of arrests or injures. By dusk the streets had calmed down. ...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Baton-swinging police clashed with anti-war protesters marching on the NATO summit in Chicago on Sunday and a lawyers' group representing the demonstrators said at least 12 people were injured, some with head wounds from police batons. More than 60 people were arrested in a melee at the end of a march attended by at least 3,000 people, according to Sarah Gelsomino of the National Lawyers Guild, which represented protesters and attended demonstrations. Chicago police did not immediately provide figures on the number of arrests or injures. By dusk the streets had calmed down. ...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Baton-swinging police clashed with anti-war protesters marching on the NATO summit in Chicago on Sunday and a lawyers' group representing the demonstrators said at least 12 people were injured, some with head wounds from police batons. More than 60 people were arrested in a melee at the end of a march attended by at least 3,000 people, according to Sarah Gelsomino of the National Lawyers Guild, which represented protesters and attended demonstrations. Chicago police did not immediately provide figures on the number of arrests or injures. By dusk the streets had calmed down. ...

TOKYO (Reuters) - Markets recovered some ground on Monday after heavy losses last week, but investors remained wary about the euro zone despite world leaders calling for Greece to stay in the monetary union and for Europe to balance austerity with growth. G8 leaders meeting at the weekend vowed to take all necessary steps to combat financial turmoil and revitalize a global economy increasingly threatened by Europe's debt crisis, but they offered no specific prescription for debt-crippled Greece which holds fresh elections next month. ...

Millions of Asians watched as a rare "ring of fire" eclipse crossed their skies early Monday.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - NATO will hand over the lead role in combat operations to Afghan forces across the country by mid-2013, alliance leaders said on Sunday as they charted a path out of a war that has lost public support and strained budgets in Western nations. A NATO summit in Chicago on Monday will formally endorse a U.S.-backed strategy for a gradual exit from Afghanistan, a move aimed at holding together an allied force scrambling to cope with France's decision to withdraw its troops early. ...

A magnitude-6.0 earthquake shook several small towns in northeast Italy, killing four people, knocking down a clock tower and other centuries-old buildings and causing millions in losses to the region known for making Parmesan cheese.

Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia are backing Montana in its fight to prevent the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision from being used to strike down state laws restricting corporate campaign spending.

Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia are backing Montana in its fight to prevent the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision from being used to strike down state laws restricting corporate campaign spending.

Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia are backing Montana in its fight to prevent the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision from being used to strike down state laws restricting corporate campaign spending.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc is nearing a deal on Sunday to sell part of its stake in Alibaba Group back to the Chinese company for $7.1 billion, according to a source familiar with the matter. Under the agreement expected to be announced as soon as Sunday night, Yahoo will sell half of its 40 percent stake in Alibaba in a taxable transaction, the source said. Yahoo plans to use part of the proceeds for a share buyback, the source said, asking not to be named because the matter is not public. Representatives of Yahoo and Alibaba did not have immediate comment. ...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's deputy foreign minister said on Sunday that military action against Iran over its nuclear program was being considered in some Western countries. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was speaking to reporters on a plane on his way back from the G8 summit in Camp David, where the G8 leaders signaled their readiness to tap into emergency oil stockpiles quickly this summer if tougher new sanctions on Iran threatened to strain supplies. ...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Newly issued shares in Facebook Inc may have a hard time in the coming week if lead underwriter Morgan Stanley stops supporting the stock and managers lower down in the IPO book who were hoping for an early surge decide to get out before going underwater. Facebook on Friday sold 421 million shares of stock in a deal that valued the company at more than $100 billion. But investors, expecting a first-day pop in price, instead saw it close just 0.6 percent above the IPO price at $38.23. ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Restore Our Future, an outside "Super PAC" backing Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, raised $3.9 million in April, less than half the haul it collected in March, the group's financial disclosures showed on Sunday. But the "super" political action committee still emerged with $8.2 million in cash on hand at the end of last month - more than it did in March - after spending $2.9 million, according to the filing with the Federal Election Commission. In March, the deep-pocketed Super PAC brought in $8.7 million and had $6.5 million left in cash on hand. ...

Gunmen fired rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns early Monday in intense street battles in the Lebanese capital, wounding six people as fears mounted that the conflict in neighboring Syria was bleeding across the border.

On paper at least, European leaders agree: They need stronger growth measures to help their economies expand out of their 2½-year-old government debt crisis. Figuring out exactly what those new steps might be will be the hard part.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - NATO leaders charting a path out of Afghanistan sought on Sunday to dispel fears of a rush for the exits in the unpopular war even as France's new president vowed to stick by his pledge to withdraw French troops by year's end. President Barack Obama, who once called the Afghan conflict a "war of necessity" but is now looking for an orderly way out, hosted the NATO summit in his home town, Chicago, a day after major industrialized nations tackled a European debt crisis that threatens the global economy. ...

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Opposition leader Tomislav Nikolic, last in power when Slobodan Milosevic's Serbia was bombed by NATO in 1999, was elected president on Sunday and pledged to keep the former Yugoslav republic moving towards the European Union. In a major upset, rightist Nikolic narrowly defeated liberal leader Boris Tadic, ending his eight years as head of state in a tense run-off election in which fewer than half of Serbia's eligible voters turned out. "There is divine justice," Nikolic told jubilant supporters in the capital, Belgrade. ...

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Opposition leader Tomislav Nikolic, last in power when Slobodan Milosevic's Serbia was bombed by NATO in 1999, was elected president on Sunday and pledged to keep the former Yugoslav republic moving towards the European Union. In a major upset, rightist Nikolic narrowly defeated liberal leader Boris Tadic, ending his eight years as head of state in a tense run-off election in which fewer than half of Serbia's eligible voters turned out. "There is divine justice," Nikolic told jubilant supporters in the capital, Belgrade. ...

(Reuters) - A transgender Canadian beauty contestant who was initially disqualified from taking part in the Miss Universe Canada pageant because she was not a "naturally born female" failed to win the crown but was awarded the title of Miss Congeniality. Jenna Talackova, a tall blonde who underwent gender-reassignment surgery at age 19 and holds legal documents affirming her identity as a woman, made it into the top 12 in the Miss Universe Canada pageant on Saturday night in Toronto. She shared the title of Miss Congeniality with three other women voted on by their fellow contestants. ...

SANT' AGOSTINO, Italy (Reuters) - A strong earthquake in northern Italy killed at least six people, injured dozens and damaged historic buildings including a famed mediaeval castle early on Sunday, waking terrified citizens and sending thousands running into the streets. The quake, which the U.S. Geological Survey recorded at magnitude 6.0, struck at 4:04 a.m. (0204 GMT) and was followed by a series of jolting aftershocks. At least two of them reached magnitude 5.1, sowing fresh panic, further damaging already weakened buildings and causing more structures to collapse. ...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The chief executives of Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd are used to running the show at their global tech empires, but they will be in for a different experience when they arrive at a San Francisco federal courthouse on Monday. Apple's Tim Cook and Samsung's Choi Gee-sung, whose companies are embroiled in bitter patent litigation, have been instructed by a federal judge to appear for court-supervised mediation. A joint court filing in April said that "as directed by the Court, Apple and Samsung are both willing to participate" in the discussions. ...

Nationalist candidate Tomislav Nikolic won the Serbian presidency on Sunday, a result that adds to the political turmoil in the Balkan country and could slow down its attempts to join the European Union.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Thousands of protesters carried their anti-war message to world leaders at a NATO summit on a steamy Sunday, in a mostly peaceful march led by a group of Iraq War veterans who symbolically gave back their military medals. During the march, a group of black-clad demonstrators darted toward police lines along the route, and some threw water bottles at officers who pushed back and yelled at them to move along, but there were no major incidents. ...