Moscow

Recovered Faberge eggs on display at Kremlin

Fifteen Czarist-era Faberge eggs were triumphantly unveiled Tuesday in a Kremlin museum, three months after a Russian billionaire purchased the collection as part of a campaign to bring home Russia’s cultural heritage.

The Easter eggs, treasures of intricately worked jewels and precious metals by jeweler Carl Faberge, are the highlight of the “Faberge: Lost and Recovered” exhibit in the Patriarch’s Palace Museum in Moscow’s historic Kremlin.

The items exhibited are part of the 180-piece collection that Viktor Vekselberg, vice president of the oil company TNK-BP, bought from the estate of U.S. publisher Malcolm S. Forbes earlier this year for his Bond of Times cultural foundation.

Bond of Times is tasked with purchasing and bringing home objects of art and culture. Vekselberg is Russia’s third richest man with an estimated $5.9 billion fortune.

Vatican City

Pope celebrates 84th birthday

Pope John Paul II turned 84 Tuesday, beaming as well-wishers sang “Happy Birthday” and thanking God for the “gift of life.”

The frail pontiff insisted on keeping up his regular busy schedule but set aside time for a birthday lunch and cake with his closest aides.

“It will be a regular working day and above all a thanks to God for the gift of life,” said Vatican spokesman Joaquin-Navarro Valls. He reported that the Vatican had been flooded with birthday greetings for John Paul.

In bookstores in Italy and elsewhere, John Paul’s latest literary work “Get Up, Let Us Go” went on sale. It draws on the pope’s years in Krakow, where — as Karol Wojtyla — he served as bishop and then archbishop, but also touches on his years since his election as the first Polish pope in 1978.

Italian publisher Mondadori says it is still negotiating the rights for the English-language edition.

Philippines

Typhoon kills at least 13

A powerful typhoon triggered landslides and capsized a ferry in the Philippines, killing at least 13 people and leaving hundreds homeless, officials said today.

Typhoon Nida, packing winds of 90 mph and gusts of 115 mph, moved away from the northern Philippines after pounding several eastern provinces and rolled toward Japan.

At least eight people were killed and several were reported missing when a ferry overturned late Tuesday in choppy waters off central Camotes islands, coast guard Vice Adm. Arturo Gosingan said. The boat was carrying 168 passengers and crew. Fishing boats rescued some of the passengers.

“We’re hoping only the eight were killed and all the others were saved,” he told The Associated Press by telephone.

Five other people were killed in other typhoon-struck areas, including a man hit by lightning in central Antique island.

Washington, D.C.

Sudan off terror list

The United States on Tuesday removed Sudan from a list of countries considered uncooperative in the war on terrorism.

Secretary of State Colin Powell took the action even as he demanded that Sudanese authorities allow unrestricted humanitarian access to nearly 1 million people uprooted by conflict in Sudan’s western Darfur region.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Sudan remained on the department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism despite its removal from the second terrorism list, designed for countries that are “noncooperative” on terrorism.

Four other countries remain on that list: Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Libya.