Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng was to spend his first full day in the United States Sunday after praising Beijing's "restraint and calm" as he sought to draw a line under a month-long tussle that tested China-US ties.

Flood waters ravaged a provincial capital in northern Afghanistan, killing at least 19 people and destroying hundreds of homes, officials said Sunday.

Tropical Storm Alberto churned off South Carolina's coastline Sunday, the first storm of its kind to form in a hurricane season that doesn't officially begin until June 1, forecasters said.

One of the strongest earthquakes to shake northern Italy rattled the region around Bologna early Sunday, a magnitude-6.0 temblor that killed at least four people, toppled buildings and sent residents running into the streets, emergency services and news reports said.

BEIJING (Reuters) - While the blind Chinese rights activist Chen Guangcheng on Sunday enjoyed his first hours in New York after years of jail and detention, relatives and supporters back home remained locked down by security authorities. Chen's escape last month from 19 months of detention in his home village in eastern China and his six-day stay in the U.S. embassy in Beijing exposed embarrassing gaps in the web of security that the ruling Communist Party uses to stifle dissent. ...