HAVANA — Pope Francis opens his first full day in Cuba on Sunday with what normally would be the culminating highlight of a papal visit: Mass before hundreds of thousands in Havana's evocative Revolution Plaza.

 

PRESIDENTIAL RACE-REPUBLICANS

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump's rivals emerged from the second Republican presidential debate newly confident that the brash billionaire will fade if the nomination fight takes a more substantive turn, and that they can play a role in taking him down without hurting their own White House ambitions. That may be little more than wishful thinking in a race that so far has defied standard political logic. Trump may have had a lackluster performance in Wednesday's debate, but to date he's proved every prediction of his campaign's demise to be premature. Often, he's emerged from such moments with stronger support.

 

CANADA-SYRIA REFUGEES

TORONTO — Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government said Saturday that it will issue thousands more visas to Syrian refugees before the end of this year by accelerating the processing of their applications, as it tries to counter election-year criticism over its handling of the refugee crisis. Canada will bring in 10,000 refugees by Sept. 2016, 15 months ahead of schedule. The government said it will speed the processing of Syrian refugees by no longer requiring them to prove their refugee status through the United Nations refugee agency. Instead, Syrians will be presumed to be refugees by Canadian authorities who vet their applications.

 

OBAMA

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama paid tribute Saturday to black women for their role in helping shape American democracy, calling them "the thinkers and the doers" who made things happen at the height of the civil rights movement half a century ago. Obama said black women did the behind-the-scenes work of strategizing boycotts and organizing marches while others got the credit. He said they have been part of every great movement in American history, and that every American has benefited as a result. By Darlene Superville. AP Photos.

PRESIDENTIAL RACE-DEMOCRATS

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire — Hillary Rodham Clinton attempted to rally thousands of influential New Hampshire Democrats with a fiercely partisan message, as she struggled to regain her footing in the primary contest. In recent weeks, Clinton's message of middle-class prosperity has been overshadowed by interest in her use of a private email account and server while she was secretary of state. In the meantime, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' anti-establishment campaign seems to be resonating with rank-and-file Democrats. Speculation is also growing that Vice President Joe Biden may jump into the race, a possibility that would scramble the primary field and only complicate Clinton's prospects.

 

MYSTERY OF BABY DOE

BOSTON — The father of a 2-year-old girl identified almost three months after her remains were found in a trash bag that washed up on a Boston-area beach says he doesn't believe the toddler's mother caused her death. Joseph Amoroso said in interviews with WHDH-TV and the Boston Herald that Rachelle Bond told him her boyfriend, Michael McCarthy, fatally injured Bella Bond. Amoroso said he believes Rachelle Bond.

 

MEXICO-DRUG LORD ESCAPES

MEXICO CITY — The former head of Mexico's federal prisons and the ex-director of the Altiplano penitentiary that drug capo Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman escaped from are among 13 additional people arrested in the jail break, an official with the federal Prosecutor's Office says.

  

VENEZUELA-CINEMA BOOM

CARACAS, Venezuela —Venezuelan cinema is winning international recognition for the first time in decades as a new wave of directors finds ways to touch on gay issues and criticize society despite increasing government control of the media landscape.

 

BEATLES AUCTION

NEW YORK — A New York auction house says it has sold the first recording contract ever signed by the Beatles for over $90,000. Heritage Auctions says the 1961 contract was for a recording of a rock and roll version of "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean."

 

HARPER LEE-THE REAL ATTICUS

MONROEVILLE, Alabama — Long a hero to millions of readers, Atticus Finch is a conflicted figure these days. Is the fictional lawyer the kind father and noble hero of Harper Lee's first novel "To Kill a Mockingbird," a character so beloved people named their children for him? Or is Finch the hard-core segregationist whose racism is at the heart of Lee's newly released "Go Set a Watchman?"