Bombing at chapel kills 25 in CairoCAIRO — A bombing at a chapel adjacent to Egypt’s main Coptic Christian cathedral killed 25 people and wounded another 49 during Sunday Mass, in one of the deadliest attacks carried out against the religious minority in recent memory.The attack came two days after a bomb elsewhere in Cairo killed six policemen, an assault claimed by a shadowy group that authorities say is linked to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. Islamic militants have targeted Christians in the past, including a New Year’s Day bombing at a church in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria in 2011 that killed 21 people.Egypt’s official MENA news agency said an assailant lobbed a bomb into a chapel close to the outer wall of St Mark’s Cathedral, seat of Egypt’s Orthodox Christian church and home to the office of its spiritual leader, Pope Tawadros II, who is visiting Greece.

EU, Cuba accord calls for closer tiesBRUSSELS — The European Union and Cuba signed a first agreement on closer ties today, and vowed that the arrival in office of U.S. president-elect Donald Trump would not impact on their future relations.“This is a historic day, we’ve turned a page. Today we’re starting to write together a new chapter,” said EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini as the 28-nation EU’s top diplomats and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez signed the pact in Brussels.The accord, aimed at supporting economic development and promoting democracy and human rights on the island, will form the legal platform for future ties between Brussels and Havana. The EU’s official stance toward Cuba dates from 1996.Rodriguez said the priority would be to develop the Cuban economy, but he noted “one major obstacle to trade relations between the EU and Cuba” — the U.S. economic and financial blockade.“We’ll have to see how things develop. But we very much hope that relations between the European Union and Cuba will continue to grow and enrich both sides,” he said.

Iran finalizes deal to buy 80 planesTEHRAN, Iran — Iran said Sunday it has finalized a $16.8 billion deal with Boeing to purchase 80 passenger planes, a deal made possible by last year’s landmark nuclear agreement.The state-run IRNA news agency said 50 Boeing 737s and 30 Boeing 777s would be delivered over the next decade, in the biggest agreement to be struck with an American company since the 1979 revolution and U.S. Embassy takeover.Boeing had no immediate comment.In September, Washington granted permission to Boeing and its European competitor Airbus to sell billions of dollars’ worth of aircraft to Iran. The U.S. and other world powers agreed last year to lift crippling sanctions on Iran in exchange for it curbing its nuclear activities.President-elect Donald Trump and several Republican lawmakers have criticized the nuclear deal, but it’s unclear whether they would scrap the agreement, which was reached with Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China.

Banknote will show black womanGATINEAU, Quebec — A black woman often described as Canada’s Rosa Parks for her 1946 decision to sit in a whites-only section of a Nova Scotia movie theater will be the first woman to be celebrated on the face of a Canadian banknote.Finance Minister Bill Morneau said Thursday that Viola Desmond will grace the front of the $10 bill when the next series is circulated in 2018.A businesswoman turned civil libertarian, Desmond built a business as a beautician and mentored young black women in Nova Scotia.It was in 1946 when she rejected racial discrimination by sitting in a whites-only section of a New Glasgow movie theater. She was arrested and fined. Her actions inspired later generations of black people in Nova Scotia and the rest of Canada.