L'Aquila, Italy - In a visit Tuesday to Italy's earthquake-stricken Abruzzo region, Pope Benedict XVI brought words of comfort and appealed for the construction of safer homes and churches. Benedict arrived from Rome by car, with his first stop in the village of Onna, situated near the epicenter of the 6.3-magnitude earthquake that struck on April 6, killing nearly 300 people.

L'Aquila, Italy - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi wants to switch the venue of July's G8 summit to L'Aquila, the Medieval town ravaged by an earthquake, in a gesture of solidarity, it was announced Thursday.

The meeting of heads of government from the world's richest countries is currently planned to take place on La Maddalena, a small island off Sardinia.

L'Aquila, Italy - Almost a week after a devastating earthquake hit central Italy, authorities on Sunday terminated the search for survivors with the death toll standing at 294. A
59-year-old man who died in hospital late Saturday was the latest victim of the earthquake that struck the Abruzzo region on Monday.

By Sunday morning all missing people were accounted for, but officials said they could not exclude the possibility of more being found under rubble in the city of L'Aquila and other badly damaged towns.