In the news

President Barack Obama, who returned to the White House from vacationing in Hawaii, signed legislation authorizing $9.7 billion to aid victims of superstorm Sandy.

Nelson Mandela, 94, former South African president, is making “steady progress” in his recovery from a recent lung infection and surgery to remove gallstones, and “his daily routine is being gradually reestablished,” according to an announcement by President Jacob Zuma’s office.

Ryle Smith, a 6-year-old Missouri boy who followed his dogs, Baxter and Bella, into the woods behind his parents’ home and became lost, was found safe in a ditch with his dogs lying on top of him to keep him warm.

Gerard Depardieu, the French actor who was granted Russian citizenship he had sought to flee taxes imposed on top earners in France, was shown in photographs on the Kremlin’s website dining with President Vladimir Putin and embracing him in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

Clarence Newcomb, 25, a New York man who police say told them he killed his 82-year-old grandmother after they argued over what TV show to watch, was arrested at the home the two shared on Long Island.

Mohammed Magariaf, Libya’s parliament speaker, said he was the subject of an assassination attempt during a visit to Sebha, Libya, telling Egypt’s state-run Middle East News Agency that his hotel came under attack and his personal security exchanged fire with the assailants for three hours.

Mario Roncal, 61, a Woodland Park, N.J., man, pleaded guilty to federal health-care fraud charges, admitting that he schemed from 2004-08 to bilk Medicare by posing as a doctor and treating patients in New Jersey and New York without a license.

David Cameron, Britain’s prime minister, said he wants to remain in his post until 2020, telling the Sunday Telegraph that his “enormous reform agenda” is enough “to keep us all busy” through another term.