CA-NEWS Summary

U.S. rejects North Korean demand for nuclear status

SEOUL/GENEVA (Reuters) - North Korea insisted on Tuesday that it be recognized as a nuclear weapons state, a demand the United States promptly dismissed as "neither realistic nor acceptable". After weeks of tension on the Korean peninsula, including North Korean threats of nuclear war, the North has in recent days begun to at least talk about dialogue in response to calls for talks from both the United States and South Korea.

At least 23 killed as Iraqi forces raid Sunni camp

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least 23 people were killed when Iraqi security forces stormed a Sunni Muslim protest camp near Kirkuk on Tuesday, triggering a gun battle between troops and protesters and intensifying the country's sectarian tensions. The clashes were the worst since thousands of Sunni Muslims started staging protests in December to demand an end to perceived marginalization of their sect by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite-led government.

Egypt's Mursi pledges to respect independence of judges

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi has pledged to respect the independence of the judiciary amid an outcry over plans by his Islamist allies to purge thousands of judges. After emergency talks with the Supreme Judicial Council and the prosecutor general on Monday, Mursi's office issued a late-night statement saying the president considered protecting the independence of the judiciary was his constitutional duty.

Canada thwarts "al Qaeda-backed" train plot, Iran denies role

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian police have arrested two men and charged them with plotting to derail a Toronto-area passenger train in an operation that they say was backed by al Qaeda elements in Iran. "Had this plot been carried out, it would have resulted in innocent people being killed or seriously injured," Royal Canadian Mounted Police official James Malizia told reporters on Monday.

Two hurt in Moscow explosion: news agency

MOSCOW (Reuters) - An explosion on a main street in central Moscow injured two people on Tuesday, the Russian news agency Itar-Tass reported, citing an unidentified law enforcement official. The blast occurred in a metal container but the cause was not immediately known, Itar-Tass reported. Moscow police said they were looking into what happened.

Italian president begins talks on new coalition

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's president launched urgent talks that could lead to the naming of a prime minister on Tuesday after two months of post-election stalemate that has weighed on a stagnant economy and alarmed Rome's partners in the euro zone. After an angry and emotional blast on Monday at the very parliament that handed him an unprecedented - and unwanted - second term as head of state at the weekend, 87-year-old Giorgio Napolitano began a rapid round of consultations on Tuesday.

Japan shrine visits, isles dispute stir East Asia tensions

TOKYO (Reuters) - Tensions flared between Japan and its Asian neighbors after a group of Japanese lawmakers visited a shrine seen by China and South Korea as a symbol of Japan's past militarism, and Chinese patrol vessels played cat-and-mouse with a flotilla of Japanese nationalists near disputed islands in the East China Sea. Beijing protested over the voyage by 10 boats carrying about 80 Japanese activists into waters near the islands, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China.

Israel says Syria used chemical arms, probably nerve gas

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Syrian government forces have used chemical weapons - probably nerve gas - in their fight against rebels trying to force out President Bashar al-Assad, the Israeli military's top intelligence analyst said on Tuesday. Brigadier-General Itai Brun made the comments at a Tel Aviv security conference a day after U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on a visit to Israel that U.S. intelligence agencies were still assessing whether such weapons had been employed.

French embassy in Libyan capital hit by car bomb

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - France's embassy in Libya was hit by an apparent car bomb on Tuesday, injuring two French guards and bringing violence to the capital after attacks on foreign missions in the east. It was the first assault on a diplomatic mission in Tripoli, considered safer than the rest of the North African country, since the end of the 2011 war that ousted Muammar Gaddafi, leaving Libya awash with weapons and roaming armed groups.

Security officials face questions over Boston Marathon bombings

BOSTON (Reuters) - Top security officials face a grilling from lawmakers on Tuesday over whether authorities who have charged one man with the Boston Marathon bombings may have overlooked warning signs two years ago flagging the other suspect. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was formally charged with using a weapon of mass destruction and malicious destruction of property resulting in death at a bedside hearing on Monday in his hospital room, where he was recovering from gunshot wounds suffered in shootouts with police.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ca-news-summary-100552537.html

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