CA-NEWS Summary

North Korea to cut all channels with South

SEOUL (Reuters) - Reclusive North Korea is to cut the last channel of communications with the South because war could break out at "any moment", it said on Wednesday, days of after warning the United States and South Korea of nuclear attack. The move is the latest in a series of bellicose threats from North Korea in response to new U.N. sanctions imposed after its third nuclear test in February and to "hostile" military drills under way joining the United States and South Korea.

Italy politics still stuck as Bersani to face president

ROME (Reuters) - Italian center-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani was left on Wednesday with only slim hope of forming a government after talks with rival party leaders ended with rejection from Beppe Grillo's 5-Star Movement. Bersani said he would report back to President Giorgio Napolitano on Thursday and called on all parties to "accept their responsibilities" and allow a government to be formed.

Nations close to deal on U.N. arms trade treaty: envoys

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - United Nations members on Wednesday were close to a deal on the first international treaty to regulate the $70 billion global conventional arms trade, though delegates and rights groups said India, Iran or others could still block agreement. Arms control campaigners and human rights advocates say one person dies every minute worldwide as a result of armed violence and a treaty is needed to halt the uncontrolled flow of weapons and ammunition that they argue helps fuel wars, atrocities and rights abuses.

Egypt could hold delayed election in October: Mursi

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi said on Wednesday parliamentary elections could be delayed until October, a postponement which could give his cash-strapped administration breathing space to negotiate an IMF deal. Mursi's original plan was for a four-stage election that would start in late April and put a parliament in place by July.

Britain opens inquest into Berezovsky's unexplained death

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain opens a judicial inquiry into the death of Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky on Thursday to establish how he died in the locked bathroom of his vast mansion near London. Berezovsky, who survived years of intrigue, power struggles and assassination attempts in Russia, was found dead on Saturday in his home in Ascot, a town close to Queen Elizabeth's Windsor Castle.

Sanctions noose makes it harder for Japan's Koreans to help their own

TOKYO (Reuters) - When the now elderly man left Japan on a Soviet ship in 1960 for North Korea, he thought he was headed to the promised land. In reality, he survived 47 years there thanks only to $1 million in support from his half-brother in Japan. The man's Korean-born parents decided to migrate to North Korea when he was a teenager, lured by the promise of free education and healthcare in a country that at the time was richer than South Korea in the wake of the 1950-53 Korean War.

Pockets of resistance still in Central African Republic

BANGUI (Reuters) - Rebel forces and international peacekeepers mopped up pockets of resistance on Wednesday in Central African Republic after a weekend coup but life in the capital was mostly returning to normal after three days of looting. Up to 5,000 rebels swept into the riverside town on Sunday, killing at least 13 South African soldiers in intense fighting and forcing President Francois Bozize to flee in the latest conflict to destabilize the landlocked former French colony.

Brazilian doctor charged with 7 murders, may have killed 300: investigator

BRASILIA (Reuters) - A Brazilian doctor who was charged with killing seven patients to free up beds at a hospital intensive care unit may have been responsible for as many as 300 deaths, according to a Health Ministry investigator. Prosecutors said Dr. Virginia Soares de Souza and her medical team administered muscle relaxing drugs to patients, then reduced their oxygen supply, causing them to die of asphyxia at the Evangelical Hospital in the southern city of Curitiba.

Czech court throws out treason charges against ex-president Klaus

PRAGUE (Reuters) - A Czech court threw out treason charges against former President Vaclav Klaus on Wednesday, clearing the euroskeptic politician of accusations that marred his final days in office and underlined the deep divisions he left in society. Klaus was impeached by the upper house of parliament, the Senate, on March 4, in a dramatic but mostly symbolic vote. It accused him of violating the constitution by refusing to sign European treaties and by granting an amnesty that freed thousands of prisoners and halted dozens of fraud prosecutions.

Syrian opposition opens first embassy, says world lets it down

DOHA (Reuters) - A Syrian opposition bloc recognized by the Arab League as the sole representative for Syria opened its first embassy in Qatar on Wednesday in a diplomatic blow to President Bashar al-Assad. But opposition leader Moaz Alkhatib, who took Syria's seat at an Arab summit in Doha on Tuesday, used the ribbon-cutting ceremony to voice his frustration with world powers for failing to do more to help in the two-year-old struggle to topple Assad.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ca-news-summary-003210935.html

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