CA-NEWS Summary

Disputes over arms for Syria cloud U.S.-Russian peace drive

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Disputes between Russia and the West over arming warring sides in Syria on Tuesday dimmed prospects for peace talks that were also clouded by disarray among President Bashar al-Assad's political foes. As Western nations debate what action, if any, they should take on Syria, Assad's main allies - Russia, Iran and Lebanon's Shi'ite Hezbollah group - have been closing ranks behind him.

Muslims and Buddhists clash in northern Myanmar

YANGON (Reuters) - Muslims and Buddhists clashed in Myanmar's northern city of Lashio on Tuesday, witnesses said, as a wave of sectarian violence reached a mountainous region near China's border. Phone lines were down in the city of about 131,000 people and the extent of the violence was unclear. Witnesses reported several large fires and said a mosque and Buddhist monastery appear to have been torched.

France calls for action against Islamists in southern Libya

NIAMEY (Reuters) - France urged African nations on Tuesday to make a concerted effort to tackle a growing Islamist threat in the deserts of southern Libya. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, speaking on a visit to Niger where suicide bombers attacked a French-run uranium mine last week, said there were signs that Libya's lawless south was becoming a safe haven for Islamist groups in the Sahara.

Italy's voters give boost to fragile coalition, shun Grillo

ROME (Reuters) - Italian voters gave Prime Minister Enrico Letta's fragile coalition government a badly needed boost in local elections, shunning Beppe Grillo's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement three months after its spectacular success in a parliamentary vote. Letta's battered and divided Democratic Party (PD) won control of five of the 16 biggest cities that voted on Sunday and Monday, and is in the lead before run-offs in two weeks' time for the rest, Interior Ministry results showed.

Analysis: France and Britain roll the dice on Syria

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Britain and France claimed victory on Tuesday with an EU decision to let them supply arms to Syrian rebels but it brings many risks and was cast by other diplomats and regional experts as a "miscalculation". Shortly after midnight, after more than 12 hours of negotiation, the EU's 27 member states failed to agree on how to renew their Syrian arms embargo. That means the restrictions expire as of June 1, allowing EU states to export arms if they want, although only Britain and France are inclined to do so.

Drone crashes in southern Somalia, may have been shot down

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A suspected U.S. reconnaissance drone crashed on Tuesday in southern Somalia, where African forces are fighting Islamist al Shabaab insurgents, the rebels and the provincial governor said. Lower Shabelle region governor Abdikadir Mohamed Nur said that al Shabaab militants had shot at the aircraft over the town of Bulamareer for several hours before it crashed.

One killed as street vendors, police clash in Tunisia

Tunis (Reuters) - One person was killed and 20 were hurt on Tuesday in clashes in the Tunisian town of Bizerte between police and street vendors angry at being moved from the downtown, residents and local media said. Hundreds of vendors hurled rocks and petrol bombs at the police, who responded with tear gas, Interior Ministry spokesman Lotfi Hidouri said. They also set fire to the market and burned tires in the road.

Kenyan MPs vote to hike pay, defy president on reforms

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan members of parliament, already among the world's best-paid legislators, voted on Tuesday to increase their salaries in defiance of government plans to cut them as part of public spending reforms. President Uhuru Kenyatta, who won a closely fought March 4 election on an economic growth agenda, has implored lawmakers to accept pay cuts and help rein in public sector salaries to free up cash to create jobs.

Three Lebanese soldiers killed near Syria border

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Gunmen killed three Lebanese soldiers at an army checkpoint in the eastern Bekaa Valley on Tuesday before fleeing towards the Syrian border, Lebanese officials said. It was not clear who carried out the attack, the latest incident in a frontier region which has been increasingly drawn into the violence in neighboring Syria.

Chinese hackers access major weapons systems: Washington Post

WASHINGTON/CANBERRA (Reuters) - Chinese hackers have gained access to designs of more than two dozen major U.S. weapons systems, a U.S. report said on Monday, as Australian media said Chinese hackers had stolen the blueprints for Australia's new spy headquarters. Citing a report prepared for the Defense Department by the Defense Science Board, the Washington Post said the compromised U.S. designs included those for combat aircraft and ships, as well as missile defenses vital for Europe, Asia and the Gulf.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ca-news-summary-000337983.html

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