CA-NEWS Summary

Rome protest turns up heat on new PM Letta

ROME (Reuters) - Thousands of people protested in Rome on Saturday against austerity policies and high unemployment, urging new Prime Minister Enrico Letta to focus on creating jobs to help pull the country out of recession. "We hope that this government will finally start listening to us because we are losing our patience," said Enzo Bernardis, who joined the sea of protesters waving red flags and calling for more workers' rights and better contracts.

North Korea fires three short-range missiles

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea fired three short-range missiles from its east coast on Saturday, South Korea's Defence Ministry said, prompting Western powers to urge Pyongyang to exercise restraint. Launches by the North of short-range missiles are not uncommon but, after recent warnings from the communist state of impending nuclear war, such actions raise concerns about the region's security.

Thirteen killed, 10 police kidnapped in Iraq violence

RAMADI, Iraq (Reuters) - Suspected Sunni Muslim militants killed four state-backed Sunni fighters in Iraq on Saturday, security sources said, apparently viewing them as collaborators with the Shi'ite-led government of a nation plagued by sectarian hatred. Sunni-Shi'ite tensions in Iraq have been amplified by the conflict between mostly Sunni rebels and President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite-dominated forces in neighboring Syria.

Enraged by kidnapping, Egyptian police block Gaza border

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian police angered by the kidnapping of seven colleagues by Islamist gunmen kept a crossing into the Gaza Strip closed again on Saturday, stranding hundreds of Palestinian travelers, witnesses said. The protest began on Friday when police strung barbed wire across the Rafah border post and chained up the gates, local residents said, a day after the abductions.

Germany's Merkel visits Pope, urges tougher market controls

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel met Pope Francis on Saturday and, apparently responding to his criticism of a heartless "dictatorship of the economy", called for stronger regulation of financial markets. On Thursday, Francis appealed in a speech for world financial reform, saying the global economic crisis had made life worse for millions in rich and poor countries.

At least four suspected militants killed in Yemen drone strike

ADEN (Reuters) - At least four people were killed and a number of others wounded in a drone strike on a vehicle carrying suspected al Qaeda members in southern Yemen, a local official said on Saturday. The official said the strike took place at dawn on Saturday on a road to the north of Jaar in Abyan Governorate, near Aden. He did not say who was behind the strike, but previous drone strikes have been carried out by the United States.

Israel warns against Russian arms supply to Syria

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel said on Saturday that advanced weapons supplied by Russia to war-torn Syria could end up in the wrong hands and be used against the Jewish state. A Russian shipment of Yakhont anti-ship missiles to Syria was condemned by the United States on Friday and Israel is also alarmed by the prospect of Russia supplying S-300 advanced air defense missile systems to Damascus.

France gets Pentagon backing to buy U.S.-made drones: paper

PARIS (Reuters) - France has received approval from the U.S. Pentagon to buy two Reaper drones for intelligence gathering, and now only needs backing from Congress, Le Monde newspaper said on Saturday. With its current hardware increasingly outdated, France is urgently trying to build up a modern fleet of drones for surveillance operations in countries such as Mali.

Nigeria says 10 rebels killed in northeast, 65 arrested

LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria's military said on Saturday it had killed 10 insurgents and arrested 65 more as part of an offensive meant to wrest back control of parts of its remote northeast from an Islamist group seen as the main security threat to Africa's top oil producer. President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian southerner, had been accused of not taking seriously enough the violence in the largely Muslim north where some fear Islamist insurgents allied to al Qaeda could take over large swathes of territory as they did in Mali before French-led troops ejected them this year.

Supporters and opponents of Ukraine president clash in Kiev

KIEV (Reuters) - Supporters and opponents of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich scuffled as both sides held large rallies in the capital Kiev on Saturday, police and local media said. A dozen young men hurled stones and plastic water bottles at opposition supporters and were then pushed away by police in riot gear, television footage showed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ca-news-summary-003416837.html

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