CA-NEWS Summary

Kerry to meet China's top leaders to discuss North Korea

BEIJING (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry meets China's top leaders on Saturday in an effort to persuade them to exert pressure on North Korea to scale back its belligerent rhetoric and, eventually, return to nuclear talks. Travelling to Beijing for the first time as secretary of state, Kerry made no secret of his desire to see China take a more activist stance toward North Korea, which in recent weeks has threatened nuclear war against the United States.

Venezuela says it foiled plot to destabilize presidential vote

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's government said on Friday it foiled a plot to destabilize Sunday's presidential election, the latest in a flurry of claims that the opposition has derided as crude attempts to distract voters from the country's problems. Vice President Jorge Arreaza went on national television to announce that security forces had captured two Colombians posing as Venezuelan military officials who were allegedly planning to disrupt this weekend's vote, though he did not say how.

First case of new bird flu strain found outside eastern China

BEIJING (Reuters) - The Chinese capital reported on Saturday its first case of a new strain of bird flu, state news agency Xinhua said, the first time it has been found in a human outside of eastern China. The seven-year-old girl is in a stable condition in a Beijing hospital, the report said.

Three Chadian soldiers killed in Mali suicide bombing

GAO, Mali (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed three Chadian soldiers at a market in the northern Malian town of Kidal on Friday, a Chadian military official and three witnesses said. Chadian and French soldiers have been stationed in the desert town since late January to fight Islamist rebels hiding in the region's mountainous borderlands.

Magnitsky fallout may harm missile progress as U.S. talks to Putin

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Hope that a shift in U.S. missile defense strategy will improve relations with Russia risks being undermined by a fresh flare-up over human rights when President Barack Obama's top security aide visits Moscow on Monday. A change in U.S. plans for an anti-missile shield in Europe has cracked the door open for compromise on an issue that has badly strained relations between the nuclear-armed former Cold War foes.

Sudan's Bashir pledges peace in first South Sudan visit since split

JUBA (Reuters) - Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said on Friday he wanted peace and normal relations with South Sudan in his first visit there since it split off from his country in 2011 after decades of civil war. The neighbors agreed in March to resume pumping oil through pipelines from south to north and ease the tensions which had threatened to reignite the war between them that had killed more than two million people.

Strong earthquake hits western Japan, no tsunami warning

TOKYO (Reuters) - A 6.0 magnitude earthquake hit western Japan early on Saturday, but there were no immediate reports of damage and no tsunami warning was issued, the nation's meteorological agency reported. "Although there may be slight sea-level changes in coastal regions, the earthquake caused no damage to Japan," the agency said on its website.

U.S. tells North Korea new missile launch would be "huge mistake"

SEOUL (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned North Korea on Friday that it would be a "huge mistake" to test launch a medium-range missile and said the United States would never accept the reclusive country as a nuclear power. Addressing reporters after talks with South Korea's president and leaders of the 28,000-strong U.S. military contingent in the country, Kerry also said it was up to China, North Korea's sole major ally, to "put some teeth" into efforts to press Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

Rights row in northern Serbian province sparks protest

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Thousands of supporters of Serbia's ruling parties rallied against the leadership of the country's autonomous Vojvodina province on Friday, against a backdrop of rising political tension over the northern region. An area of flat fertile plains, Vojvodina is the agricultural bread basket of Serbia and home to a large minority of some 300,000 Hungarians. Its level of autonomy has seesawed over the past several decades, and has come under renewed scrutiny since power changed hands in Serbia in mid-2012.

College student charged with double shooting at Virginia campus

(Reuters) - A community college student who graduated from a police department "citizen academy" program last year was charged on Friday with shooting and wounding two women at a shopping mall-based campus in southwestern Virginia, police said. The suspected gunman, Neil Allen MacInnis, 18, is accused of driving to the shopping center on Friday, walking into a satellite campus of the New River Community College inside the mall and opening fire on the two women as bystanders scrambled for cover.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ca-news-summary-012005867.html

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