CA-NEWS Summary

Venezuelans vote on future of "Chavista" socialism

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelans voted on Sunday on whether to honor Hugo Chavez's dying wish for a longtime loyalist to continue his self-styled socialist revolution or hand power to a young challenger promising business-friendly changes. Acting President Nicolas Maduro led opposition rival Henrique Capriles in most polls heading into the vote, buoyed by Chavez's public blessing before he died from cancer last month.

Defiant North Korea readies mass parade for founder

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea prepared for the annual celebration of its founder's birth on Monday, having rejected talks with South Korea aimed at reducing tensions and reopening a joint industrial park between the two countries. The North has threatened for weeks to attack the United States, South Korea and Japan since new U.N. sanctions were imposed in response to its latest nuclear arms test in February.

Kremlin criticizes U.S. blacklist ahead of Obama adviser visit

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin's spokesman on Sunday called a U.S. law barring Russians from the country over alleged rights abuses unacceptable interference in Russia's affairs, setting a tough tone before a visit by a senior White House adviser. Dmitry Peskov's remarks were the first comment from Putin's office after the U.S. administration named 18 Russians subject to visa bans and asset freezes over the Magnitsky Act legislation passed by Congress late last year.

Canada's Liberals go for youth over experience in Trudeau scion

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's Liberals crowned charismatic rising political star Justin Trudeau as their party leader on Sunday, relying more on hope and a youthful image than on experience and substance to contest seven years of Conservative rule. The 41-year-old son of the swashbuckling former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Justin won a convincing 80 percent of the votes cast by party supporters over the five remaining candidates.

Exclusive: Lion Air crash pilot felt jet "dragged" from sky

PARIS (Reuters) - The pilot whose Indonesian jet slumped into the sea while trying to land in Bali has described how he felt it "dragged" down by wind while he struggled to regain control, a person familiar with the matter said. All 108 passengers and crew miraculously survived when the Boeing 737 passenger jet, operated by Indonesian budget carrier Lion Air, undershot the tourist island's main airport runway and belly-flopped in water on Saturday.

Al Qaeda adds urgency to search for Syrian peace

AMMAN (Reuters) - International powers will search for a peaceful settlement to Syria's civil war with fresh urgency at an Istanbul meeting after a rebel faction aligned itself with al Qaeda, diplomats and opposition sources said on Sunday. Saturday's meeting of 11 countries from the Friends of Syria alliance will come after the al-Nusra Front, among the strongest formations seeking to topple President Bashar al-Assad, pledged allegiance to al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri on April 10.

Egypt to try Brotherhood members accused of torture

CAIRO (Reuters) - Two Muslim Brotherhood members in northern Egypt have been ordered to stand trial on charges of detaining and torturing students during a protest against the president the group propelled to power. The charges are a rare acknowledgement of the alleged role that some of the president's supporters have had in attacks on his opponents.

Chad says troops unsuited to guerrilla war, quitting Mali

DAKAR (Reuters) - Chad will withdraw its troops from Mali where they risk being bogged down in guerrilla war after helping to drive Islamists from northern towns, President Idriss Deby said in comments broadcast on Sunday. His words came days after a suicide bomber killed three Chadian troops in the northern town of Kidal, demonstrating how al Qaeda-linked Islamists are still able to strike in the heavily-defended towns they once controlled.

Iraq election candidates killed before local vote

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Two Iraqi Sunni Muslim candidates were killed less than a week before local elections that will be a test of the country's political stability after U.S. troops left more than a year ago. The election on Saturday to select provincial council members will measure Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's political muscle against Shi'ite and Sunni rivals before the parliamentary election in 2014.

Palestinian PM's resignation complicates U.S. plan

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian officials and the United States voiced optimism on Sunday that the resignation of U.S.-backed Prime Minister Salam Fayyad would not hinder Washington's planned development initiative for the West Bank. Fayyad quit on Saturday after months of tension with President Mahmoud Abbas, leaving the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, in confusion just as the United States tries to revive peace talks with the Jewish state.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ca-news-summary-000105018.html

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