CA-NEWS Summary

Turkish protesters clash with police into early hours

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish protesters clashed with riot police into the early hours of Monday with some setting fire to offices of the ruling AK Party as the fiercest anti-government demonstrations in years entered their fourth day. Turkey's streets were calm in the morning after a night of noisy protests and violence in major cities.

Russia says U.S. not putting enough pressure on Syria opposition

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The United States is not putting enough pressure on the Syrian opposition to participate in a peace conference Moscow and Washington are trying to organize, RIA news agency quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Monday. "In our view, the United States is definitely not working hard enough in terms of putting influence on Syrian opposition groups so that (they) will come to the international conference," state-run RIA quoted Ryabkov as saying.

Iran talks "going round in circles:" U.N. nuclear chief

VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear agency chief said on Monday that no progress had been made towards clarifying concerns about Iran's nuclear program, and that talks with Tehran had for some time been "going around in circles". "This is not the right way to address issues of such great importance to the international community, including Iran," Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the IAEA's 35-nation governing board.

Blast by school in Afghan east kills six students, two US soldiers

GARDEZ, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A suicide bomber targeting a U.S. military convoy detonated a motorbike packed with explosives outside a boys' high school in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, killing at least six students, two U.S. soldiers and a policeman, officials said. About 20 people were wounded in the attack near the office of the governor of Paktia province. Most were schoolchildren, but they also included five U.S. soldiers, local officials said.

No neckties: China-U.S. summit will be casual but not relaxed

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Meetings between leaders of the United States and China have mostly been dour, orchestrated affairs conducted by teams of men in dark suits. But China's new President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Barack Obama are shedding the script and neckties for their first summit, an informal get-together this week in the California desert. Since President Richard Nixon's visit to Beijing in 1972, which broke decades of estrangement between the two countries, the summits have been carefully plotted rituals. One exception has been a visit by President Jiang Zemin to George W. Bush's ranch in Texas in 2002, but it was only for a few hours.

Czech floods force 2,700 from homes, threaten central Prague

PRAGUE (Reuters) - The worst floods to hit the Czech Republic in a decade forced the evacuation of almost 2,700 people from low-lying areas while the rising water threatened Prague's historic center, forced school closures and disrupted public transport. Czech police said at least five people had died in the flooding. Firefighters evacuated homes in western regions and in villages outside the capital on Sunday and Monday, rescuing 200 people.

Taiwan says former president Chen tried to kill himself

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Former Taiwan president Chen Shui-bian tried to kill himself in a prison bathroom with a towel but was discovered by wardens in time, the island's Justice Ministry said on Monday. Chen, serving a 20-year term for corruption charges he claims were politically motivated because of his strong anti-China stance, attempted suicide at his jail in the central city of Taichung on Sunday night, the ministry said in a statement.

Britain considers talks with Ecuador over Assange

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is considering holding talks with Ecuador over the future of Julian Assange, the Foreign Office said on Monday, in the first sign of a possible solution to the year-long diplomatic standoff over the Wikileaks founder. Assange, 41, took refuge in Ecuador's tiny embassy in London last June to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over sex assault and rape allegations. He denies the allegations.

UK's Labor vows iron discipline on budget, spells out some cuts

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's opposition Labor party will seek to convince skeptical voters it is fit to run the economy by promising "iron discipline" on spending and pledging some cuts to welfare benefits if it wins the 2015 election. Would-be finance minister, Ed Balls, will say on Monday that winter fuel subsidies for the richest pensioners will be scrapped if Labor wins power, a small saving but a sign that the party is determined to show it can cut social spending.

Venezuela's Capriles says Maduro government will fall

SAN FRANCISCO DE YARE, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles says President Nicolas Maduro's government will "cave in" under the pressure of growing economic troubles, in-fighting and a belief by many Venezuelans that it stole the April election. Capriles is still disputing the election, which he lost to Maduro by a narrower-than-expected 1.5 percentage points. But if, as expected, the fraud claims get nowhere in Venezuela's courts, Capriles says other forces may sink the successor to the late socialist leader Hugo Chavez.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ca-news-summary-051916450.html

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