CA-NEWS Summary

New pope urges Church to return to its Gospel roots

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - In his first public Mass, Pope Francis urged the Catholic Church on Thursday to stick to its Gospel roots and shun modern temptations, warning that it would become just another charitable group if it forgot its true mission. In a heartfelt, simple homily, the Argentinian pope laid out a clear moral path for the 1.2-billion-member Church, which is beset by scandals, intrigue and strife.

Canada eyes "Buy America" relief in Trans-Pacific pact

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Canada is pushing hard in trade talks with the United States and nine other countries for changes to U.S. "Buy America" provisions that have complicated cross-border trade, a top Canadian official said on Friday. "Those provisions don't only have a negative impact on Canada, they have a negative impact on American businesses who are dependent on our integrated supply chains," Canadian Trade Minister Ed Fast said in an interview.

Blasts, clashes kill at least 25 in central Baghdad

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Coordinated blasts killed at least 25 people in the heart of Baghdad on Thursday near the heavily fortified Green Zone, where several Western embassies are located, police and medics said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the explosions, but Sunni Muslim insurgents have been redoubling their efforts to undermine Iraq's Shi'ite-led government and foment inter-communal conflict this year.

France pushes EU to end Syria arms ban

BRUSSELS/PARIS (Reuters) - France will urge other European Union governments at a summit on Thursday to lift an embargo on supplying weapons to the Syrian opposition, President Francois Hollande said, saying Europe could not allow the Syrian people to be massacred. Hollande justified his call to increase European help to the Syrian opposition after a two-year uprising against President Bashar al-Assad by saying that weapons were being delivered to Assad's government, particularly by Russia.

Opposition leader wants to debate Venezuela's Maduro

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's opposition leader challenged acting President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday to "stop lying" and have a debate, adding that he was sorry if he had caused offense during the increasingly bitter run-up to an April 14 election. The death last week of socialist leader Hugo Chavez set the stage for the vote pitting Maduro, his preferred successor, against Henrique Capriles, a 40-year-old centrist state governor.

Israelis, Palestinians pin no peace hopes on Obama trip

SDEROT, Israel/GAZA (Reuters) - Five years ago, a few months after a Palestinian rocket crashed through his kitchen ceiling, Pinhas Amar received a more welcome guest at his southern Israeli home - Barack Obama, then running for president of the United States. Amar holds up a picture he now keeps in a back room - unframed and glued to thin cardboard with crumpled corners - of himself showing the missile damage to Obama. He was impressed by the candidate, he says. The president Obama became: less so.

Iraq war costs U.S. more than $2 trillion: study

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. war in Iraq has cost $1.7 trillion with an additional $490 billion in benefits owed to war veterans, expenses that could grow to more than $6 trillion over the next four decades counting interest, a study released on Thursday said. The war has killed at least 134,000 Iraqi civilians and may have contributed to the deaths of as many as four times that number, according to the Costs of War Project by the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University.

Tunisia's broadened government begins mission to ease unrest

Tunis (Reuters) - Tunisia's new Islamist-led government, broadened to include independents to defuse unrest after the assassination of an opposition leader, began work on Thursday pledging to tackle grave economic woes before elections later this year. The new leadership got a reminder of the volatile discontent it is grappling with when Adel Kehdri, an unemployed 27-year-old man, died on Wednesday after setting himself on fire to protest at economic and social hardships.

Chavez gone, but his jailed opponents languish

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's Hugo Chavez may be dead, but his jailed opponents are still wrestling with his ghost and their relatives see little hope of freedom if the divisive socialist's prot?g? wins the presidential election to succeed him. A judge, a local police chief and a former army general who was once Chavez's defense minister are among a host of opponents who fell foul of the socialist leader hailed as a champion by millions of poor Venezuelans but reviled by foes as a despot.

Serbia, Kosovo close in on deal to end ethnic partition

PRISTINA/BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia and Kosovo said on Thursday they were close to a deal to end the ethnic partition of the former Serbian province with Belgrade coming under increasing pressure from the European Union as it nears a decision on opening membership talks. Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic said the two sides were "never closer" to settling their differences, after separate talks with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in Pristina and Belgrade.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ca-news-summary-000541452.html

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