CA-NEWS Summary

Syria "likely" to have used chemical weapons, says UK

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said on Thursday it was "very likely" the Syrian government had used chemical weapons, and Turkey announced it was stepping up testing of people fleeing the Syrian civil war for traces. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry expressed gratitude to Russia for its willingness to try to arrange a "Geneva two" conference to negotiate an end to the conflict, in a sign of a thawing of the long diplomatic chill between Washington and Moscow, Syria's strongest ally.

Bangladesh factory fire kills 8; collapse toll tops 900

DHAKA (Reuters) - Eight people were killed when a fire swept through a clothing factory in Bangladesh, police and an industry association official said on Thursday, as the death toll from the collapse of another factory building two weeks ago climbed above 900. The fire, in an industrial district of Dhaka, comes amid global attention on safety standards in Bangladesh's booming garment industry following the catastrophic collapse of Rana Plaza, on the outskirts of the city, in the world's deadliest industrial accident since the Bhopal disaster in India in 1984.

Prosecutor to seek murder charges against accused Ohio kidnapper

CLEVELAND (Reuters) - An Ohio prosecutor said on Thursday he will seek aggravated murder charges, which could carry the death penalty, against a former Cleveland school bus driver accused of kidnapping and raping three women during a decade of captivity in his house. The charges would stem from the forced miscarriages that police say were suffered by one of the women at the hands of Ariel Castro, who is accused of holding them captive at his house in a low-income neighborhood of Cleveland.

Yemen kidnappers free Finnish couple, Austrian

SANAA (Reuters) - Yemeni kidnappers have released a Finnish couple and an Austrian man more than four months after they were seized in the capital Sanaa. The trio were freed on Wednesday night after mediation by authorities in neighboring Oman, who paid a sum of money for their release, a senior Yemini security source told Reuters. Austria and Finland confirmed the release on Thursday.

Cameron says Britain can change EU, dismisses skeptics

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron took on euro-skeptic critics in his own party on Thursday, saying he was able to negotiate a better deal with Brussels and it was wrong to say Britain should leave the European Union. He described as pessimists those who argue Britain should leave the bloc and say there is no prospect of reforming the EU.

Venezuela's Maduro gets firm Brazilian backing, trade

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro got strong backing from regional heavyweight Brazil on Thursday on a tour of South American allies to cement his legitimacy as political heir to the late Hugo Chavez. The clear endorsement from the largest and most influential Latin American nation will strengthen Maduro's grip on power following his contested election in the oil-producing nation last month.

Brazil's big government seen as good for politics, bad for economy

BRASILIA (Reuters) - President Dilma Rousseff added a new minister to her Cabinet on Thursday, further enlarging a federal government whose rapid growth since her leftist party came to power a decade ago has increased Brazil's heavy tax burden. Rousseff, who is seeking re-election next year, swore in Guilherme Afif Domingos to head the newly created Ministry of Micro and Small Businesses, the country's 39th ministry.

Kenya asks U.N. Security Council to end Hague case against president

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Kenya has asked the U.N. Security Council to end International Criminal Court proceedings against President Uhuru Kenyatta and others, but council diplomats who discussed the request on Thursday said the 15-member body could not stop the case. The Security Council is only able to defer International Criminal Court proceedings for one year under article 16 of the Rome Statute, which established the Hague-based court a decade ago. The council would need to adopt a resolution to do that.

U.S. blacklists firms for evading Iran oil sale sanctions

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has blacklisted two companies it says helped Iran evade sanctions on oil sales and slapped penalties on four Tehran-based firms it says helped the Islamic Republic enrich uranium, the latest efforts to pressure Iran's nuclear program. "As long as Iran tries to evade our sanctions, we will continue to expose their deceptive maneuvers," David Cohen, the undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at the Treasury Department said in a news release.

Syria war could push Lebanon, Jordan into slump

BEIRUT (Reuters) - The economic devastation of Syria's war could drive the economies of neighboring Lebanon and Jordan into reverse, Syria's former deputy prime minister said on Thursday. Pointing to the sharp slowdown in Lebanon's economic growth since the start of Syria's conflict in 2011, from 7 percent to barely 2 percent, Abdallah al-Dardari said there was a direct link to the ever-deepening economic collapse in Syria.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ca-news-summary-000638230.html

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