CA-NEWS Summary

Rescuers search for survivors of Texas fertilizer plant blast

WEST, Texas (Reuters) - Rescuers searched on Thursday for survivors in the rubble of homes destroyed by a fiery fertilizer plant explosion in a small rural Texas town, as authorities struggled to determine how many people had been killed. Concern and uncertainty gripped the town of West nearly a day after the chemical blast at West Fertilizer Co. injured more than 160 people. The cause of the explosion was not known and officials said no evidence of foul play had been found.

Carney warns of quicker rate hike if household debt not tempered

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney warned on Thursday that interest rates could rise sooner if the growth in household debt, which is related to the housing market, was not tempered. "A concern of the Bank of Canada...has been the pace of growth of household debt, which has been related to dynamics in the housing market. And so a number of measures have been taken to slow that pace," he told a Reuters-sponsored event, noting that the growth rate has fallen "quite nicely" to 3 percent from 13 percent.

Syrian Kurds fear increasing attacks from Assad forces

BERLIN (Reuters) - Bombings of Kurdish areas in Syria suggest that Syrian Kurds, long detached from the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad, are increasingly being targeted by his forces after they struck deals with rebels fighting to topple him, a Kurdish leader said. Saleh Muslim, head of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), said a recent wave of Syrian army attacks may have been prompted by non-aggression pacts reached between Kurds and some moderate factions in the rebel forces.

Rockets strike Israel from Gaza: reports

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Two rockets fired from the Gaza Strip struck inside Israel after nightfall on Thursday, causing no damage or injury, Israeli media reports said. The Ynet and Haaretz news websites said the rockets fell in open areas. The Israeli military was checking the reports. There were no immediate claims of responsibility issued from Gaza.

U.S. looks into possible chemical weapons use in Syria

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence officials are looking into the possibility that chemical weapons may have been used in Syria in a limited form, although there is no consensus yet and additional analysis is required, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday. "More review is needed," the senior U.S. official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

FBI releases photos of two Boston bomb suspects

BOSTON (Reuters) - Investigators released pictures of two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing on Thursday, seeking the public's help in identifying two backpack-toting men photographed on the crowded sidewalk on Monday before bombs exploded near the finish line. The blasts that killed three people and wounded 176 began a week of security scares that rattled the United States and evoked memories of the September 11, 2001 hijacked plane attacks.

EU presses Serbia and Kosovo for historic accord

BELGRADE (Reuters) - The European Union summoned Serbia and Kosovo back to Brussels on Thursday, pressing for an historic accord to settle relations between the Balkan foes and open the door to membership talks with Belgrade. On the table is an agreement to end the ethnic partition of Kosovo five years since it seceded from Serbia, and potentially clear a path to a seat at the United Nations for the last state to emerge from the ashes of federal Yugoslavia.

Italian parliament fails to elect state president in slap to Bersani

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's parliament failed to elect a new state president in the first two votes on Thursday with a center-left rebellion against leader Pier Luigi Bersani torpedoing his official candidate and prolonging a political stalemate. Until the new president is elected, the paralysis hobbling attempts to form a government since February's inconclusive general election will continue, and a chaotic day of voting showed how fractured the political landscape remains.

Rios Montt's lawyers walk out of Guatemala genocide trial

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - A session in the genocide trial of former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt ended abruptly on Thursday, as his lawyers tried to suspend proceedings over a legal technicality and stormed out, leaving him sitting alone in court. Rios Montt, who ruled between 1982-83, was ordered to trial for genocide and crimes against humanity in January to answer for a counterinsurgency plan that killed more than 1,700 members of the Ixil indigenous group during Guatemala's long civil war.

Baghdad suicide bomb blast at Internet cafe kills 27

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A suicide bomber blew himself inside a Baghdad cafe popular with young people using the Internet, killing a least 27 and wounding dozens more in one of the worst single attacks in the Iraqi capital this year. The late evening blast in west Baghdad came just two days before provincial elections that will be a major test of Iraq's political stability more than a year after the last American troops left the country.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ca-news-summary-001243053.html

jermaine jones hbo luck unc asheville stephen jackson marchmadness mike d antoni nba trade rumors