Canada severs relations with Iran

Canada severs relations with Iran

TORONTO

Canada shut its embassy in Tehran on Friday, severed diplomatic relations and ordered Iranian diplomats to leave, accusing the Islamic Republic of being the most significant threat to world peace.

The surprise action reinforces the Conservative government’s close ties with Tehran’s arch foe Israel but also removes some of Washington’s eyes and ears inside the Iranian capital.

It comes as Iran’s talks with world powers over its nuclear program have stalled and Israel is weighing the option of a military strike to prevent it from developing atomic weapons.

Aide: Rep. Jackson returns home

CHICAGO

U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. has returned to his home in Washington after treatment for depression at Mayo Clinic, Jackson’s chief of staff in suburban Chicago said Friday.

Jackson aide Rick Bryant said he’s not sure exactly when the Illinois congressman was discharged, and Mayo Clinic spokesman Chris Gade referred all questions to Jackson’s office.

The congressman went on a secretive medical leave in June, when family members said he collapsed at home. His office said in August that he was being treated at Mayo because of depression, after a transfer from the Sierra Tucson Treatment Center in Arizona.

The clinic in Rochester, Minn., has said Jackson was being treated for Bipolar II, which means he was suffering from periodic episodes of depression and hypomania. Hypomania is a less serious form of mania.

Judge: Ex-governor didn’t break law

SACRAMENTO, Calif.

A Sacramento County superior court judge ruled Friday that former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger didn’t break any laws when he cut the manslaughter sentence for the son of a political ally just hours before leaving office last year.

Judge Lloyd Connelly called Schwarzenegger’s decision to reduce Esteban Nunez’s sentence from 16 years to seven years distasteful and “repugnant to the bulk of the citizenry of this state” but within his executive powers as governor.

15 dead as bombs hit Syrian capital

BEIRUT

Two booby-trapped vehicles exploded within hours of each other Friday in Syria’s once-impregnable capital of Damascus, killing at least five police officers as rebels increasingly target President Bashar Assad’s seat of power.

With the civil war intensifying, the head of the Red Cross warned after meeting with Assad that the situation in the country was “rapidly deteriorating.” Elsewhere in Damascus, shells struck a Palestinian refugee camp, killing 10 people, state media said.

Associated Press