TOP STORIES
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AMMAN - Syrian writers issued a declaration on Monday denouncing a bloody crackdown on protesters, a sign of outrage surging through the intellectual elite as violence has escalated dramatically in recent days.
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Lin Noueihed - NATO forces flattened a building inside Muammar Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziyah compound early on Monday, in what a press official from Gaddafi's government said was an attempt on the Libyan leader's life.
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SANAA - Yemeni protesters demanding President Ali Abdullah Saleh's immediate resignation vowed to step up street protests and voiced suspicions that Saleh's inner circle could frustrate a Gulf plan for him to step down.
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CAIRO - Egypt's public prosecutor ordered on Sunday that ousted President Hosni Mubarak be transferred to a Cairo prison hospital pending a corruption and murder probe after a doctor declared him well enough to travel.
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KANDAHAR - Insurgents tunnelled into the main jail in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province and freed hundreds of prisoners, including many commanders, a provincial government official said on Monday.
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TOKYO - Unpopular Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan is likely to face fresh pressure to quit after his ruling party's poor performance in local elections on Sunday, weakening his clout as he struggles to contain a nuclear crisis and find ways to finance rebuilding from a massive earthquake and tsunami.
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PHANOM DONG RAK, Thailand - Guns were silent along the Thai-Cambodia border on Monday after three days of jungle clashes between rival troops, but hopes for a diplomatic solution faded after the abrupt cancellation of talks with a top regional envoy.
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NABLUS - A Palestinian policeman shot dead an Israeli and wounded four others after they entered a holy site in a West Bank city without permission on Sunday, the Israeli military said.
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MOSUL, Iraq - Thousands of Iraqis rallied in the northern city of Mosul on Sunday in one of the biggest protests yet against any extension of the U.S. military presence in Iraq.
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PESHAWAR, Pakistan - The main supply route for NATO troops in Afghanistan was temporarily closed on Sunday after thousands of people blocked a key highway in Pakistan to protest against U.S. drone strikes, officials said.
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CASABLANCA, Morocco - Thousands took to the streets of Morocco on Sunday in peaceful demonstrations to demand sweeping reforms and an end to political detention, the third day of mass protests since they began in February.
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ROME/PARIS - Italy and France will discuss changing the regulations governing Europe's border-free travel when President Nicolas Sarkozy visits Rome on Tuesday seeking to ease tensions over north African immigration.
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JUBA, Sudan - At least 55 fighters were killed when south Sudan's army clashed with a rebel militia, a state minister said on Sunday, the latest in a wave of violence across the territory ahead of its independence in July.
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MOGADISHU - Somalia's U.N.-backed government said on Sunday it planned to postpone elections to next year, saying it had to tackle insecurity first, further deepening its dispute with parliament.
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