TOP STORIES
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TRIPOLI - Italy said on Friday Muammar Gaddafi has very likely left the Libyan capital and probably been wounded by NATO air strikes, a report that Tripoli immediately dismissed as "nonsense".
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CHARSADDA, Pakistan - Suicide bombers attacked a Pakistani paramilitary academy on Friday, killing 80 people in revenge for the death of Osama bin Laden, as Pakistani anger over the U.S. raid to get the al Qaeda leader showed no sign of abating.
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AMMAN - Syria said on Friday it would hold a "national dialogue" after two months of protests against President Bashar al-Assad and a military crackdown which has killed hundreds of people.
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SANAA - Huge crowds in Sanaa and other Yemeni cities demanded on Friday that President Ali Abdullah Saleh leave after months of unrest that has brought the Arab world's poorest country close to economic meltdown.
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CAIRO - Egypt's anti-graft agency said on Friday it had ordered former President Hosni Mubarak and his wife detained as part of a probe into charges they used their influence to amass wealth unlawfully.
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AMMAN - Rich Gulf Arab dynasties have reacted to upheaval in the Arab world by inviting fellow monarchies Jordan and Morocco to join their club as they seek ways to combat domestic unrest and a perceived Iranian threat.
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TUNIS - Renewed street protests in the Tunisian capital have put pressure on authorities to hold elections in two months' time even if this could risk more instability in the long run.
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WASHINGTON - U.S. inflation raced to a 2-1/2 year high in April as food and gasoline prices rose, but there was little sign of a broader pick-up in consumer prices that would trouble the Federal Reserve.
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TOKYO - Japan on Friday announced a plan to help Tokyo Electric Power compensate victims of the crisis at its tsunami-crippled nuclear plant without going broke while it struggles to resolve the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.
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KOLKATA - India's beleaguered ruling coalition has managed to avoid a major voter backlash over a series of embarrassing corruption scandals, winning three of five regional polls and overturning two communist state governments, results showed on Friday.
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ZURICH - Switzerland should reintroduce border controls to limit immigration and possibly even pull out of the Schengen treaty that allows free movement in Europe, the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP) said.
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DUBLIN - It will take Britain's Queen Elizabeth less than an hour to fly to Ireland for a state visit next week but it has taken close to a century to deal with the historical and political baggage surrounding such a trip.
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WASHINGTON - U.S. Representative Ron Paul, who has been called the intellectual godfather of the Tea Party, said on Friday that the "time is right" for him to try once more to seize the Republican nomination for president.
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