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WASHINGTON - U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday backed a key Palestinian demand on the borders of a future state with Israel as part of his vision for a Middle East peace deal and sought to shape political change convulsing the region.
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NEW YORK/WASHINGTON - Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn will leave jail on bail on Friday under the shadow of sexual assault charges as another French official, Christine Lagarde, builds support to succeed him.
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WASHINGTON/TRIPOLI - Muammar Gaddafi will inevitably leave power, U.S. President Barack Obama said, as NATO intensified its weeks-long bombing of government targets and said on Friday it had sunk eight Libyan warships.
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BOQAYA, Lebanon - Syria deployed tanks in a border village on Thursday, witnesses said, ignoring growing pressure from Washington which called on President Bashar al-Assad to stop trying to crush popular unrest or step aside.
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PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Pakistan's Taliban said on Friday it had attacked a U.S. consulate convoy in the volatile northwestern city of Peshawar, the latest in a surge of violence since U.S. forces killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden earlier this month.
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SANAA - Yemen's ruling party held open the possibility that President Ali Abdullah Saleh would sign a deal on Sunday that would soon ease him out of office as Washington heaped pressure on the entrenched leader to transfer power.
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KIRKUK, Iraq - Three bombs targeting Iraqi security forces exploded near government buildings in the centre of Iraq's disputed northern oil city of Kirkuk on Thursday, killing 27 people and injuring scores, health authorities said.
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JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's ANC has taken the most votes in local government elections but big gains by the main opposition DA show voters' anger with corruption in the ruling party and its failure to provide basic services, analysts said on Friday.
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BRUSSELS/BERLIN - Euro zone governments are considering a plan to prevent a Greek default under which private investors would be asked to maintain their exposure to its debt and Athens would receive a new package of EU/IMF aid, euro zone sources said.
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