Aug 5 (Reuters) -
TOP STORIES
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BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT - European leaders faced a chorus of calls for more decisive action to stem an escalating debt crisis on Friday while robust U.S. jobs data brought limited relief to battered world markets.
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AMMAN - Syrian security forces killed nine people at least 14 civilians in attacks on tens of thousands of protesters across the country who marched against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad on the first Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
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TRIPOLI/BENGHAZI, Libya - The government of Muammar Gaddafi denied a rebel report on Friday that a NATO air strike had killed the Libyan leader's powerful son Khamis, commander of one of the government's most loyal and best-equipped units.
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KABUL - At least four Afghans including a policeman were killed when police fired on an angry crowd in Afghanistan's volatile south on Friday, police said, after protesters claimed NATO forces had killed a number of civilians overnight.
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BANGKOK - Yingluck Shinawatra was elected Thailand's first female prime minister on Friday in a parliamentary vote just 11 weeks into a political career crafted from exile by her brother and former premier, Thaksin Shinawatra.
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OSLO - Mass killer Anders Behring Breivik's favourite writer, a right-wing blogger previously known only as "Fjordman", denounced the attacks in a newspaper interview as a wave of funerals took place across Norway on Friday.
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JOHANNESBURG - More than 200,000 South African municipal workers will walk off the job from Aug. 15 in a strike aimed at shutting down services including refuse removal in major cities, their union said on Friday.
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TEHRAN - Iran said it was pumping oil at full capacity after news of a blast on a pipeline in its southwest on Friday caused a jump in global oil prices.
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KHARTOUM - North Sudan has halted an oil shipment from landlocked South Sudan in a dispute over customs fees, it said on Friday, signalling a rise in tensions that could disrupt supplies from one of Africa's largest producers.
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MOGADISHU - At least 10 Somalis, among them refugees, were killed on Friday during a firefight that broke out in Mogadishu when troops and residents looted truckloads of food meant for famine victims, witnesses said.
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NEW DELHI - The illness of Sonia Gandhi, India's most powerful political leader, may have set off a risky succession that could propel her inexperienced son Rahul to government just as the ruling Congress party battles corruption scandals and high inflation. (Created by Sonya Hepinstall)
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