Aug 19 (Reuters) - AMMAN - Syrian forces shot dead six protesters on Friday despite President Bashar al-Assad's pledge that his military crackdown on dissent was over, as thousands marched across the country spurred on by U.S. and European calls for him to step down.
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DIYARBAKIR, Turkey - Turkish warplanes and artillery pounded Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq for a second night, hours after the rebels mounted attacks on security forces in southeastern Turkey.
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GAZA - Israeli aircraft struck Hamas outposts in Gaza and Palestinians fired rockets into southern Israel on Friday as violence escalated following deadly gun attacks along Israel's porous border with Egypt.
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NEW DELHI - A vast and jubilant crowd cheered as Gandhian activist Anna Hazare walked out of jail in New Delhi on Friday to carry on a hunger strike in public, the latest act in a drama of popular fury over corruption that has put India's government in a bind.
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BEIJING - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Friday said China had ?nothing to worry about" concerning the safety of its vast holdings of Treasury debt, while China's Premier Wen Jiabao gave a ringing endorsement of the resilience of the debt-ridden U.S. economy.
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BEIJING - The world's No. 2 economy will not experience a hard landing, Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping said on Friday.
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BENGHAZI, Libya - An international body said on Friday it would mount an operation, probably by sea, to evacuate thousands of foreigners trapped in Tripoli by rebel advances that have put Muammar Gaddafi's capital under siege.
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JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's ruling African National Congress on Friday charged controversial youth leader Julius Malema with "sowing divisions" in its ranks and bringing the party into disrepute.
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KHYBER, Pakistan - A suspected suicide bomber killed at least 34 people in a mosque during Friday prayers in Pakistan's northwestern tribal region of Khyber on the Afghan border, a top government official said.
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KABUL - Five Taliban attackers laid siege to a British cultural centre in the Afghan capital on Friday, killing at least nine people during an hours-long assault on the 92nd anniversary of Afghanistan's independence from British rule.
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CHICAGO - Republican White House hopeful Rick Perry has at least some supporters in the Democratic stronghold of Chicago -- President Barack Obama's re-election team.
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TOKYO - A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 jolted northeastern Japan off Fukushima prefecture on Friday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, although no damage was reported and a tsunami advisory for the area was lifted after no waves were sighted.
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