TOP STORIES
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ROME/PARIS - Italy's new government has announced far-reaching reforms in response to a European debt crisis that on Thursday pushed borrowing costs for France and Spain sharply higher, and brought tens of thousands of Greeks onto the streets of Athens.
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AMMAN - Russia stood by President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday as Arab and Western countries sought to pile pressure on the Syrian leader to halt a violent crackdown on his opponents.
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VIENNA - Major powers closed ranks on Thursday to increase pressure on Iran to address fears about its atomic ambitions, and the U.N. nuclear chief said it was his duty to ??alert the world" about suspected Iranian efforts to develop atom bombs.
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PITTSBURGH - A 21-year-old man who called President Barack Obama the ??devil" and ??anti-Christ" was charged on Thursday with trying to assassinate the U.S. leader by opening fire on the White House with an assault rifle.
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NEW YORK - New York police prevented protesters from shutting down Wall Street on Thursday, arresting more than 200 people in repeated clashes with an unexpectedly small but spirited Occupy Wall Street rally.
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WASHINGTON - Members of a U.S. Congress deficit-reduction committee considered scaling back their efforts on Thursday amid a Republican split over taxes and mounting doubts of reaching a deal by next week's deadline.
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MEXICO CITY - Mexican presidential hopeful Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is dropping his fiery left-wing rhetoric and instead preaching peace and love to win back voters alienated when he launched massive protests after narrowly losing the 2006 election.
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KUWAIT - Kuwait's emir ordered security forces on Thursday to ??take all measures" to maintain public order after protesters stormed parliament demanding the resignation of the prime minister over alleged corruption.
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ROME - Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti comfortably won a vote of confidence in his new government on Thursday after promising rigour and fairness in painful reforms to dig the country out of a financial crisis that threatens the entire euro zone.
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ATHENS - Greece's new national unity government submits a 2012 austerity budget to parliament on Friday, its first task in meeting the terms of the country's bailout and avoiding bankruptcy.
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NUSA DUA, Indonesia - Tensions between the United States and China threaten to spill over into meetings of Asia-Pacific leaders from Friday, with U.S. President Barack Obama declaring his intention on the eve of the gathering to assert U.S. influence in the region.
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PARIS - France needs to upgrade the protection of vital functions in all its nuclear reactors to avoid a disaster in the event of a natural calamity, the head of its nuclear safety agency said, adding there was no need to close any plants.
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BANGKOK - Opponents of ousted Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra said on Thursday they could take to the streets if the government led by his sister tried to push through an amnesty that would let him return from exile a free man.
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