May 6 (Reuters) - TOP STORIES
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JERUSALEM - Israel sought to persuade Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday that its recent air strikes around Damascus did not aim to weaken him in the face of a more than two-year-old rebellion.
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KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak may have to step down by the end of the year, ruling party sources said on Monday, after his coalition extended its 56-year rule but recorded its worst-ever election performance.
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LAHORE, Pakistan - After 14 years out of power, Nawaz Sharif is a man in a hurry.
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CARACAS - Venezuela brushed off criticism from U.S. President Barack Obama on Sunday and maintained its accusation that an American detainee in Caracas is a spy pretending to be a filmmaker.
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LONDON - Business growth flagged in China, recession dragged on euro zone companies, and even U.S. corporate growth slowed in April, according to surveys that bucked a stronger trend in U.S. jobs data.
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ROME - Giulio Andreotti, seven times Italian prime minister and one of the country's most prominent post-war figures, has died at the age of 94, family sources said on Monday.
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NEW DELHI - After riding high since launching economic reforms in September, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's minority coalition has been brought to a new low, with key ministers entangled in corruption investigations and Singh facing calls to quit.
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SEATTLE - A U.S. soldier who pleaded guilty to shooting dead five fellow servicemen at a military counseling center in Iraq is set to face court-martial on Monday, where a judge's sentence will hinge greatly upon his finding of premeditation.
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JALALABAD, Afghanistan - A new bout of fighting erupted on Monday in a border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan, the latest indication of a sharp deterioration in relations between the important U.S. allies.
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MUNICH, Germany - The surviving member of a German neo-Nazi cell went on trial on Monday for a series of racist murders that scandalised Germany and exposed authorities' inability or reluctance to recognise right-wing hate crime.
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WASHINGTON - Healthcare reform should be the signature Democratic achievement of President Barack Obama's presidency.
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SRINAGAR/NEW DELHI, Indian - India and China simultaneously withdrew troops from camps a few meters apart in a Himalayan desert on Sunday, apparently ending a three-week standoff on a freezing plateau where the border is disputed and the Asian giants fought a war 50 years ago. (Reporting By Jon Hemming)
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