TOP STORIES
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JERUSALEM/AMMAN - Israel played down weekend air strikes reported to have killed dozens of Syrian soldiers close to Damascus, saying they were not aimed at influencing its neighbour's civil war but only at stopping Iranian missiles reaching Lebanese Hezbollah militants.
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WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will "make another stab" at seeing if the United States and Russia can work together to find a political solution to end Syria's civil war when he visits Moscow this week, a senior U.S. official said on Monday.
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MUNICH, Germany - Wearing an elegant trouser-suit and an air of defiance, the suspected surviving member of a German neo-Nazi cell strode into a Munich court on Monday to stand trial for a series of racist murders that scandalised Germany and led to intense soul-searching about the lack of vigilance towards the far right.
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NEW YORK - The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the current strain of bird flu that is causing illness and deaths in China cannot spark a pandemic in its current form - but he added that there is no guarantee it will not mutate and cause a serious pandemic.
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BOSTON - The teenager accused of lying to FBI agents in the Boston Marathon bombing case was freed on $100,000 bail on Monday pending a later trial date, and investigators said bomb fragments suggests they were less sophisticated than homemade ones used by insurgents.
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TACOMA - A U.S. soldier who pleaded guilty in the shooting deaths of five fellow servicemen at a military counseling center in Iraq faced a court-martial on Monday in which a judge's sentence will hinge greatly upon whether he finds premeditation.
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ROME - Giulio Andreotti, who served as Italian prime minister seven times and whose name was synonymous with political survival and cunning in the land that gave the world Machiavelli, died on Monday at the age of 94.
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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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KABUL - Afghanistan warned Pakistan on Monday that it will bear the consequences of more clashes on their contested border, hours after a new bout of fighting erupted between the neighbours.
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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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