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Assad insists he will not quit, car bomb hits Damascus

05/18/2013 20:37 GMT

DAMASCUS, May 18, 2013 (AFP) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad insisted he will not resign before the end of his mandate in 2014 as a car bomb exploded in the capital Damascus on Saturday killing at least three people.

"To resign would be to flee," Assad said in an interview with the Argentine newspaper Clarin when asked if he would consider stepping aside as called for by US Secretary of State John Kerry.

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Pakistani politician gunned down in Karachi

05/19/2013 03:01 GMT

KARACHI, May 19, 2013 (AFP) - Gunmen have killed a Pakistani politician from Imran Khan's party in the southern port city of Karachi on the eve of a partial re-run of May 11 polls that were marked by more than 150 killings.

Zohra Hussain, 59, vice president of the women's wing of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in the province of Sindh, was targeted by three gunmen on a motorcycle outside her home in an upmarket part of the city late Saturday.

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Six dead in C.Africa attack: military

05/18/2013 15:39 GMT

BANGUI, Central African Republic, May 18, 2013 (AFP) - Armed men raided several houses in a town in the northeastern Central African Republic, leaving six people dead, a military official told AFP Saturday.

"The assailants arrived in several cars and fired shots as they entered the town, so residents fled," said the official of the attack in Bouca, 250 kilometres (155 miles) north of the capital Bangui, on Friday.

"Then they headed to the houses and began looting. Six bodies were found after the attack."

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Iraq violence kills 11, police kidnapped

05/18/2013 18:00 GMT

by W.G. Dunlop

BAGHDAD, May 18, 2013 (AFP) - Violence in Iraq killed 11 people on Saturday including a police officer, his wife and two children, while gunmen kidnapped up to 10 people, among them police, officials said.

The attacks are the latest in a wave of violence that has killed more than 270 people since the beginning of May, as tensions simmer between Iraq's Sunni minority and Shiite majority.

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Nigeria imposes curfew in campaign against Islamists

05/18/2013 19:19 GMT

by Aminu ABUBAKAR

KANO, Nigeria, May 18, 2013 (AFP) - Nigeria's military on Saturday imposed a 24-hour curfew in parts of a northeastern city as soldiers pressed on with a campaign against Boko Haram Islamists that has sent people fleeing from their homes.

Nigeria launched the sweeping operation this week, deploying thousands of troops across three states where President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency after the Islamists seized territory and chased out the government.

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Twin bombs kill 9, wound 60 in Afghan south: officials

05/17/2013 18:30 GMT

by Mamoon Durrani

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, May 17, 2013 (AFP) - Two car bombs exploded Friday in a sprawling housing development in southern Afghanistan linked to the family of President Hamid Karzai, killing at least nine people and wounding more than 60.

The twin blasts occurred minutes apart in Aino Mina, an upmarket complex on the outskirts of Kandahar city that was conceived in 2002 and built by investors including President Karzai's businessman brother Mahmoud Karzai.

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Air strikes, dozens dead in Nigeria assault on Islamists

05/17/2013 19:41 GMT

by Aminu ABUBAKAR

KANO, Nigeria, May 17, 2013 (AFP) - Nigeria's military on Friday attacked Boko Haram Islamist strongholds across the northeast, launching air strikes on insurgent camp with dozens of militants killed in the fighting, the military said.

Several thousand soldiers have spread across three northeastern states where President Goodluck Jonathan imposed a state of emergency, saying Boko Haram had seized territory and declared war on the government.

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Bombs targeting Iraqi Sunnis kill 67

05/17/2013 19:28 GMT

by Mustafa al-Tuwaijri

BAQUBA, Iraq, May 17, 2013 (AFP) - Bombs targeting Sunnis, including two near a mosque and one at a funeral procession, killed 67 people in Iraq on Friday, officials said, after dozens died in two days of attacks on Shiites.

The violence raises the spectre of tit-for-tat killings common during the height of sectarian bloodletting in Iraq that killed tens of thousands of people, and comes at a time of simmering tension between the Sunni minority and Shiite majority.

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Pakistan mosque bombs kill 13: officials

05/17/2013 15:22 GMT

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, May 17, 2013 (AFP) - Twin bomb attacks on Friday killed at least 13 people outside mosques in northwest Pakistan, where the party of cricket star Imran Khan is forming a coalition government, officials said.

The blasts targeted the two mosques in the Baazdara area of northwestern Malakand region, senior local administration official Amjad Ali Khan told AFP.

"The two blasts killed at least 13 people and wounded 48 others," Khan said. "Eight of the injured people are in a critical condition," he added.

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Bangladesh + 1 other
Bangladesh cleans up after killer cyclone

05/17/2013 18:50 GMT

by Shafiq Alam

CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh, May 17, 2013 (AFP) - Bangladesh and Myanmar cleaned up on Friday after a killer cyclone wrecked tens of thousands of homes, relieved that the damage was not much worse after the storm weakened as it made landfall.

At least 48 people were either killed by Cyclone Mahasen or while trying to flee its impact, including 31 Muslim Rohingya whose bodies washed up on the shores of Bangladesh after their boat capsized while sailing from Myanmar.

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Syria opposition alleges new massacre

05/16/2013 19:43 GMT

BEIRUT, May 16, 2013 (AFP) - The Turkey-based Syrian National Coalition on Thursday said regime forces have attacked the village of Khirbet Suda in Homs province and murdered at least 18 people.

"Victims were either killed by execution at gunpoint, or slaughtered with knives," a statement said.

There were concerns that President Bashar al-Assad's forces "will re-enter the village in the coming hours, as Khirbet Suda remains under a crippling blockade," the statement added.

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Nigeria set for air strikes against Islamists

05/16/2013 16:47 GMT

by Aminu ABUBAKAR

KANO, Nigeria, May 16, 2013 (AFP) - Nigeria's military said Thursday that it was ready to launch air strikes against Boko Haram Islamists as several thousand troops moved to the remote northeast to retake territory seized by the insurgents.

"The entire Nigerian military is involved in this operation, including the air force," defence spokesman Brigadier General Chris Olukolade told AFP.

"Definitely, air strikes will be used when necessary," he said.

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RDCongo : 40 tués lors d'un affrontement dans l'Est entre l'armée et un groupe local

05/16/2013 16:07 GMT

GOMA (RDCongo), 16 mai 2013 (AFP) - Quarante personnes, dont 8 soldats congolais, ont été tuées dans des affrontements entre l'armée et un groupe de miliciens Maï-Maï, dans la province du Nord-Kivu (est de la République démocratique du Congo, RDC), a-t-on appris jeudi de source officielle.

Ces affrontements se sont produits mercredi à l'aube dans la ville de Beni, à environ 250 kilomètres au nord de Goma, capitale provinciale du Nord-Kivu.

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Israel to 'legalise' wildcat settler outposts: NGO

05/16/2013 15:16 GMT

JERUSALEM , May 16, 2013 (AFP) - Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now said on Thursday the government wants to give retroactive approval to four West Bank settlement outposts it had previously pledged to at least partially demolish.

In response to a Peace Now petition to the Supreme Court against the outposts, the state attorney's office said settlers had now purchased the private Palestinian land on which they built, paving the way for the government to give its blessing.

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Iraq violence kills 25 as PM blames sectarianism

05/16/2013 17:48 GMT

by Marwan Ibrahim

KIRKUK, Iraq, May 16, 2013 (AFP) - A suicide bomber attacked Shiite mourners in north Iraq Thursday, killing 12 people, and 13 died in other violence, officials said, as Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki blamed sectarianism for unrest plaguing the country.

The suicide bomber tried to enter Al-Zahraa husseiniyah, a Shiite place of worship in the city of Kirkuk, where relatives of victims from violence the day before were receiving condolences.

But the attacker was stopped by police, a high-ranking police officer said.

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DR Congo clashes leave 40 dead: officials

05/16/2013 16:57 GMT

GOMA, DR Congo, May 16, 2013 (AFP) - Violent clashes between rebels and soldiers in the restive east of the Democratic Republic of Congo have left 40 people dead, government and military officials said Thursday.

Fighting broke out between Mai-Mai militia and government troops on Wednesday in the town of Beni, some 250 kilometres (155 miles) north of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, Colonel Richard Bisamaza said.

Government spokesman Lambert Mende told a press conference that 32 militia fighters were killed as well as eight soldiers.

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Sri Lanka says minefields cleared for re-settlement

05/16/2013 12:51 GMT

COLOMBO, May 16, 2013 (AFP) - Sri Lankan troops have completed clearing mines from all areas needed for re-settlement and farming in the island's former war zone, the military said Thursday, nearly four years after crushing Tamil rebels.

The military said it had removed nearly a million unexploded ordnances, including anti-personnel mines, anti-tank mines and improvised explosive devices, from the northern and eastern regions where the rebels fought for independence.

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Australia + 2 others
Australia extends reach of tough refugee policy

05/16/2013 09:39 GMT

SYDNEY, May 16, 2013 (AFP) - Australia on Thursday extended tough refugee policies to any asylum-seeker who lands on its mainland, allowing them to be banished to remote Nauru or Papua New Guinea for detention.

Until now, the government only had powers to send boatpeople for indefinite detention in the Pacific when they reached its remote offshore territories such as Christmas Island.

The change, which was passed in parliament Thursday, strips away any advantage asylum-seekers get from reaching the mainland.

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Kabul suicide bombing of NATO convoy kills 15

05/16/2013 13:31 GMT

by Sardar Ahmad

KABUL, May 16, 2013 (AFP) - A suicide car bomb targeted a foreign military convoy in Kabul on Thursday, killing 15 people including five Americans in the deadliest attack in the Afghan capital for nearly a year, officials said.

The powerful explosion, which struck at 8:00 am (0330 GMT) in the Shah Shaheed southeastern residential district, also injured about 40 passers-by including many children going to school, officials said.

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Bangladesh + 1 other
Bangladesh cyclone weakens, leaves relief in wake

A million people were evacuated and 11 have died, but fears of devastating damage eased when the storm weakened as it moved over land. Myanmar was largely spared the brunt of the storm.

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