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BAGHDAD, (AFP) The United States on Tuesday condemned attacks on Iraqis, including those against Christians in the northern city of Mosul, where a surge in violence against the community has provoked a mass exodus.
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KUWAIT CITY (AFP) The stock market in the booming Gulf emirate of Dubai leapt nine percent at the opening of trade on Tuesday, followed by other markets in oil-rich Gulf countries.
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DUBAI (AFP) The United Arab Emirates said on Tuesday it has made another 19 billion dollars available for local banks, the latest measure to try to combat liquidity problems arising from the global financial crisis.
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LONDON (AFP) Iraqs Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani met officials from 35 oil companies in London Monday to lay out details of its first round of bidding for new contracts since the 2003 US-led invasion.
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JERUSALEM, Oct 13, 2008 (AFP) Israels Kadima and Labour parties on Monday reached an agreement in principle that would pave the way for the formation of a new government headed by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, media reported.
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MOSUL, Iraq (AFP) More Christian families have quit their homes in Mosul, a local official said on Monday, as the United Nations voiced concern at the communitys plight in the northern Iraqi city.
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TEHRAN (AFP) Religious extremism has become "a weapon of mass destruction," former Irish president Mary Robinson told a conference in Iran on Religion in the Modern World on Monday.
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BEIRUT (AFP) A "terrorist" cell said to be behind three bomb attacks in Lebanon was seeking revenge for the armys victory over an extremist Islamist group last year, a security official said on Monday.
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WASHINGTON8 (AFP) General Ray Odierno, who commands US forces in Iraq, has accused Iran of trying to bribe Iraqi lawmakers in the hope of undermining an agreement that would allow US troops to remain in Iraq after the end of this year, The Washington Post reported Monday.
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TEHRAN (AFP) The Iranian capitals traditional bazaar reopened on Monday following several days of strikes after the government announced the indefinite suspension of a controversial tax.
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RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is to meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas for a new round of peace talks this week, the Palestinian foreign minister said on Monday.
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TEHRAN (AFP) Iran is to scrap a number of liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects in order to expand its capacity to export gas by pipeline, the oil ministrys Shana agency reported on Monday.
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KUWAIT CITY (AFP) Stock markets in the Middle East made a strong comeback on Monday led by bourses in the oil-rich Gulf following a series of local and international measures to try to ease the global financial crisis.
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RIYADH (AFP) The Saudi stock market, the largest in the Arab world, strongly rebounded on Monday, closing up 9.5 percent, above the 6,000-point mark, after hitting a four-year low two days ago.
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ACRE, Israel (AFP) Israeli President Shimon Peres on Monday travelled to the northern port city of Acre where he appealed for tolerance after four days of clashes between Arab and Jewish residents.
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WASHINGTON (AFP) General Ray Odierno, who commands US forces in Iraq, has accused Iran of trying to bribe Iraqi lawmakers in the hope of undermining an agreement that would allow US troops to remain in Iraq after the end of this year, The Washington Post reported Monday.
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BAGHDAD (AFP) The US military said on Monday it had detained six suspected insurgents in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the scene of some of the worst violence against Christians in five years.
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MOSUL, Iraq (AFP) The flight of Christians from their homes in Mosul has been stemmed after police reinforcements took up positions in the troubled northern Iraqi city, a local official said on Monday.
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BEIRUT (AFP) A "terrorist" cell said to be behind three bomb attacks in Lebanon was seeking revenge for the armys victory over an extremist Islamist group last year, a security official said on Monday.
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KUWAIT CITY (AFP) Stock markets in the Middle East, including the oil-rich Gulf, rebounded on Monday following a series of local and international measures to try to ease the global financial crisis.
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TEHRAN (AFP) Lebanese Christian political leader Michel Aoun said on Monday that Iran was helping Lebanon to achieve ational unity and dismissed criticism at home about his visit to the Islamic republic.
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RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) Secular Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas would easily win an election against Ismail Haniya, head of the Islamist Hamas government in Gaza, according to a poll published on Monday.
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LONDON (AFP) British troops are no longer necessary for the security of Iraq and should go home, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said in a newspaper interview published here Monday.
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MOSUL, Iraq (AFP) Iraq ordered nearly 1,000 police to patrol Christian areas of Mosul on Sunday as thousands of members of the minority group fled the worst violence against them in five years.
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BEIRUT (AFP) Lebanese authorities on Sunday arrested members of a "terrorist network" suspected of involvement in deadly bomb attacks in the northern city of Tripoli, the army said.
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JERUSALEM (AFP) Israels main stock index ended the day Sunday with a 3.80 percent loss after initially taking a sharp plunge when the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange opened after a four-day holiday weekend.
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ANKARA (AFP) Turkish warplanes bombed Sunday a Kurdish rebel hideout in neighbouring Iraq where senior militants were believed to be, the army said.
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TEHRAN (AFP) Iran on Sunday predicted that OPEC would cut oil output at its November meeting in Vienna, the state-run television news website reported.
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MAJDEL ANJAR, Lebanon (AFP) A Lebanese army officer and a soldier were wounded when a suspect they were tracking hurled four hand grenades at them, a military official said on Sunday.
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SANAA (AFP) Twenty-five Iranian fishermen accused of drug trafficking have gone on trial in the Yemeni capital, judicial sources said on Sunday.
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RIYADH (AFP) The Saudi stock market rose on Sunday for the first time in two weeks, closing up slightly after authorities cut the repurchase (repo) rate by a half percentage point to five percent.
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DOHA (AFP) Muslims should take advantage of the global financial crisis to build an economic system compatible with Islamic principles, influential Sunni cleric Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi said on Sunday.
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JERUSALEM (AFP) Israeli President Shimon Peres on Sunday warned Iran against considering a surprise attack, at a ceremony commemorating the 35th anniversary of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.
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TEHRAN (AFP) The Iranian capitals traditional bazaar stayed on strike on Sunday to back calls for the scrapping of VAT, even after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad froze implementation of the tax for two months
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TEHRAN (AFP) Mehdi Karroubi announced on Sunday that he will run in next years presidential race, becoming the first Iranian politician to declare his candidacy to succeed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
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MOSUL, Iraq (AFP) Iraq deployed around 1,000 police in Christian areas of Mosul on Sunday as thousands of members of the minority group fled the worst violence against them in five years.
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BAGHDAD (AFP) A spate of attacks in the Iraqi capital have killed at least 13 people and wounded 24 others, including women and children, security officials said on Sunday.
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RIYADH (AFP) Saudi inflation eased slightly in August but remained in double digits at 10.9 percent compared to 11.1 percent in July, official statistics showed on Sunday.
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ABU DHABI (AFP) The oil-rich United Arab Emirates said on Sunday that it will guarantee deposits and savings in local banks to protect depositors in face of the global financial turmoil.
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BAGHDAD (AFP) At least four people were killed on Sunday in a spate of attacks in Baghdad that targeted Iraqs national security forces, security officials said..
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JERUSALEM (AFP) Israels main stock index dived 7.68 percent on Sunday when the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange opened after a four-day holiday weekend and a 45-minute delay enforced after a sharp drop in preliminary trading.
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KUWAIT CITY (AFP) Stock markets in the energy-rich Gulf states opened the weeks trading Sunday sharply down with the Dubai Financial Market shedding six percent.
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CAIRO (AFP) Egypts key CASE-30 stock index fell over nine percent before recouping some losses to settle 7.38 percent down in early trade on Sunday amid fresh concerns about the global financial crisis.
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TEHRAN (AFP) Iran has arrested an aide to Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri following fresh criticism by the dissident cleric against Islamic republic leaders over freedom, reports said on Sunday.
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JERUSALEM (AFP) Israels Tel Aviv Stock Exchange delayed its opening by 45 minutes on Sunday after its main index dived more than eight percent in preliminary trading.
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TEHRAN (AFP) Mehdi Karroubi, the leader of Irans National Confidence reformist party, announced at a press conference on Sunday his candidacy for the 2009 Iranian presidential race.
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ISTANBUL (AFP) Turkish authorities claimed to have foiled a probable suicide attack by a suspected Kurdish militant in Istanbul on Saturday as the military stepped up bombing raids on rebel hideouts in northern Iraq.
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ACRE, Israel (AFP) Jews and Arabs clashed for a fourth consecutive night Saturday in the northern Israeli city of Acre leaving at least three people injured in hospital, radio reports said.
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MOSUL, Iraq (AFP) Nearly 1,000 Christian families have fled their homes in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul following the worst wave of violence against them in five years, provincial governor Duraid Kashmula said on Saturday.
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DAMASCUS (AFP) Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Damascus on Saturday for talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on efforts to reconcile the Palestinian presidents Fatah party and the rival Islamist movement Hamas.
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DUBAI (AFP) National Geographic Entertainment and Imagenation Abu Dhabi are creating a 100 million dollar fund to produce 10-15 15 films over the next five years, a joint statement said on Saturday.
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CAIRO (AFP) A court on Saturday fined an opposition editor and a reporter 80,000 pounds (14,600 dollars) each for publishing a doctored picture of Egypts leading cleric wearing a papal robe, a judicial source said.
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TRIPOLI (AFP) Russian warships bound for Venezuela, including the nuclear-powered cruiser Pyotr Veliky (Peter the Great), put in Saturday at the Libyan port of Tripoli for refuelling.
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DOHA (AFP) French side Grenoble have bid for Iraqi international striker Younes Mahmoud, his Qatari side Al-Gharafa reported on Saturday.
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LONDON (AFP) Dubais Zabeel Investments, who are looking to buy Charlton, on Saturday said the proposed deal would take the Championship strugglers back to the English Premier League.
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SANAA (AFP) The trial began on Saturday of three Yemenis who are alleged to have spied for Iran.
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CAIRO (AFP) France invited Egypt to join the countries that would comprise the G14, a proposed extension of the G8, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told reporters in Cairo on Saturday.
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BADDAWI, Lebanon (AFP) Palestinian officials are compiling a register of residents in a northern Lebanon refugee camp to crack down on Islamist militants and to prevent unrest, one of them said on Saturday.
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BEIRUT (AFP) Lebanese President Michel Sleiman has accepted that Syrian troop movements near the border between the two countries are aimed at tackling smuggling, in a statement received by AFP on Saturday.
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TEHRAN (AFP) Four Kurdish rebels have been killed in clashes with members of the Islamist volunteer Basij militia in a village in Kordestan province in western Iran, the state news agency IRNA reported on Saturday.
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RIYADH (AFP) The Saudi stock market nosedived almost six percent to a four-year low on Saturday, as the worlds leading industrial nations met to tackle a global financial crisis.
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RIYADH (AFP) The Saudi stock market, the largest in the Arab world, on Saturday opened the weeks trading down seven percent, diving below the 6,000-point mark.
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BEIRUT (AFP) Lebanese President Michel Sleiman has accepted that Syrian troop movements near the border between the two countries are aimed at tackling smuggling, according to a statement received by AFP on Saturday.
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BAGHDAD (AFP) American forces have arrested an anti-Qaeda leader working alongside them for allegedly making threats against local residents, the US military said.
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BAGHDAD (AFP) Baghdads mentally ill people, their numbers swollen by the trauma of living under Saddam Hussein, remain sadly neglected despite many promises of help by US representatives.
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JERUSALEM (AFP) Israels banking system is sound and can be trusted, Finance Minister Roni Bar-On said on Friday, while appealing to investors not to panic.
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BEIRUT (AFP) Puppet shows, political parodies, ridiculing politicians -- in a Lebanon faced with bombings, violent clashes, and political conflicts, its better to laugh than cry.
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ACRE, Israel (AFP) Police clashed with Jewish protesters in Acre on Friday on the third day of violence between Arabs and Jews as Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni travelled to the northern Israeli city to appeal for calm.
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HEBRON, West Bank (AFP) Palestinian police found a Hamas-run bomb factory in the West Bank town of Hebron on Friday and arrested 11 people, a security official from the rival Fatah faction said.
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TRIPOLI (AFP) Libya will halt oil deliveries to Switzerland and withdraw its funds from Swiss banks in protest at the detention in Geneva in July of a son of leader Moamer Kadhafi, the official news agency announced.
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BAGHDAD (AFP) Mourners shouted anti-US slogans and torched American and Israeli flags in Baghdads Shiite bastion after a radical MP was buried Friday, as fresh attacks killed at least 19 people across Iraq.
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NEW YORK (AFP) International inspectors are looking into whether a Russian scientist helped Iran carry out experiments on how to detonate a nuclear weapon, The New York Times reported Friday.
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ISLAMABAD (AFP) Pakistan and Iran on Friday said they were willing to undertake bilaterally a stalled multi-billion-dollar gas pipeline even if India does not join the project.
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NAJAF, Iraq (AFP) Washington has made "huge concessions" in a controversial military pact still under negotiation, but immunity issues remain a problem, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Friday.
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SIDON, Lebanon (AFP) Two people were wounded on Friday in a bomb attack targeting an Islamist militant in a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon, a Palestinian official said.
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BAGHDAD (AFP) At least 12 people were killed and 26 others wounded on Friday when a car bomb struck a crowded market in the southern Baghdad neighbourhood of Dora, police said.
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BAGHDAD (AFP) At least 12 people were killed and 26 others wounded on Friday when a car bomb struck a crowded market in the southern Baghdad neighbourhood of Dora, police said.
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CAIRO (AFP) Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas is examining a proposal made by the Islamist movement Hamas for Egyptian-mediated reconciliation talks to take place later this month, a top aide said on Friday.
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JERUSALEM (AFP) Israeli police said it raised its alert level on Friday after two days of clashes between Arabs and Jews in the northern city of Acre during Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement.
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DUBAI (AFP) Computer hackers claiming to be Shiite shut down the website of Saudi-owned satellite channel Al-Arabiya on Friday, a month after Iran reported similar attacks on many of its websites by hardline Sunnis.
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BAGHDAD (AFP) A total of three people died on Friday in two bomb attacks, one in Baghdad and one in the main northern city of Mosul, Iraqi security sources said.
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NILIN, West Bank (AFP) Eight people were slightly wounded when Israeli security forces fired rubber-coated bullets and teargas at demonstrators protesting the West Bank separation barrier on Friday, medics and witnesses said.
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BAGHDAD (AFP) Mourners shouted anti-American slogans as gunfire gripped the Baghdad Shiite district of Sadr City ahead of the burial on Friday of a radical member of parliament killed in a roadside bombing.
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KIRKUK, Iraq (AFP) Iraqs Christians face "liquidation," the Chaldean archbishop of the northern city of Kirkuk told AFP in an interview, urging Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to guarantee the minoritys safety.
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BAGHDAD (AFP) Mourners shouted anti-American slogans as gunfire gripped the Baghdad Shiite district of Sadr City ahead of the burial on Friday of a radical member of parliament killed in a roadside bombing.
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JERUSALEM (AFP) Israeli police said it raised its alert level on Friday after two days of clashes between Arabs and Jews in the northern city of Acre during Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement.
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ANKARA (AFP) Turkish jets carried out a fresh bombing raid overnight from Thursday to Friday on Iraqi territory against separatist Kurdish rebels who were trying to cross the border, the army said on Friday.
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AMMAN (AFP) Two American journalists who were detained in Syria after going missing in Lebanon said in comments published on Friday that they had been kidnapped and smuggled across the border against their will.
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BAGHDAD (AFP) Mourners shouted anti-American slogans as gunfire gripped the Baghdad Shiite district of Sadr City ahead of the burial on Friday of a radical member of parliament killed in a roadside bombing.
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WASHINGTON (AFP) Libya has started depositing money in an account to compensate US and other terrorism victims under a 1.8 billion dollar deal aimed at fully normalizing US-Libyan ties, US officials said Thursday.
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JERUSALEM (AFP) Police reinforcements were deployed in the Israeli city of Acre on Thursday night amid high tension between Arabs and Jews after clashes erupted when an Arab man was assaulted for driving during Yom Kippur.
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DAMASCUS (AFP) Syrian security forces killed two suspected Iraqi "terrorists" and a policeman also died in clashes in a Palestinian refugee camp, private Dunia television said on Thursday.
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TEHRAN (AFP) Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad postponed for two months on Thursday implementation of a value added tax that has sparked nationwide strikes, the official news agency IRNA reported.
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BAGHDAD (AFP) Recent major security improvements in Iraq risk being undermined by a surge in violence ahead of provincial elections early next year, a senior US general said on Thursday.
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DUBAI (AFP) Dubai authorities showcased a state-of-the-art airport terminal on Thursday, vowing "not to blink" in face of the global financial turmoil and to press ahead with their 4.5 billion dollar expansion plans.
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BAGHDAD (AFP) Recent major security improvements in Iraq risk being undermined by a fresh wave of violence ahead of provincial elections scheduled for early next year, a senior US general said on Thursday.
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DUBAI (AFP) Dubais Emirates airline will receive its second A380 superjumbo on October 24 and hopes Airbus will stick to the timetable of further deliveries after earlier delays, its president said Thursday.
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BAGHDAD (AFP) An anti-American MP was assassinated in a bomb attack on Thursday in Baghdads Shiite stronghold of Sadr City, marking the first killing of a lawmaker in 18 months, his radical Sadrist faction said.
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DAMACUS (AFP) Two young US journalists who went missing in Lebanon a week ago were detained in Syria on Thursday for entering the country illegally, the foreign ministry said.
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BAGHDAD (AFP) A Shiite radical MP was assassinated in a bomb attack on Thursday in Baghdads Shiite stronghold of Sadr City, marking the first killing of a lawmaker in 18 months, his Sadrist faction said.
