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DAMASCUS– Nearly half the rebel fighters in Syria are now aligned to jihadist or hardline Islamist groups according to a new analysis of factions in the country’s civil war.Opposition forces have fragmented into as many as 1,000 bands. Opposition forces battling Bashar
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BRASILIA – Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has canceled a state visit to Washington in October over reports that the United States spied on her personal communications and those of other Brazilians, a leading Brazilian newspaper reported on Tuesday. Rousseff, who
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BEIJING — Faye Wong, a Chinese singer usually referred as a “pop diva”, who divorced her second husband last Friday,broke her silence on Wednesday afternoon, denying rumors of extramarital affairs and that she was planning on becoming nun. “I asked for the divorce.
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WASHINGTON— The White House defended President Barack Obama from criticism that he was tone deaf in his reaction to the mass shootings at Washington Navy Yard. For a second straight day (yesterday), White House press secretary Jay Carney faced questions
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JOHANNESBURG. — South African President Jacob Zuma’s support hit an all-time low among youths, a local research group revealed yesterday. In a survey, Pondering Panda interviewed 2 388 respondents, between the ages of 18 and 34 across South Africa, and found that
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NAIROBI. — Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta yesterday unveiled ambitious plans to transform the country into a regional economic powerhouse, targeting double-digit growth within five years and middle-income status by 2030. East Africa’s largest economy was hit hard
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THE HAGUE. — The first witness to appear in the trial of Kenya’s deputy president told the International Criminal Court yesterday how a mob of youths, with painted faces and armed with machetes, torched the church where she and her family had sought refuge. The witness,
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MOSCOW. — Russia’s top diplomat called yesterday for additional investigations into allegations of chemical weapons use in Syria, saying a UN report presented a day earlier had failed to answer certain questions and reiterating Moscow’s position that the attack was a
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JOHANNESBURG. — Comments about expelled ANC Youth League president Julius Malema made by an ANC Gauteng provincial executive committee member do not reflect the party’s views, it said yesterday. “We want to put it on record that the views expressed by the PEC member
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VIENNA. — A suspected poacher shot dead three policemen and a paramedic in Austria, then barricaded himself in his farmhouse and opened fire on special forces outside, police and media said. The man first shot two policemen as they tried to arrest him in a woodland in the province
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KHARTOUM. — On September 3, the President of South Sudan, Salva Kiir Mayardit, led a high-level delegation on an official visit to Sudan upon an invitation from his Sudanese counterpart President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir. A cordial and positive atmosphere prevailed
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RABAT — Moroccan police yesterday arrested the editor of an independent news website for airing a video posted by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb that incites “acts of terrorism” in the kingdom. Ali Anouzla, the director of Lakome’s Arabic version, was arrested mid-morning,
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KHARTOUM. — Sudan slammed yesterday the US state department for rejecting to issue a visa for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York. On Monday, the US state department said it received a visa application for al-Bashir
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MOSCOW. — Russia said yesterday that a UN Security Council resolution on Syria’s chemical weapons would not contain any references to the use of force. Instead of discussing Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which allows the use of force, the top task is to fulfill a plan for the
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TEHRAN. — Clashes erupted once again between the armed rebels of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and the Al-Nusra Front militants over controlling a strategic village in North-eastern Syria. FNA correspondent in Northern Syria reported the FSA armed rebels clashed with