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Russian president replaces military chief

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday replaced the armed forces’ chief of general staff, General Yuri Baluyevsky, who had clashed with the defense minister, a former tax official with no military background. Baluyevsky’s post was a powerful one in the state hierarchy — besides the president and …

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Bosnia search for missing becomes global resource

SARAJEVO (Reuters) – An agency set up to identify the dead of the Yugoslav wars is now sharing its missing persons expertise with nations including Lebanon, Colombia and Iraq. “Effectively, we have the biggest human identification laboratory in the world,” Kathryne Bomberger, the head of the Sarajevo-based International Commission for …

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Syria says wants nuclear energy under Arab umbrella

DUBAI (Reuters) – Syria is not seeking nuclear weapons but wants to have access to atomic energy for peaceful purposes through a collective Arab project, President Bashar al-Assad said in remarks published on Tuesday. The Dubai-based Gulf News also quoted Assad as saying that the United States should have sought …

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FACTBOX: Security developments in Iraq

(Reuters) – Following are security developments in Iraq at 1530 GMT (11:30 a.m. EDT) on Tuesday: *denotes new or updated item *BAGHDAD -Iraqi security forces and multinational soldiers killed four militants in operations on Monday, the U.S. military said.

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Deadly Pakistan embassy bomb raises security fears

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – A day after a bomb attack outside the Danish embassy, Pakistani investigators questioned residents and tested the residue of the explosives used, while suspicion for the blast fell on al Qaeda or its allies. Monday’s suicide car bombing in the capital, Islamabad, followed a relative lull in …

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Iraqi families returning to parts of Baghdad: agency

GENEVA (Reuters) – Iraqi families who fled recent sectarian violence and military operations are returning in numbers to certain areas of Baghdad where security has improved, an international aid agency said on Tuesday. An estimated 4,000 families or 24,000 Iraqis who fled fighting between security forces and Shi’ite militiamen during …

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Israeli strikes in Gaza after rocket barrage

GAZA (Reuters) – An Israeli air strike injured three Islamic Jihad militants in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on Tuesday after cross-border rockets fired from the territory wounded five Israelis. One of the Islamic Jihad militants was critically injured in the air strike near the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, …

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Palestinians get new police stations in West Bank

JENIN, West Bank (Reuters) – Israel gave the Palestinian Authority permission on Tuesday to open three police stations in the northern West Bank as part of a U.S.-backed security campaign meant to ready the Palestinians for statehood. Washington sees the campaign as a chance for Palestinian forces to show they …

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