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Israeli Army: 14 Gaza Rockets Hit Southern Israel

At least 14 rockets and mortar rounds fired by militants in Gaza struck southern Israel on Monday morning, causing no injuries but damaging a home, the army said. 

The latest incident added to the already-high tension in the area which has seen a surge in rocket fire over the past two weeks. 

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Netanyahu Calls for Jordan Support, Kurdish Independence

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked the international community on Sunday to support Jordan in the fight against "Islamic extremism" and to back the independence of Iraq's Kurds.

"We need to support efforts by the international community to strengthen Jordan and support the aspirations of the Kurds for independence," Netanyahu said in a speech to the Institute of National Security Studies think-tank in Tel Aviv.

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Report: Blackwater Threatened to Kill U.S. Investigator in Iraq

The top manager in Iraq of the notorious private security firm Blackwater threatened to kill a U.S. State Department investigator for probing the company's performance, the New York Times reported Monday.

The Times, citing an internal State Department memorandum, said the threat came just weeks before Blackwater guards shot and killed 17 civilians on September 16, 2007 in Baghdad's Nisour Square.

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Two Tunisian Ex-Hostages Return Home from Libya

A Tunisian diplomat and a fellow embassy staffer who were abducted in Libya returned to Tunisia on a military plane early Monday after being freed by their unknown captors.

Embassy employee Mohamed ben Sheikh kidnapped in Tripoli on March 21 and diplomat Al-Aroussi Kontassi, who was seized April 17, reunited with their families at a military barracks in a suburb of Tunis early Monday.

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Israeli Air Raid Kills Palestinian Militant in Gaza

An Israeli drone strike Sunday killed a Palestinian militant in Gaza, Palestinian security officials said, in the latest air raid on the coastal enclave.

An army spokesman said the raid targeted "terrorists" who had been preparing to fire rockets at Israel.

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Two Tunisians Abducted in Libya Freed

A Tunisian diplomat and a fellow embassy staffer abducted in Libya earlier this year were freed by their abductors on Sunday after months in captivity, an embassy source said.

"They have been freed and should be returning to Tunisia soon," the source, who declined to be identified, told Agence France Presse, adding that the pair were in good health.

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Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi: The Jihadist 'Caliph'

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the shadowy jihadist fighting in Iraq and Syria, and newly declared leader of a "caliphate" encompassing all Muslims, is increasingly seen as more powerful than al-Qaida's chief.

The leader of the powerful Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militant group was declared Sunday the "caliph" in an attempt to revive a system of rule that ended nearly 100 years ago with the fall of the Ottoman Empire.

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Jihadists Declare 'Caliphate', Claim World Leadership

Ruthless jihadists spearheading a Sunni militant offensive in Iraq have declared an "Islamic caliphate" and ordered Muslims worldwide to pledge allegiance to their chief, in a spectacular bid to extend their authority.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant renamed itself simply the Islamic State (IS) and declared its shadowy frontman the leader of the world's Muslims, in a clear challenge to Al-Qaida for control of the global jihadist movement.

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Iran, Qatar to Cooperate against 'Terror'

The leaders of Shiite Iran and Sunni Qatar vowed Sunday to cooperate to fight "terrorism in the region," President Hassan Rouhani's office reported as Iraqi forces counter a militant onslaught.

The pledge to play a "constructive role to establish security and stability" came in a phone call between Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and Rouhani, a statement from the Iranian president's office said.

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PM Aide Says Current Iraq Crisis More Dangerous than 2006-2007 War

The militant onslaught that has overrun swathes of Iraq is even more dangerous than a brutal period of sectarian killings in which tens of thousands died, an official said Sunday.

"Now, the danger is definitely more... than 2006, 2007," Amr Khuzaie, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's national reconciliation adviser, told Agence France Presse, referring to the height of the Sunni-Shiite sectarian conflict.

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