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Fierce Clashes in Syrian Capital between Security Forces and Rebels, Four Killed

Three "terrorists" and a member of Syria's security forces were killed in a clash in a district of Damascus on Monday, state television said.

"Three terrorists were killed and a fourth was arrested in the fighting between security forces and an armed terrorist gang sheltered in a house of a residential district," it said.

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Libya Government Takes Charge of Misrata Ports

Libya's interim authorities now control all ports of entry to the country's third city of Misrata, a government official said on Sunday.

"All the ports were handed over," including the airport, said Ziyad Abdelali of the interior ministry.

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U.N., OIC Experts in Syria on Humanitarian Mission

Technical experts from the U.N. and Organization of Islamic Cooperation are in Syria on a mission to assess the humanitarian impact of its year-long bloodshed, a senior OIC official said on Sunday.

"The joint OIC-U.N. mission entered Syria on Friday to carry out an evaluation of humanitarian aid," on a mission led by the Syrian government, its assistant secretary general, Atta al-Mannan Bakhit, told Agence France Presse.

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Bahrain Security Forces Clash with Young Protesters

Bahraini security forces clashed with youths on Sunday after the funeral of a protester who allegedly died after inhaling tear gas fired by riot police, witnesses said.

The clashes erupted in the Shiite village of Al-Muqsha, north of the capital Manama, following the funeral of Jaafer Jassem Ridha, 41.

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Egypt Bedouin Abduct Two Brazilian Women

Egyptian Bedouin in the Sinai kidnapped two Brazilian women tourists on Sunday in the third such abduction in the peninsula this year, security officials said.

The tourists were returning from a visit to the historic monastery of St Catherine in southern Sinai when the tribesmen seized them and an Egyptian tour guide, the officials said.

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Red Cross Chief Heads to Moscow for Talks on Syria Crisis

The president of the International Red Cross, Jakob Kellenberger, is headed to Moscow for talks on the humanitarian situation in Syria, the ICRC said Sunday.

"Mr. Kellenberger will pay a one-day visit during which he will meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov" on Monday, the International Committee for the Red Cross said in a statement.

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Iraq Takes Precautions to Face Possible Hormuz Closure

Iraq moved on Sunday to diversify its oil export routes to reduce the impact of a potential closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran on Baghdad's oil-dependent income, as well as the world economy.

The plans, recommended by the cabinet's energy and economics committees, include efforts to ramp up exports along a pipeline to Turkey, increase the amount of oil transported by road, and "urgently" fix disused transport pipelines, according to a statement from government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh.

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War Crimes Complaint against Syria Ex-Minister in France

A Syrian rights group said on Sunday it had filed a war crimes complaint with French authorities against former Syrian Defense Minister Mustafa Tlass who was reported this week to be in Paris.

The Syrian Association for Freedom provided AFP with a copy of the complaint it had filed with Paris prosecutors on Friday accusing Tlass of responsibility in "several war crimes including the massacre in the city of Hama in 1982."

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Mauritania Receives Extradition Requests for Libya Spy Chief

Nouakchott has received requests from France and the International Criminal Court (ICC) to extradite Libya's ex-spy chief Abdullah Senussi, a security source said Sunday.

"For the time being two requests have been received by Mauritania. One from France arrived on Saturday and the second from the ICC on Sunday," the source told AFP.

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Car Bomb Kills Three, Wounds 25 in Syria's Aleppo

Syria was hit by the third lethal car bombing of the weekend on Sunday as U.N. teams readied for a government-led humanitarian mission and to work to launch a monitoring operation to end a year of bloodshed.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, in a statement, said the latest blast targeted political security offices in the northern city of Aleppo, killing three civilians and wounding more than 25 others.

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