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Egypt Islamists Call for Protests after Insult Film

Egypt's powerful Muslim Brotherhood on Wednesday called for nationwide protests Friday after a film deemed offensive to Islam sparked a deadly attack in Libya and furious protests in Cairo.

The Brotherhood calls "for peaceful protests on Friday outside all the main mosques in all of Egypt's provinces to denounce offenses to religion and to the Prophet," the Muslim Brotherhood's Secretary General Mahmud Hussein said in a statement.

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Yemenis Protest against Violence, Saleh Immunity

Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Yemen's capital on Wednesday to denounce violence a day after a failed attempt to assassinate the defense minister killed 12 people.

Protesters answering a call to demonstrate "against terrorism and assassinations" also slammed ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh whom they accuse of fuelling violence, and called for an end to his immunity from prosecution.

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Israel Denies Blocking Jordan Nuclear Program

An Israeli official on Wednesday dismissed charges by Jordan's King Abdullah II that the Jewish state was trying to foil his country's nuclear energy program, calling the accusation "a hollow excuse."

"Every time that we were consulted on this we adopted a positive approach," the official told Agence France Presse, speaking on condition of anonymity.

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Security Boosted at U.S. Cairo Embassy after Protest

Security has been stepped up in the area around the US embassy in Cairo, a security official told Agence France Presse, after a film deemed offensive to Islam sparked violence outside the U.S. missions in Egypt and Libya.

"There is an increased security presence in central Cairo, particularly around the American embassy, following the protest yesterday," the official told AFP.

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U.S. Envoy, 3 Consul Officials Killed in Benghazi

U.S. ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, and three officials were killed when a mob attacked the U.S. consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi, the interior ministry said Wednesday.

"The ambassador was killed along with three other officials," said Wanis al-Sharif, the deputy minister of the interior. Stevens' death in Tuesday's attack was confirmed in a tweet by Mustafa Abu Shagur, the deputy prime minister.

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West Bank Mosque Vandalized in Suspected Hate Crime

Vandals scrawled graffiti on a mosque in the southern West Bank in an apparent "price tag" hate crime, an Agence France Presse correspondent and Israeli police spokesman said on Wednesday.

According to spokesman Micky Rosenfeld, the incident occurred in the early hours of Tuesday, when unknown assailants sprayed the words "Price tag Migron" in Hebrew on the exterior wall of the mosque in Imreish village south of Hebron.

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King Accuses Israel of Disrupting Jordan Nuclear Plans

King Abdullah II on Wednesday accused Israel of disrupting Jordan's nuclear energy plans and warned of sectarian violence spilling across the border from Syria, in a wide-ranging interview with Agence France Presse.

The king, whose country needs atomic energy to meet its energy needs and power water desalination plants, said "strong opposition to Jordan's nuclear energy program is coming from Israel."

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Gaza Militants Fire Projectiles at Israel

Militants from Gaza on Wednesday fired two projectiles into southern Israel that exploded without causing casualties or damage, a military spokeswoman told Agence France Presse.

"They hit in open areas in the Eshkol region," she said. It was not immediately known if rockets or mortar rounds had been fired.

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Syria Rebels Kill 18 Soldiers, Clash near Aleppo Airport

International peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi is to head to Damascus on Thursday to meet Syria's President Bashar Assad, an Arab diplomat in Cairo said, as fresh bloodshed gripped the north of the country.

In a single incident, rebels killed at least 18 soldiers in a car bomb and ground attack on a military position in Idlib province of northwest Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

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American Official Killed as Islamists Storm U.S. Missions in Libya, Egypt

An armed mob protesting a film deemed offensive to Islam attacked the U.S. consulate in Benghazi Tuesday killing a U.S. official, hours after angry Islamists stormed Washington's embassy in Cairo.

Libya's deputy interior minister Wanis al-Sharif told Agence France Presse: "One American official was killed and another injured in the hand. The other staff members were evacuated and are safe and sound."

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