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Yemen Tribesmen Release Hostages in Swap Deal

Yemen tribesmen released seven hostages, including four Syrian truck drivers, on Saturday after authorities agreed to free 13 of their clansmen jailed for weapons possession, a local official said.

"Four Syrian truck drivers employed by a Saudi company and three Yemenis, including a colonel, were freed in Tur al-Baha region" in the southern province of Lahij, the official, Abed Rabbo Ghanem, told Agence France Presse.

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Bombers Target Senior Libyan Officer's Car

Bombers targeted the car of a senior Libyan police officer in the country's second city Benghazi on Saturday, without causing casualties, a security official in the eastern city told Agence France Presse.

"The car of Colonel Mohammed bin Halim, chief of police operations in Benghazi, exploded outside his home. No one was hurt," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

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Egypt's State Prosecutor to Stay after Morsi Agreement

Egypt's state prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmoud and President Mohammed Morsi agreed on Saturday that Mahmoud will stay, ending a crisis over his refusal to quit after being dismissed, an aide to the prosecutor said.

State television reported that the two met and sealed an agreement under which "the state prosecutor will stay on in his post," said deputy state prosecutor Adel Said, citing a "misunderstanding over his nomination as ambassador to the Vatican."

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Libya Oasis Town Vows to Fight Off 'Invasion'

Fighters in Bani Walid say they are ready to lay down their lives to defend the besieged town of jagged hilltops which gave shelter last year to loyalists of slain Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

"They'll have to march over our dead bodies to reach Bani Walid," said commander Salem Waer who is leading military operations in the oasis town circled by armed groups operating under orders of Libya's new authorities.

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Brahimi to Visit Iraq over Syria Crisis

International peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi will visit Baghdad on Monday for talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki over the 19-month uprising in Syria, Maliki's spokesman said on Saturday.

"Iraq has said many times that it supports the efforts of Lakhdar Brahimi to find a solution, and we will work to make this mission successful to end the human tragedy of the Syrian people," Ali Mussawi said.

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Turkish PM Calls for U.N. Reform to Tackle Syria Crisis

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Saturday for reform to the U.N. Security Council to allow progress to resolve the Syria crisis which has been held up by veto powers Russia and China.

"If we must wait for one or two permanent members, then Syria's fate is really in great danger," Erdogan told a conference in Istanbul.

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NGO: Syria Conflict Death Toll at Least 33,000

Violence in Syria has killed at least 33,082 people, most of them civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said on Saturday.

Some 1,000 people have been killed in the past five days alone, the Britain-based watchdog said.

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Two Killed in Iraq Attacks

Shootings and bomb attacks in and around Iraq's main northern city on Saturday killed two people, including a soldier, and wounded four others, security and medical officials said.

In a Kurdish-majority neighborhood in the east of Mosul, a civilian was killed in a drive-by shooting, according to Iraqi army Lieutenant Khaled Hamed and doctor Mahmud Haddad at the city's main hospital.

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Syria Rebels Fight Army Advance on Seized Town

Syrian rebels blocked on Saturday army reinforcements advancing towards the town of Maaret al-Numan which has been under rebel control for nearly a week, an Agence France Presse journalist said.

In its bid to retake the town, strategically located in the northwest on the road from Turkey to the embattled city of Aleppo, the army used warplanes to bombard Maaret al-Numan, killing two civilians and destroying three homes.

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U.S. Thinks Iran Behind Cyberattack in Saudi Arabia

The United States believes Iran was behind a major cyberattack on Saudi Arabia's state oil company and a Qatari gas firm, a former U.S. official who has worked on cybersecurity issues said Friday.

In a major cybersecurity speech on Thursday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta issued a veiled warning to Tehran that Washington is ready to take preemptive action to protect U.S. computer networks, the former official said.

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