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3 Canadians, Pakistani, Nigerian among Dead in Saudi Fire

Saudi authorities said Monday that three Canadians, one Pakistani and a Nigerian woman were among 10 people killed in a fire at a residential complex rented by oil giant Saudi Aramco at the weekend.

The civil defense revised down from 11 the death toll for Sunday's blaze at the complex in the kingdom's Eastern Province, in a statement carried by state news agency SPA.

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Video: IS Burns Four Iraqi Shiite Fighters Alive

The Islamic State group strung up four Iraqi Shiite fighters with chains and burned them alive, according to footage posted online, the latest gruesome execution video from the jihadists.

The victims -- identified as fighters in the pro-government Popular Mobilization forces from southern Iraq -- were suspended from a swingset-like metal structure by chains attached to their hands and feet, then set on fire.

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Battling Rebels, IS Moves Closer to Central Damascus

The Islamic State group battled Syrian rebel forces in a Damascus neighborhood on Monday, bringing the jihadists closer than ever to the center of the capital, a monitoring group said.

IS militants fought street battles against Islamist rebels in Asali, part of the capital's southern Qadam district, after seizing two streets there over the weekend, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

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NGO: Yemen Children's Hospital Faces Closure Due to Shortages

A major hospital in Yemen's rebel-held capital is on the verge of shutting down due to a supply shortage caused by a pro-government coalition blockade, Save the Children has warned. 

"Critical fuel shortages and a lack of medical supplies could force the Al-Sabeen Hospital to shut its doors within 48 hours," the humanitarian organisation said late Sunday.

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Blast at Syria's Palmyra Prompts Fears for Famed Temple

A powerful blast in the ruins of Syria's ancient Palmyra raised fears Monday that the Islamic State group has damaged another of the Middle East's most treasured heritage sites.

Both Syria's antiquities chief and a monitor reported Sunday's explosion in the UNESCO World Heritage site, but there was conflicting information on the fate of its famed Temple of Bel.

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Australia Urges More EU Nations to Join IS Air Strikes in Syria, Iraq

Australia on Monday urged more European nations to begin air strikes against Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq as a way of tackling the escalating refugee crisis gripping the continent.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said jihadists were responsible for driving hundreds of thousands of migrants to Europe and a broadening of the coalition fighting them was necessary.

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Egypt Elections to Start on October 17

Egypt's legislative elections, the first since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took office, are to be contested in phases starting October 17, the electoral commission announced on Sunday.

Analysts say the polls, with Sisi loyalists heavily favored to emerge the big winners, will serve to appease Egypt's backers in the West who see the president as a rampart against jihadist violence despite concerns over repression that has eliminated any meaningful opposition.

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Seven Bodies Wash Up on Libya Beach

Another boat carrying migrants has sunk off Libya and the bodies of at least seven people have been washed up, Libya's Red Crescent said on Sunday.

"We were alerted that a boat had sunk and that there are bodies on the beach in Khoms," 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of Tripoli, Red Crescent spokesman Mohammad al-Misrati told AFP.

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Israeli Troops Fire Tear Gas at Separation Barrier Demo

Israeli soldiers fired tear gas and stun grenades on Sunday to disperse a protest in a Palestinian Christian town near Bethlehem against renewed work on Israel's West Bank separation barrier.

Dozens of Palestinian and foreign protesters marched in the West Bank village of Beit Jala towards an area where military bulldozers have uprooted olive trees to clear space for the barrier.

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Egypt Summons British Envoy over Criticism of Al-Jazeera Trial

Egypt's foreign ministry on Sunday summoned the British ambassador over his criticism of prison sentences handed to three journalists from Qatari broadcaster Al-Jazeera.

"What counts is the Egyptian people's confidence in the transparency and independence of the Egyptian judiciary," the foreign ministry said, calling ambassador John Casson's comments "unacceptable interference."

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