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Palestinians Demand Recognition by New Israel Government

Palestinian leaders will work toward peace with any Israeli government that recognizes the Palestinian state, foreign minister Riyad al-Malki said Wednesday.

But Malki told the U.N. Security Council that actions by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since U.N. members recognized the Palestinian state in November have been "the complete antithesis of the two-state solution."

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Bahrain Court Upholds Sentences over Police Murder

A Bahraini appeals court on Wednesday upheld a death sentence and a life-term respectively passed on two protesters convicted of murdering a policeman during a Shiite-led uprising last year, lawyers said.

The court upheld the death sentence handed down in September 2011 to Ali al-Taweel and the term of life imprisonment given Ali Shamlo, both convicted of running over policeman Ahmed al-Mreyssi with the intention of killing him.

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Jordan Islamists Claim Poll Fraud, Question Turnout

Jordan's opposition, which boycotted Wednesday's election, shed doubt on the 44-percent turnout announced by the government and alleged vote buying marred the polls.

"The turnout is very weak. The figures announced by the government are not accurate. The accurate turnout was around 16.7 at 3:00 pm (1200 GMT)," the Muslim Brotherhood said in a statement.

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HRW: Tunisia Draft Charter Lacking on Rights

Tunisia's draft constitution still lacks full provision for human rights despite making some progress, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday in a letter to the National Constituent Assembly.

The U.S.-based watchdog said that it wrote urging the interim parliament to "amend those articles of the second draft of the constitution that risk undermining human rights."

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Iraq Suicide Bomb at Shiite Mosque Kills 42

A suicide bomber made his way into a Shiite mosque north of Baghdad and blew himself up in the middle of a packed funeral on Wednesday, killing 42 people and leaving corpses scattered across the floor.

The attack, the deadliest in six months, is likely to heighten tensions as Iraq grapples with a political crisis and more than a month of protests in Sunni-majority areas that have hardened opposition to Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

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Palestinian, 21, Killed by Israeli Fire near Hebron

A 21-year-old Palestinian woman died after being hit in the face by Israeli gunfire in the southern West Bank Wednesday, medics said, with witnesses saying she was shot by soldiers.

Lubna Hanash was killed in a shooting outside a college near al-Arrub refugee camp, some eight kilometers (five miles) north of Hebron, medics said.

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HRW: Syria Rebels Must Protect Religious Sites

Rebel groups in Syria appeared to have deliberately destroyed or allowed the looting of minority religious sites in the north in November and December 2012, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday.

"The destruction of religious sites is furthering sectarian fears and compounding the tragedies of the country, with tens of thousands killed," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at the New York-based HRW.

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New Israel Govt to Focus on Socio-Economic Issues

Israel's new government will prioritize domestic socio-economic issues, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged on Wednesday, a day after he won a narrow election victory.

"The Israeli public wants me... to put together a government which will include three big changes internally: a greater sharing of the burden (of military service), affordable housing and changes in the system of government," he said in a brief broadcast address.

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Palestinians Don't See 'Peace Coalition' after Israel Vote

Israel's elections, which saw an even split between rightwing and center-left blocs, are unlikely to produce a coalition bent on reviving peace talks, a Palestinian official said Wednesday.

"I don't see a peace coalition or a peace camp emerging now and revitalizing itself," Hanan Ashrawi, a senior official with the Palestine Liberation Organization, told reporters.

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U.N. Says 650,000 Have Fled Syria, Situation Worsening

More than 650,000 people have fled the conflict in Syria, a top United Nations official said on Wednesday, as Turkey's foreign minister pledged Ankara would continue to accept refugees.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, U.N. aid chief Valerie Amos said the humanitarian situation in Syria was "already catastrophic and clearly getting worse".

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