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Israel to Approve 500 New West Bank Homes in Shilo

An Israeli committee was on Wednesday to approve construction of 500 new homes in the West Bank settlement of Shilo and retroactively legalize more than 200 built without permits, a spokesman said.

The committee "will meet today to approve construction of 500 units," civil administration spokesman Guy Inbar told Agence France Presse.

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Syria Death Toll Reaches 7,636 Since Last March

The death toll in Syria since protests erupted against the regime of President Bashar Assad in March last year has reached 7,636, a human rights group said on Wednesday.

The toll consists of 5,542 civilians, 1,692 soldiers and police, and some 400 rebel troops, the head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, told Agence France Presse.

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Rights Group Presses U.S. to Prosecute Saleh

An international rights group urged the United States, where Yemen's outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh is staying, to probe his forces' deadly crackdown on opponents during a year-long uprising.

"The United States has an obligation to investigate the serious and credible allegations of torture and other widespread violations brought against Saleh," the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) said in a statement late Tuesday.

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Golan Druze Support for Syria Regime Diminishing

Syria's embattled leader, Bashar Assad, appears to be losing one of his last bastions of reliable support: the Druze Arab community in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

In the snow-covered villages of this strategic highland, Druze are quietly breaking a long-standing code of silence and — for the first time since Israel captured the Golan from Syria in 1967 — holding protests against the Syrian government for its brutal crackdown on opponents. Anti-Syria graffiti has sprouted up, and hundreds of people have joined a Golan-linked Facebook group critical of Assad.

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Reports: Top Aide to Israeli PM Resigns

The prime minister's top spokesman has resigned six months into the job, Israeli media reported Wednesday, injecting new turmoil into Benjamin Netanyahu's troubled bureau shortly before an important White House visit.

Israeli newspapers, TV and radio stations reported that Yoaz Hendel quit after Netanyahu criticized the way he handled suspicions against the prime minister's chief of staff Natan Eshel, who was forced out this week over a sexual harassment scandal.

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Mubarak Trial Enters Last Day before Verdict

The landmark murder and corruption trial of ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak enters its last day of hearings on Wednesday, with the judge expected to announce the date of the verdict.

The trial could see the toppled dictator, his interior minister Habib al-Adly and six security chiefs sent to the gallows if convicted of complicity in the deaths of peaceful protesters during the uprising that overthrew him a year ago.

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Jordan to Attend Friends of Syria Conference

Jordan said on Tuesday it will take part in an international conference in Tunisia on the deadly unrest in Syria, while insisting the kingdom is against foreign military intervention.

Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said he will attend the "friends of Syria" conference in Tunis on Friday aimed at finding ways to end the Syrian regime's bloody repression of protests.

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U.S. Wary on Arming Syria Opposition

U.S. President Barack Obama's administration said Tuesday it did not favor arming Syria's opposition but did not rule out the idea completely amid deadly clashes with Bashar al-Assad's regime.

Senator John McCain, a senior Republican and Obama's rival in the last presidential election in 2008, made a new call Monday on a visit to the region for Syria's rebels to be given weapons to "defend themselves."

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HRW: Misrata Forces Bar Displaced Libyans from Returning

Libyan officials from the port city of Misrata are barring thousands of displaced people from returning to two villages and allowing militias to loot and burn the area, a rights group said on Tuesday.

"Tomina and Kararim are ghost towns because Misrata officials are blocking thousands of people who fled from returning home," said Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director of New-York based Human Rights Watch.

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Red Cross Urges Daily Truce in Syria, U.N. Calls for Unimpeded Access

The International Committee of the Red Cross on Tuesday called for a daily truce of two hours in Syria so it can deliver vital aid, as the U.N. urged Syria to allow aid groups unimpeded access to the country.

The ICRC has been in talks with Syrian authorities and rebels to try to agree a temporary halt to the fighting so it can get access to the worst affected areas.

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