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Mortar Round Kills One at Iraq Consulate in Damascus

An Iraqi woman was killed on Thursday when a mortar round slammed into Iraq's consulate in the Syrian capital Damascus, a diplomat told Agence France Presse.

"A mortar round hit the waiting room of the Iraqi consulate, killed an Iraqi woman and injured three others," the diplomat said, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity.

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HRW Urges Israel to Stop Displacing Bedouins

Human Rights Watch on Thursday urged Israel to stop trying to displace Bedouin families in the West Bank, where the army last week manhandled European diplomats on an aid mission.

"The Israeli military should end its unjustified attempts to forcibly remove a decades-old community," the New York-based watchdog's Middle East director Joe Stork said in a statement.

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22 Killed in Baghdad Market Blasts

Bombings hit two markets in Baghdad province on Thursday, killing at least 22 people, while gunmen shot dead five members of one family south of the Iraqi capital, officials said.

Iraq is experiencing its worst violence since 2008, when it was emerging from a brutal sectarian conflict, and more than 250 people have been killed in just seven days.

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Israel Must do More to Normalize Ties with Turkey

Turkey's foreign minister says there has been "some progress" in improving Turkish-Israeli relations but Israel has not yet fulfilled all conditions for normalizing ties.

Relations between the former allies soured dramatically after Israeli commandos stormed a pro-Palestinian ship trying to breach a blockade of the Gaza Strip in May 2010. The raid killed eight Turks and one Turkish-American.

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Assad Says Syria Committed to Chemical Weapons Deal

Syria is committed to the convention against chemical weapons it signed under a U.S.-Russian deal and sees "no obstacles" to its implementation, President Bashar Assad said in an interview broadcast Thursday.

Speaking to Venezuela's Telesur, the Syrian leader insisted that his regime was complying with a deal under which Damascus will turn over its chemical weapons for destruction.

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Israel Easing Some Restrictions on Palestinians

Israel has announced that it is easing some restrictions on the impoverished Gaza Strip and West Bank as it negotiates a final peace deal with the Palestinians.

Israeli minister of international relations Yuval Steinitz said Wednesday that 5,000 new work permits were being issued for Palestinians to work in Israel, the opening hours of the key Allenby Bridge crossing would be extended, and new imports of some building materials would be allowed into Gaza.

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Major Powers Make 'Progress' on Draft Resolution on Syria

The major powers inched toward a U.N. Security Council resolution to back the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons on Wednesday as U.N. experts resumed the hunt for evidence of poison gas attacks.

Russia and the United States are negotiating a Security Council resolution to legally enforce the disarmament plan that they agreed to head off a U.S. military strike.

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U.S. Boosting Efforts in Mideast Peace Talks

The United States is planning to step up efforts to help reach an elusive Middle East peace deal, having set an ambitious goal of sealing an agreement within nine months.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry revealed for the first time Wednesday that Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have now met directly seven times since the peace talks were relaunched in late July.

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Yemen President Vows to Eradicate Terrorism

President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi promised on Wednesday to eradicate terrorism in Yemen, plagued by al-Qaida and by homegrown unrest, as yet another member of the security forces was killed.

"The blood (of victims) will not be in vain," Hadi said in a televised speech to mark the anniversary of the 1962 revolution that established a republic in Sanaa.

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Seven Dead as Sudan Demos Rage for Third Day

Seven demonstrators were killed in Khartoum and its sister city Omdurman Wednesday as protests over the Sudanese government's scrapping of fuel subsidies raged for a third day, witnesses and relatives said.

The protests, which have now cost the lives of 10 people, have escalated into the worst in Sudan since President Omar al-Bashir seized power in 1989.

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