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Bomb Kills Seven in Southwest Afghanistan

A roadside bomb targeting a police pickup truck killed two policemen and five civilians in southwestern Afghanistan Thursday, provincial authorities said.

The vehicle was blown up in the city of Zaranj, the capital of Nimroz province, said acting provincial police chief Mohammad Rahim Chakhansori.

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Sudan's War-Torn South Kordofan to Be Divided

Sudan's war-torn South Kordofan state is to be divided, giving separate status to the western part dominated by nomadic Arab Misseriya tribesmen, the government said on Thursday.

Vice President Ali Osman Taha "announces the establishment of West Kordofan state," the official SUNA news agency said in a brief dispatch.

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Retrial for Cops Jailed in Death Linked to Egypt Uprising

A court in Egypt on Thursday ordered a retrial of two policemen jailed for beating a young man to death in a shocking case that helped spark the country's revolution in early 2011.

The Court of Cassation overturned seven-year prison sentences handed to officers Mahmoud Salah Mahmoud and Awad Esmail Suleiman in October 2011 for the beating death of 28-year-old Khaled Saeed in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria in June the previous year.

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U.S. Toughens Online Privacy Rules for Children

U.S. regulators unveiled new rules Wednesday aimed at strengthening online privacy protection for children, to reflect the growing use of mobile apps and social networks.

The Federal Trade Commission said its updated rules require online services to get consent from parents if they are aimed at children under 13 or know that they are collecting personal information from young children.

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Palestinians Say Israel 'to be Accountable' for Settlements

Israel will be "held accountable" for its settlement building, a senior Palestinian official said Thursday after Israel pushed forward plans for more than 5,000 new settler homes.

"The settlers and the government of Israel should know they will be held accountable," Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for president Mahmoud Abbas, told Agence France Presse shortly after Israel reportedly okayed initial plans for a new settlement city in the southern West Bank.

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WHO Head Warns Diseases Set to Rise

The head of the World Health Organization warned Thursday that infectious diseases will spread more easily in the future due to globalization, changing lifestyles and rising population densities.

"The future looks very bright for microbes, not so good for humanity," Margaret Chan told a luncheon in her hometown Hong Kong, the site of a major outbreak of the SARS virus in 2003 that killed almost 300 people in the city.

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U.S. Shooting Revives Debate Over Mental Health Care

The deadly U.S. shooting rampage last week has revived debate about access to mental health care -- a tough issue as state funds dry up and laws make it difficult to treat people against their will.

So far, authorities have not yet confirmed that the Newtown shooter, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, suffered from any particular psychiatric disorder.

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Nude Paintings Taken Down at Turkey State Art Gallery

Turkish officials have taken down an exhibition of paintings of nude women at a state art gallery, a trade union activist said Wednesday, condemning the move as censorship.

The show of 29 oil paintings by prolific Turkish artist and teacher Emin Guloren was due to run in the State Fine Arts Gallery in the northwestern city of Eskisehir for 10 days but was closed down earlier this week, a union official said.

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Nigeria Gunmen Kidnap French National, Kill 2 Others

A group of 30 gunmen stormed a residence in northern Nigeria where expatriate workers were staying, kidnapping a French engineer and killing a security guard and a neighbor, police said Thursday.

The gate outside the building that housed employees of the French company Vergnet had several bullet holes after the raid late Wednesday in the northern state of Katsina, according to residents and police.

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Cash Troubles Threaten 'Gladiator' Tomb in Rome

The tomb of the Roman general who inspired the film "Gladiator" risks falling into oblivion despite a plea from Oscar-winning actor Russell Crowe to save it, as recession-hit Italy struggles to preserve its archaeological jewels.

"It's incredibly sad, this is an extraordinary site. Its fate has caught the eyes of the world," said Daniela Rossi, head archaeologist on the dig that unearthed the tomb of Roman general Marcus Nonius Macrinus.

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