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Afghan Official: 8 Civilians Killed in NATO Airstrike

Afghan authorities said on Sunday that an airstrike by the U.S.-led NATO coalition killed eight members of a family in eastern Afghanistan.

The coalition said it was aware of the allegation and was investigating the incident late Saturday in Paktia province.

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Syrian Army Pounds Rebel Towns

The Syrian army kept up its bombardment of rebel strongholds on Sunday despite an international outcry over the killing of 92 people, a third of them children, in the shelling of a central town.

Arab and Western governments expressed outrage at the "massacre" in the town of Houla on Friday and Saturday.

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Kuwait: Arab League to Hold Emergency Meeting on Houla Massacre

Arab League foreign ministers are to hold an emergency meeting on a massacre in Syria in which U.N. observers say government forces killed 92 people, the bloc's current president Kuwait said on Sunday.

"Kuwait will contact members of the Arab League to hold an emergency ministerial meeting to study the situation and take measures to put an end to the oppressive practices against the Syrian people," said a foreign ministry statement cited by the official KUNA news agency.

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Report: U.S. to Work with Russia on Yemen Style Plan in Syria

The administration of President Barack Obama is considering working with Russia on a plan calling for the departure of Syrian President Bashar Assad under a proposal modeled on the transition in Yemen, The New York Times reported Sunday.

The newspaper said the plan calls for a negotiated political settlement that would satisfy Syrian opposition groups but that could leave remnants of Assad's government in place.

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Iran: No Reason to Cede on 20% Enriched Uranium

Tehran has "no reason" to suspend its enrichment of uranium to 20 percent -- one of the key demands of world powers engaging Iran in talks -- the head of its Atomic Energy Organization said.

"We have no reason to cede on 20 percent, because we produce only as much of the 20 percent fuel as we need. No more, no less," Fereydoon Abbasi Davani was quoted as saying late Saturday by the ISNA and Mehr news agencies.

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American Kidnapped in West African Nation of Benin

An American citizen has been kidnapped in the West African nation of Benin, a U.S. embassy spokeswoman said Saturday, but details of the incident were unclear.

"I can confirm an American got kidnapped in Benin last week," Melissa Ford, a spokeswoman for the U.S. embassy in neighboring Nigeria, told Agence France Presse, indicating she had no other details.

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Russian Consul Dies in Cliff Fall in Japan

A Russian consul-general in Japan died after falling down a 30-meter (98-foot) cliff during a ball game at a campsite in the northwest of the country, police said Sunday.

Vladimir Pushkov, 55, who was stationed at a consulate general in Niigata prefecture, was on a camping trip with 13 colleagues and their families, an official at Agano police station in Niigata told Agence France Presse.

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4 Workers Dead in Japan Tunnel Explosion

Four Japanese construction workers were confirmed dead Sunday after being recovered from inside a mountain tunnel where they had been trapped since an explosion on Thursday, an official said.

The blast occurred early Thursday inside a 2.8-kilometre (1.7-mile) highway tunnel being built in Minami Uonuma, about 180 kilometers northwest of Tokyo, police and fire department officials said.

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Thousands March in Montreal for Democracy

Some ten thousand protesters on foot, bicycle, skateboard or rollerblades, crossed Montreal late Saturday to the deafening din of pots, fog horns and whistles.

Some carried Quebec flags, others red flags and placards denouncing a special law passed a week ago to limit the right to protest.

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Lady Gaga's Indonesia Concert Cancelled

Pop diva Lady Gaga's show in Indonesia has been cancelled, her promoters said Sunday after Islamic hardliners threatened "chaos" if she entered the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation.

"Lady Gaga's management has considered the situation minute to minute, and with threats if the concert goes ahead, Lady Gaga's side is calling off the concert," Minola Sebayang, lawyer for promoters Big Daddy, told reporters.

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