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Syria U.N. Envoy to Head Government Team in Moscow Talks

The Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar Jaafari, will head the government team in peace talks due to open in Moscow on Monday, a pro-government newspaper reported.

But the delegation will not join the talks until Wednesday, after two days of preliminary discussions among opposition participants, the Al-Watan newspaper reported.

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Israel Book Chain Drops Charlie Hebdo In-Store Promo Plan

Israel's largest book chain has dropped plans for an in-store promotion of the latest edition of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, saying the edition would be sold only online. 

The issue, going on sale in the Jewish state by Steimatzky on Monday, is the first published since a deadly attack on the magazine's Paris offices on January 7 and has a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed on the cover. 

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Militia Disperse Sanaa Protest as Yemen Stuck in Power Vacuum

Shiite militia fired warning shots Sunday to disperse a protest against their takeover of Sanaa as parliament failed to convene to discuss the president's resignation, prolonging a dangerous power vacuum in Yemen.

President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, a key U.S. ally in the fight against al-Qaida's Yemen-based deadly franchise, tendered his resignation along with Prime Minister Khalid Bahah on Thursday, saying he could no longer stay in office as Yemen was in "total deadlock".

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Saudi Capital Turns Quiet for Day of Mourning

The normally gridlocked streets of the Saudi capital were quiet on Sunday after King Salman declared a day of mourning for his predecessor Abdullah, and more foreign leaders made their way to the kingdom.

Singapore's Home Affairs Minister Teo Chee Hean arrived, and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was on his way to offer condolences to Salman, who acceded to the throne on Friday after Abdullah's death at the age of about 90.

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Report: Germany Halts Arms Exports to Saudi Arabia

Germany has decided to stop arms exports to Saudi Arabia because of "instability in the region," German daily Bild reported on Sunday.

Weapons orders from Saudi Arabia have either been "rejected, pure and simple," or deferred for further consideration, the newspaper said, adding that the information has not been officially confirmed.

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Libya's Ansar al-Sharia Group Confirms Chief's Death

Libya's Ansar al-Sharia jihadist group on Saturday confirmed the death of its leader Mohamed al-Zehawi, after Islamist websites reported he had been mortally wounded in fighting in October.

"We mourn the death of the Emir of Ansar al-Sharia Sheikh Mohamed al-Zehawi," the group said in a statement, without giving details about the time or circumstances of his death.

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U.S.: Coalition Air Raids Back up Kurdish Advance in Iraq

U.S.-led forces have carried out dozens of air strikes in Iraq to back up Kurdish forces advancing against Islamic State jihadists near the strategic city of Mosul, the American military said Saturday.

Over the past 72 hours, U.S. and coalition aircraft conducted 46 bombing raids in support of Kurdish peshmerga troops near Mosul and 80 hours of reconnaissance flights, the military said in a statement.

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Morocco Seizes 24 Tonnes of Hashish after Spain Busts Ring

Moroccan security forces seized nearly 24 tonnes of hashish from a number of boats and arrested 11 people after an overnight chase off the northern coast, the MAP news agency reported Saturday.

The operation came hours after Spanish police said they had seized 11 tonnes of hashish and detained 55 people across the country as part of an operation targeting a Moroccan drug trafficking ring.

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Palestinians March Against Charlie Hebdo Cartoon

Thousands of Palestinians marched Saturday in the West Bank in protest over the latest cartoon depicting the Prophet Mohammed published by French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo,

Answering calls by the Liberation Party, an Islamist group, demonstrators rallied in the cities of Ramallah and Hebron, some carrying banners expressing faith in Islam and others wearing black headbands calling for the establishment of a Muslim caliphate, AFP photographers said.

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Egypt Protester Killed on Eve of Uprising Anniversary

A female demonstrator was killed in clashes with Egyptian police during a rare leftwing protest in central Cairo Saturday, the eve of the anniversary of the 2011 uprising against Hosni Mubarak, an official said.

Shaima al-Sabbagh, who friends said was 34 and the mother of a five-year-old boy, died of birdshot wounds, a health ministry spokesman said.

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