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Iraq Seeks to Bar Top Officials from Dual Citizenship

Iraq's cabinet sent a draft law to parliament on Tuesday that would bar top government officials and officers in the security forces from holding dual citizenship, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's spokesman said.

Under the proposed law, ministers, MPs, governors, ambassadors and security officers would have to choose between giving up their second citizenship or leaving their post, Ali Mussawi said.

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U.N. Says 5,000 Killed Every Month in Worsening Syria War

Five thousand people a month are dying in the Syria war which has now thrown up the worst refugee crisis since the 1994 Rwandan genocide, U.N. officials said Tuesday.

A host of top officials called on the divided U.N. Security Council to take stronger action to deal with the fallout from the 26 month old civil war in which the United Nations says up to 100,000 people have died.

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Syria Regime Punishes Food Hoarders

The Syrian government approved on Tuesday a law imposing penalties ranging from fines to imprisonment for people caught hoarding food in the war-torn country, state television reported.

"A draft law penalizing those who raise food prices or hoard food has been approved" by the cabinet, said the broadcaster.

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Kerry Arrives in Jordan for Peace Talks

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Jordan Tuesday on his sixth Middle East trip in as many months as he pushes for a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

During his visit, Kerry is due to hold separate meetings with Jordanian leaders, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and an Arab League delegation.

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Egypt Copts Hopeful over New Govt despite Attacks

Egypt's Coptic Christians are holding out hope the removal of an Islamist president will help curtail sectarian discrimination against them, despite being targeted in deadly attacks since Mohammed Morsi's ouster.

At least six Copts have been killed in a wave of nationwide violence following the popularly backed military coup on July 3, said the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR).

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Pakistan Taliban Deny Sending Fighters to Syria

The Pakistani Taliban Tuesday rejected suggestions they were sending fighters to Syria, saying some have gone there independently but the movement's focus remained in Pakistan.

Taliban sources said some militants, mainly Arabs and Central Asians, had gone to fight the forces of President Bashar Assad, but a senior leader dismissed reports of them setting up camps in Syria.

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Gunmen Kill Libya Brigade Commander

Gunmen in a vehicle have shot dead a commander of a Libyan air force brigade in the eastern city of Derna, Lana news agency said on Tuesday.

"Colonel Fethi Ali al-Amami, a commander with the investigation and rescue brigade of the Libyan air force, was killed on Monday night in the city of Derna," the agency reported.

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Egypt Voices 'Strong Resentment' at Turkey's Morsi Support

Egypt's interim government voiced "strong resentment" on Tuesday at comments by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan backing ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi.

The foreign ministry expressed "strong resentment at comments like these, which... represent a clear intervention in internal Egyptian affairs," its spokesman Badr Abdelatty said.

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Algeria President Returns Home after Paris Hospital Stay

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika returned home on Tuesday from Paris after a stay of almost three months in hospital that caused huge concern in the North African country, officials said.

The plane that flew Bouteflika from Le Bourget airport near Paris landed at around 1340 GMT at the Boufarik military airport, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) east of Algiers, they said.

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Bahrain Police Arrest 3 for Attack on MP's Home

Bahraini authorities have arrested three "terrorists" who allegedly hurled firebombs at the home of a Shiite lawmaker without causing casualties even though he was inside when the assault occurred, police said on Tuesday.

"Investigations have led to the identification and arrest of three terrorists who will be referred to public prosecution," the police said in a statement carried by the official BNA news agency.

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