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Shafiq's Campaign Insists He Won Egypt Vote

Ousted Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq, won a presidential election runoff, his campaign team insisted on Tuesday, disputing his Islamist rival's claim of victory.

"We are certain that the next president of Egypt is General Shafiq," his campaign spokesman Ahmed Sarhan told a news conference.

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Syria Opposition Says Jordan Tightening Border Controls

Jordan has tightened border controls to prevent loyalists of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from infiltrating into the kingdom, an official of the opposition Syrian National Council said on Tuesday.

"Jordan used to have an open border policy with the Syrians, but now new regulations prevent some Syrians from entering the kingdom," Amman-based SNC official Nizar Heraki told Agence France Presse.

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Iraq Court Hears Testimony Linking VP to Killings

The trial of Iraq's fugitive Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi resumed on Tuesday, with the court hearing testimony that silencers were found in raids on his house and that of his son-in-law.

Lawyers for Hashemi, who has been accused of running a death squad and is being tried in absentia, also officially returned to the trial after withdrawing in May.

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Hamas Militants Claim 10 Grad Rockets Fired at Israel

Militants from the armed wing of Gaza's ruling Hamas movement on Tuesday said they had fired 10 Grad rockets at Israel in a rare show of force after Israeli raids killed six.

"This is our answer to the Zionist crimes. It will continue if they carry out more strikes on Gaza," a statement said, with a spokesman confirming it was the first time they had fired such longer-range rockets at Israel since April 2011.

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France Urges Egypt's Military to Hand Power to Government

France on Tuesday voiced concern that Egypt's military appeared to be clinging to power after a pivotal presidential vote and called for a speedy return to democracy.

Egypt's ruling military council announced de facto martial law just after the election, giving the armed forces control over the legislature and state budget.

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Rebel Cities Hit as Syria Violence Kills 36

Troops pounded and raided rebel strongholds across Syria and clashes erupted in Homs on Tuesday as 36 people were killed in violence nationwide, a watchdog said.

Regime forces clashed with rebels before dawn in Homs where a soldier was killed amid "intermittent shelling" of the central city, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

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Syria Rebels Woo Kurds, Urge them to Join Fight

The Free Syrian Army Tuesday called on their "Kurdish brothers" to join rebels fighting President Bashar Assad's regime, while promising an end to injtices against Kurds in a future democratic Syria.

"The Joint Command of the Free Syrian Army ... appeals to our Kurdish brothers, soldiers and civilians, and invites them to join the ranks of the FSA inside the country," the group's spokesman Colonel Kassem Saadeddine said in an online video.

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Syria Says Gunmen Prevent Evacuation of Homs Residents

Syria on Tuesday accused gunmen of using Homs residents as "human shields" and of blocking government's efforts to evacuate them from the besieged central city.

"Contacts have been made with the head of the U.N. observers and local authorities in order to facilitate the departure of innocent citizens (besieged) in Homs," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

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Saudi Arabia Beheads Two Egyptians, Two National

Saudi authorities on Tuesday beheaded two Egyptians who kidnapped a nine-year-old girl and tortured her for years and also executed two of its citizens, state news agency SPA reported.

Mohammed bin Nafe and Jamalat bin Nafe, apparently his sister, "kidnapped a nine-year-old girl from the (Muslim) Prophet's Mosque in (the holy city of) Medina, torturing and locking her up at their residence for three years and six months," SPA reported quoting the interior ministry.

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UK Insurer Stops Russian Ship over Syria Arms Claims

A Russian ship allegedly carrying attack helicopters and missiles destined for Syria has stopped off the Scottish coast after its British insurer withdrew cover for the vessel.

Britain said it was aware of a consignment of refurbished Russian-made helicopters on a ship heading to Syria but did not specify the vessel, and refused to confirm reports that it had alerted the insurer.

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