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Baghdad Blasts Kill 16, Shatter Relative Calm

A spate of bombings in Baghdad on Thursday killed at least 16 people and wounded dozens more, shattering a relative calm with the capital's deadliest violence in weeks.

Roadside bombs and explosives-packed cars detonated across a half-dozen neighborhoods in the north, south and west of Baghdad, underlining persistent security concerns even as international energy companies met in the center of the capital to bid on nationwide oil and gas exploration blocks.

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Rebels Give Assad Regime Friday Deadline to Halt Violence

Armed rebels have given the Damascus regime until noon (0900 GMT) Friday to stick to Kofi Annan's peace plan to end violence in Syria, warning they themselves will quit the truce unless the ultimatum is met.

"If the Syrian regime does not meet the deadline by Friday midday, the command of the Free Syrian Army announces that it will no longer be tied by any commitment to the Annan plan ... and our duty will be ... to defend civilians," a FSA statement said.

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McCain and Lieberman: Time to Arm Syrian Opposition

Senior U.S. senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman said Thursday it was time to arm Syria's opposition as they expressed disgust over a massacre last week blamed on government forces.

"It's time to act. It's time to give the Syrian opposition the weapons in order to defend themselves. It's not a fair fight," the Republican McCain told reporters in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.

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U.S. Levies New Sanctions on Key Syrian Bank

The Obama administration added new sanctions on a Syrian bank Wednesday as a top White House official said the U.S. wants to economically throttle the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad and cut off salaries of pro-government thugs blamed for the grisly massacre in Houla.

The Treasury Department said the Syria International Islamic Bank has been acting as a front for other Syrian financial institutions seeking to circumvent sanctions. The new penalties will prohibit the SIIB from engaging in financial transactions in the U.S. and will freeze any assets under U.S. jurisdiction.

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West Wants Increased Pressure on Syria but Russia Rejects Sanctions

Western nations on Wednesday demanded increased pressure on Syria amid heightened outrage over two massacres in five days, but Russia maintained its opposition to sanctions.

The United States, France, Britain and Germany all came out of a U.N. Security Council meeting on the worsening crisis urging measures up to sanctions by the 15-nation body.

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Saudi Court Overturns Mixed Sexes in Workplace

A Saudi court overturned on Wednesday provisions of a labor ministry circular that allowed saleswomen to work alongside men in shops, a lawyer told Agence France Presse.

The court in Riyadh "abolished part of the decision by the ministry of labor which allowed shop owners to employ men and women in the same place," based on a law suit filed by businessman, lawyer Mohammed al-Zamel told AFP.

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Bahrain Releases Shiite Female Protester

Bahraini authorities have released activist Zainab al-Khawaja after she served a one-month jail sentence for attacking a policewoman at a protest, her lawyer Mohammed al-Jishi told Agence France Presse on Wednesday.

"Zainab was released on Tuesday after she served her one-month jail term," Jishi told AFP. She also paid a 200 dinars ($530) fine for having insulted a police officer.

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Berlin Says 'No Reason' to Speculate on Military Option in Syria

Germany sees no grounds to speculate on a possible military intervention in Syria, its foreign minister said Wednesday, a day after France's president said armed force was not ruled out.

"From the federal government's point of view, there is no reason to speculate over military options," Guido Westerwelle was quoted as saying in an interview to appear in Thursday's issue of the Die Welt daily.

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Mubarak Sons to Face New Trial for Stock Market Corruption

Deposed Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak's sons, already on trial for corruption with their father, will face a new separate case for alleged corrupt stock market dealings, state media reported Wednesday.

The official Nile Television reported that Alaa and Gamal Mubarak would go on trial in a criminal court with seven other defendants. They and their father are facing a verdict on June 2 on corruption charges in the first trial.

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Syria Expels Dutch Charge d'Affaires

Syria ordered the Dutch charge d'affaires on Wednesday to leave the country, the foreign ministry said, in an apparent reaction to the expulsion of Syrian diplomats by a slew of Western countries.

"Syria is expelling the charge d'affaires of the Netherlands and gives her 72 hours to leave the country," a statement said.

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