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Holiday Blues? Obama 'A Little Depressed'

Forsaking his annual vacation in Martha's Vineyard to campaign for re-election, U.S. President Barack Obama has admitted to a bit of holiday blues as his daughters head off to summer camp.

Obama said he was going to spend most of the summer campaigning ahead of the November 6 election and to make matters worse his daughters Malia, 14, and Sasha, 11, were soon going to be flying the White House nest.

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'Monica, Monica' Chants Taunt Clinton in Egypt

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was taunted by chants of "Monica, Monica" by tomato-throwing demonstrators as she visited the Egyptian port city of Alexandria on Sunday.

The chants, referring to the Monica Lewinsky scandal when her husband, Bill Clinton, was president, were heard outside the U.S. consulate as she visited for its reopening.

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Lightning Strike Injures 17 at Canada Food Fest

Seventeen people were injured and taken to hospital Sunday after lightning struck a tent pole at an outdoor food festival in eastern Canada during a storm, police and officials said.

"There was a strike to one of the tent poles," Whitby Ribfest organizer Colin O'Regan told public broadcaster CBC, adding the injured had been eating inside the tent when the incident occurred.

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LA Bear Who Became Twitter Star Back in Wild

A bear which became a minor star in Los Angeles, with over 24,000 Twitter followers, was returned to the wild Sunday after being found asleep in a tree, officials said.

The bear was nicknamed "Glen Bearian" after the Glendale neighborhood where he had become a regular visitor, with residents posting pictures taken on cellphones. Others called him Meatball.

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Pet Hotel Thrives As Koreans Seek Canine Companions

Checking into one of Seoul's newest luxury clinics just because your companion needs a shower may seem extravagant, but Cho Hang-Min said he had no other choice.

"Other places won't do it," said Cho, a student, explaining why he and his Border Collie have stopped off at Irion.

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UK Immigration Laws Spark Pakistan Wedding Boom

New British immigration laws have unleashed a stampede to wed and a frenzy of English lessons for Pakistanis desperate to migrate as new restrictions come into effect.

The boom was particularly marked in Mirpur, where Islamabad estimates 200,000 of Britain's 1.2 million Pakistanis have their family origins.

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Animal Rights Group Wants Pamplona Bull Run Banned

Animal welfare group Vier Pfoten (Four Paws) urged Spanish authorities Friday to ban the famous Pamplona Bull Run, which left 22 people injured and 42 bulls dead this week.

"Four Paws is demanding an immediate break with this cruel tradition, in which many people get hurt and many bulls suffer a painful death every year," the international organization said in a statement on its Bulgarian website.

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Top Rights Court Upholds Swiss Ban on UFO Group's Posters

More than a decade after Swiss police barred a UFO religious group from putting up posters depicting aliens, Europe's top rights court ruled Friday the sect's free speech had not been violated.

Police in the Swiss canton of Neuchatel in 2001 banned the Raelian group, which claims aliens created life on earth, from putting up the posters.

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Ding Dong! Priest 1, Man City 0

They're England's best football club. But as they end their first week in an Austrian training camp, Manchester City is down 1-0 in the battle of the bells against a local priest whose dawn church chimes are waking the players earlier than wanted.

City, the English Premier League champions for the first time in 44 years, are spending hundreds of thousands of euros (dollars) on the 12-day exercise in the Tyrolean village of Seefeld and they want the players to train hard — and rest well.

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Japan Customs Say Pens Need Weapons Import License

Japanese customs officials who impounded 200 pens more than a year ago said Friday the writing implements needed a weapons import license because they were shaped like bullets.

Fountain and ballpoint pens made by U.S. firearms and knife manufacturers, including Smith and Wesson, have been held up by inspectors in Nagoya and Osaka since April 2011.

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