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Berri Slams March 14, Says Opposition Acquired 'Bad' Behavior of March 8

Speaker Nabih Berri lashed out on Wednesday at the March 14 alliance, pointing out that it acquired all the “flaws” of the March 8 camp and added to it its own “dreadful behavior.”

“Instead of cooperating and acquiring each others positive traits, the March 14 forces decided to take the March 8 camp's flaws and added worse behavior to them,” Berri's visitors quoted him as saying in comments published in An Nahar newspaper on Wednesday.

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U.N.: Syrian Refugees in Lebanon Top 100,000

More than 100,000 Syrians have fled their war-torn country for neighboring Lebanon, itself hit by rising tensions in recent days, the U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday.

"Lebanon has become the third country in the region to see its population of registered Syrian refugees and people waiting for registration (exceed) the 100,000 mark," the UNHCR said in a statement.

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Suleiman Resumes Consultations with Rival Parties over Resumption of All-Party Talks

President Michel Suleiman held a series of consultations on Tuesday with Lebanese foes over the political situation in the country while the opposition insists on the resignation of the cabinet as a key condition to resume any political activity with the March 8 alliance.

Head of al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc MP Fouad Saniora held talks with Suleiman at the Baabda Palace, where he briefed him on the March 14 alliance's demands concerning the immediate resignation of the government and the camp's stance from the recent developments in the country.

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Iran Says Could Host Inter-Syrian Dialogue

Iran could soon host a "national dialogue" in the region between all the parties to the Syrian conflict, a senior Iranian official said in media reports on Tuesday.

"Representatives of the (Syrian) government and all political and opposition groups will soon begin a national dialogue in a regional country, and possibly in Tehran," said Hossein Amir Abdollahian, deputy foreign minister for Arab affairs, quoted by the official IRNA news agency.

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Opposition MPs Receive 'Syria Threats' by SMS

March 14 camp MP Ammar Houri revealed that he and four colleagues were texted death threats from a Syrian telephone number before and after Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau head Wissam al-Hasan's assassination on Friday.

"On the eve of the attack, we received an SMS from a Syrian number that read: 'Sons of bitches, we will get you one by one,'" Ammar Houri said on television on Monday night.

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Miqati Refers Hasan Assassination to Judicial Council

Prime Minister Najib Miqati signed on Tuesday the decree to refer the case of the assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau head Wissam al-Hasan's to the judicial council.

The decree has also been referred to President Michel Suleiman.

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Air Raid Targets Syria's Aleppo as Fighting Unabated

Warplanes raided a district of the northern city of Aleppo as fighting across Syria kept up unabated on Tuesday, despite hopes of a ceasefire for later this week, a watchdog said.

The latest violence comes three days ahead of the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha, during which peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has proposed a ceasefire.

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Poll: Most Turks Oppose Intervention in Syria if Assad Falls

A narrow majority of Turks is opposed to any intervention by their country in Syria if President Bashar Assad's regime falls, according to a poll published on Tuesday.

Fifty-one percent of people surveyed believe that Turkey, which shares a long border with Syria, must "remain impartial without favoring any side" in the Syrian crisis, according to the Edam Center survey.

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Assad Declares Amnesty but Excludes 'Terrorists'

President Bashar Assad issued an amnesty for all crimes committed in Syria "up until today," with the notable exception of "terrorist crimes," state television said on Tuesday.

Assad, who has been fighting a 19-month revolt against his regime, "decreed a general amnesty for crimes committed before October 23," except for those carried out by "terrorists" -- the regime's term for rebels.

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Canada Provokes Iran Bust-up at World Meet

Canada's top diplomat blasted Iran for human rights violations and religious intolerance at a meeting Monday of world parliamentarians, drawing an angry response from Tehran's delegation.

Addressing 1,400 lawmakers at the gathering in Quebec City, Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird said Bahais and Christians in Iran were "consistently threatened with death and torture, simply for believing."

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