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Dozens Injured after Tornado Hits Eastern Japan

Several dozen people were injured when a tornado ripped through parts of eastern Japan on Monday, tearing off roofs and uprooting buildings.

Footage aired by public broadcaster NHK showed a number of homes destroyed, upturned cars, schools with shattered windows and a warehouse that had been lifted from its foundations and hurled into other buildings in Koshigaya, north of Tokyo.

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Mexico Catches Drug Cartel Leader Dubbed 'Ugly Betty'

Mexican police have detained the alleged leader of the New Juarez Cartel, a 47-year-old man known as "Ugly Betty," authorities said Sunday.

Alberto Carrillo Fuentes was arrested by federal police in the western state of Nayarit and he was later questioned by prosecutors, an official from the attorney general's office told Agence France Presse.

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Taliban Militants Attack U.S. Base in Afghanistan

Militants attacked a U.S. base in Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan on Monday, setting off bombs, torching vehicles and shutting down a key road used by NATO supply trucks, officials said. At least three people — apparently all attacking insurgents — were killed.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the strike in the Torkham area, the latest in a surge of attacks in Afghanistan as U.S.-led foreign troops reduce their presence en route to a full withdrawal by the end of next year. Militants frequently target NATO's supply lines in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

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Inter-Korea Panel Holds First Meet on Industrial Park

North and South Korea held the first meeting Monday of a committee tasked with reopening their Kaesong joint industrial zone -- five months after it was shut down amid soaring military tensions.

The committee, comprising five officials from each side, sat down for talks in Kaesong at 10am (0100 GMT), with the initial agenda focused on the timing for reopening the complex.

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Afghan Presidential Hopeful Named Acting Interior Minister

Potential presidential candidate Omar Daudzai was appointed as Afghanistan's acting interior minister on Sunday, putting him in a high-profile public role seven months before the country's first democratic transfer of power.

Daudzai will move back to Kabul from Islamabad, where he has been ambassador to Pakistan since 2011 during a time of fractious ties between the two rivals and neighbors.

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Bomb Kills 9 Pakistani Soldiers, Wounds 19

A roadside bomb killed nine Pakistani soldiers and wounded 19 others Sunday in a restive northwestern tribal region near the Afghan border, officials said.

The incident happened in the Boya area of North Waziristan, a stronghold of militants linked to the Taliban and al-Qaida.

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Strong Quake Strikes Off Eastern Indonesia

A strong 6.5-magnitude earthquake struck off eastern Indonesia Sunday, the United States Geological Survey said, sending people running from their homes in panic but causing no damage or casualties.

The quake was also felt about 500 kilometers (300 miles) away in Darwin, Australia, where it set bookshelves shaking and moved furniture, the national AAP news agency reported.

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Police Block Turkey's Gezi Park as Peace Protests Erupt

Turkish police Sunday blocked the entrance to Istanbul's Gezi Park, the epicenter of anti-government protests in June, to prevent a demonstration there against a possible military intervention in Syria.

Riot police advanced with shields but held back from using tear gas or water cannon against about 1000 activists who instead formed a human chain on the city's celebrated Istiklal Avenue, according to an Agence France Presse photographer who witnessed the scene.

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British Broadcaster David Frost Dies Aged 74

British broadcasting great David Frost has died of a heart attack, his family said in a statement Sunday. He was 74.

Frost, celebrated for his revealing interviews with former U.S. president Richard Nixon, died Saturday after falling ill on board the Queen Elizabeth cruise liner.

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Report: U.S. Agency Spied on French Diplomats, al-Jazeera TV

The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) spied on the internal communications of France's foreign ministry and diplomats and those of Qatar-based television station al-Jazeera, a German magazine said Sunday.

Der Spiegel reported that in 2010 the NSA monitored the internal computer network of France's diplomats and that of the ministry itself by accessing so-called virtual private networks (VPN), a tool that generally offers a secure internet connection to users.

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