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Climate Talks Soften Stance on Fossil Fuel Phase-Out

Negotiators at this year's U.N. climate talks in Glasgow appeared to be backing away Friday from a call to end all use of coal and phase out fossil fuel subsidies completely, but gave poor countries hope for more financial support to cope with global warming.

The latest draft proposals from the meeting's chair called on countries to accelerate "the phase-out of unabated coal power and of inefficient subsidies for fossil fuels."

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UK, EU Meet as Gloom Grows over Post-Brexit Trade Feud

Top U.K. and European Union officials are meeting Friday to try to resolve their intractable Northern Ireland trade spat, with alarm growing in Europe that Britain plans to suspend parts of the legally binding divorce agreement between the two sides.

That would trigger EU retaliation and could spiral into a trade war between the 27-nation bloc and its increasingly estranged former member.

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Japan's Toshiba Spins off Energy, Computer Device Units

Embattled Japanese technology conglomerate Toshiba said Friday it is restructuring to improve its competitiveness, spinning off its energy infrastructure and computer devices businesses.

The energy infrastructure spinoff will include Tokyo-based Toshiba Corp.'s nuclear power operations, including the decommissioning efforts at the nuclear plant in Fukushima that suffered meltdowns after an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

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Russia Sends Paratroopers to Belarus for Drills near Poland

Russia sent paratroopers to Belarus Friday in a show of support for its ally amid the tensions over an influx of migrants on the Belarusian border with Poland.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that as part of joint war games Russian paratroopers will parachute from heavylift Il-76 transport planes in Belarus' Grodno region that borders Poland.

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Bomb Hits Mosque in Afghanistan, Wounds at Least 15

A Taliban provincial spokesman says a bomb exploded in a mosque during Friday prayers, wounding 15 people in eastern Afghanistan, where Islamic State group militants have been waging a campaign of violence.

Qari Hanif, the government spokesman for Nangarhar Province, said the bomb appeared to have been planted inside the mosque in the town of Traili, located in the mountainous Spin Ghar area outside the provincial capital Jalalabad.

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SKorean Candidate Takes Tough Line on NKorea Nuclear Program

South Korea's main opposition presidential candidate said Friday he will strengthen military cooperation with the United States and Japan if elected to better cope with North Korea's nuclear threat and would strive to make the North a leading foreign policy priority for the U.S.

Yoon Suk Yeol has been leading public opinion surveys since becoming the conservative main opposition party's nominee last week for next March's election to choose the successor of current liberal President Moon Jae-in.

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Turkey Halts Flights for Some Mideast Citizens to EU's dDoor

Turkey's Civil Aviation Authority said Friday that the country is halting airline ticket sales to Iraqi, Syrian and Yemeni citizens wanting to travel to Belarus, which in recent months became a route for migrants and refugees to enter the European Union.

EU leaders have put increasing pressure on airlines to stop bringing people from the Middle East to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, from where asylum-seekers seeking better lives can then travel by car to the EU's doorstep.

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Gaza Doctor Seeks Apology from Israel for Daughters' Deaths

Izzeldin Abuelaish captured widespread sympathy in Israel when he lost three daughters and a niece in an Israeli strike during the 2009 war in the Gaza Strip. Now, the Palestinian doctor is seeking justice in Israel's highest court.

Abuelaish is scheduled to appear before the Supeme Court in Jerusalem on Monday in hopes of receiving an apology from Israel and compensation for his loss.

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Pakistan Hosts U.S., Russia, China for Talks on Afghanistan

Pakistan on Thursday hosted talks with special envoys from the United States, Russia and China on the path forward for Afghanistan, where a deepening humanitarian crisis has forced many Afghans to migrate to neighboring countries since the Taliban takeover in August.

The international community has not recognized the government appointed by the Taliban. Afghanistan's Taliban-appointed foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, did not attend the meeting but later met with the special envoys in Islamabad.

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Calls Mount for Israel to Free Palestinians on Hunger Strike

Israel has faced growing calls to release five Palestinians who have been on hunger strike for weeks to protest a controversial policy of holding them indefinitely without charge, including one who has been fasting for 120 days and is in severe condition.

Israel says the policy, known as "administrative detention," is needed to detain suspects without disclosing sensitive intelligence, while the Palestinians and human rights groups say it denies them due process. Suspects can be held for months or years without seeing the evidence against them.

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