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PLO Council in Show of Support for Abbas at U.N.

Members of the Palestinian parliament in exile met in Ramallah on Monday to show support for the campaign to seek full membership in the United Nations, a senior official said.

Some 50 members of the Palestinian National Council, which has 669 seats and represents Palestinians worldwide, met at al-Amari refugee camp.

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Israel Ends Police Cooperation with Turkey‎

Israel said on Monday it was withdrawing its police representative from Turkey and ending bilateral cooperation between their forces as the diplomatic crisis between the two former allies deepened.

"Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch has ordered the transfer to Bucharest of the Israel Police representative in Ankara," ministry spokesman Tal Volovich told Agence France Presse.

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Juppe Fears 'Explosion of Violence' in Mideast

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe Monday warned of the risk of an "explosion of violence" if the Palestinian situation is not resolved, saying the status quo was "neither acceptable nor tenable."

"The relaunch of the peace process is needed," Juppe told an audience at a think-tank in New York, amid frantic diplomatic efforts to stop the Palestinians seeking U.N. recognition of their statehood.

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Juppe Slams Syria 'Crimes against Humanity', U.N. 'Silence'

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe accused the Syrian regime Monday of "crimes against humanity" and slammed the U.N. Security Council for failing to take a strong stand on the unrest.

"Crimes against humanity are committed in Syria. The silence of the Security Council is unacceptable," Juppe told the Council on Foreign Relations, at a talk held on the sidelines of a week of U.N. summits.

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Syria Frees Opposition Figure

A Syrian judge freed opposition figure Georges Sabra on Monday, almost two months after he was arrested at his home in Qatana near Damascus, his lawyer said.

"The judge decided to release Georges Sabra today after questioning on charges that were brought against him," said the lawyer Khalil Maatuk.

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Gadhafi Son Seif Seen in Fight for Bani Walid

Fierce fighting raged Monday in Bani Walid as new regime fighters attacked the town where Moammar Gadhafi's son Seif al-Islam is holed up, possibly with his father, said the new authorities.

"The revolutionaries came to Bani Walid this morning and engaged in a hard battle," Abdullah Kenshil, a senior official in the National Transitional Council (NTC), told Agence France Presse.

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Yemeni Forces Kill 31 as Anti-Regime Protests Rage

Security forces shot dead at least 31 people in Yemen on Monday, among them two children killed by snipers, protest organizers and medics said, as the United States called for restraint.

Organizers of anti-regime demonstrations in Sanaa said in a statement that 27 people were killed on Monday and that 942 people were wounded by gunfire over the past 48 hours, and that 47 are in critical condition.

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U.N. Envoy, Gulf Mediator Arrive in Sanaa

A U.N. envoy to Yemen and the Gulf Cooperation Council chief arrived in Sanaa Monday, state news agency Saba and an airport official said, as deadly clashes raged in the capital.

"U.N. envoy Jamal Benomar and the convoy accompanying him arrived in Sanaa," Saba reported, while an official at Sanaa airport told Agence France Presse that GCC Secretary General Abdullatif al-Zayani also arrived in the restive capital.

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Iran Arrests 5 People for Working for BBC

Iranian state television is reporting that authorities have arrested five people for working for the BBC's Farsi-language service.

Monday's report on the channel's website says the group provided the British Broadcasting Corp. with video and negative news reports on Iran. The report did not identify them by their full names.

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Turkish Military Plane Fired On over Libya

A Turkish military cargo plane dropping humanitarian aid over the Libyan town of Bani Walid came under fire from the ground, the Turkish news agency Anatolia reported Monday.

The incident happened on Saturday when one of two Turkish C-130 transport planes parachuting 22 tons of aid to residents, was fired on, the agency said, citing a journalist on the plane.

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