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U.N. Defends Aid Work in Syria

The United Nations defended its humanitarian work in Syria on Monday, saying it deals with all parties in a "neutral and transparent manner" and offers assistance to all those affected by the conflict.

Radhouane Nouicer, the regional coordinator for the U.N.'S OCHA humanitarian affairs office, said the organisation was working under tough conditions and repeated a call for additional funding.

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Syria Rebels 'Want Interim Government to Rule Whole Country'

Syria's rebel chief said in Istanbul on Monday that the mainstream rebel Free Syrian Army wants an interim government to administer the whole of Syria and not just the areas freed from regime forces.

The demand came as the main opposition Syrian National Coalition met in Turkey to select an interim prime minister and government for large swathes of territory in the strife-torn country that have slipped out of President Bashar Assad's hands.

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Over 6,800 Women, Children Killed in Syria

More than 6,800 women and children have been killed in two years of fighting in Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog said on Monday, putting the total toll at around 59,000 dead.

That figure is lower than the roughly 70,000 people that the United Nations says it believes have been killed since Syrian opposition activists began an uprising against the regime of President Bashar Assad.

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U.N. Experts Demand Immediate End to Israeli Settlements

Israel must immediately begin withdrawing its settlers from the Palestinian territories, a U.N. expert told diplomats Monday, even as the new Israeli government appeared set to strengthen the hand of the Jewish settler lobby.

Israel must "immediately and without preconditions cease the settlement activity and to initiate a process of withdrawal from the settlements," Christine Chanet told the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, lamenting a "rampant annexation" of Palestinian territories.

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Damascus Districts Shelled, Students Arrested

Syrian regime forces resumed shelling parts of Damascus on Monday as security forces carried out arrests of students in housing attached to Damascus University, a monitoring group said.

"There is shelling of the areas of Maadaniya (south) and Jubar (east) by regime forces," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, reporting sniper fire and casualties in the city's northern Barzeh district as well.

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Somali Car Bomb Attack Kills Eight

At least eight people were killed Monday by a car bomb in central Mogadishu in one of the bloodiest attacks in the war-ravaged capital in recent months, police said.

Security sources added that a top intelligence official was the target of the attack, and that he was wounded in the blast, although there was no immediate official confirmation.

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'Qaida' Attack on Iraq Ministry Killed 30

A brazen attack on the Iraqi justice ministry claimed by al-Qaida's Iraqi affiliate killed 30 people and wounded 50, state TV quoted justice minister Hassan al-Shammari as saying on Monday.

Security and medical officials had previously put the toll from the March 14 violence at 18 killed and 30 wounded.

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Police Kill Protester in Yemen Anti-Dialogue Demo

Police shot dead a protester in the historic southeastern Yemeni city of Tarim during a demonstration Monday against a national dialogue that opened in the capital, an activist said.

The protester was killed "by police gunfire during clashes with demonstrators protesting against the dialogue," Southern Movement activist Fuad Rashid told Agence France Presse.

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Saudi Court Sentences Indonesian Maid to Death for Child Murder

A Saudi court sentenced an Indonesian housemaid to death after she was convicted of murdering her employers' four-year-old child, the Saudi Gazette reported on Monday.

The maid was "charged with decapitating the girl with a cleaver when her parents were away at work and her sisters were at school," the newspaper reported, adding that the woman's lawyer will file an appeal.

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Jewish Settler Hurt in West Bank Drive-by Shooting

An Israeli settler was moderately wounded in the northern West Bank on Monday when Palestinians in a passing car opened fire on a bus stop where he was standing, police and the army said.

The car fled the scene and troops were conducting searches in the area, a military spokesman said, indicating the shooting took place just outside Kedumim settlement west of Nablus.

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