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Kuwaiti PM Defeats Bid to Oust him

Kuwait's premier on Thursday comfortably survived a parliament vote called by the opposition in a bid to oust him over allegations he boosted ties with Iran rather than Gulf Arab states, the parliament speaker announced.

Only 18 MPs voted for the motion, seven votes short of the required number to unseat Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad al-Sabah, speaker Jassem al-Khorafi said after a secret session.

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Syrian Army Enters Village Bordering Turkey, Hundreds Flee

Hundreds of displaced Syrians poured into Turkey on Thursday after Syrian troops backed by tanks approached their makeshift camps along the border, an Agence France Presse journalist reported.

Several hundred people broke through the barbed wire marking the frontier between the two countries and were seen advancing into Turkish territory on a road used by Turkish border guards, a few kilometers from the Turkish village of Guvecci.

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Gadhafi Says Fight Continues against ‘Crusaders’

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi issued a defiant audio message late Wednesday saying he had his "back to the wall" but did not fear death, and the battle against the Western "crusaders" would continue "to the beyond."

"We will resist and the battle will continue to the beyond, until you're wiped out. But we will not be finished," Gadhafi said in the message broadcast on Libyan television in homage to his comrade Khuwildi Hemidi, several members of whose family were killed Monday in NATO raids on his residence.

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5 Dead, 36 Wounded in Iraq Attacks

Bomb and gun attacks in Baghdad and northern Iraq on Wednesday killed five people and wounded 36, 15 of them policemen, officials said.

A car bomb in the al-Ghazaliyah district of west Baghdad killed one civilian and wounded nine people, three of them policemen, an officer said.

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U.S. 'Concerned' at Stiff Bahrain Opposition Sentences

The United States voiced concern Wednesday over a ruling by a Bahraini court to sentence eight Shiite opposition activists to life in prison.

"We are concerned about the severity of the sentences handed down... in Bahrain. We're also concerned about the use of military courts to try these civilians," State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner told reporters.

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Egypt Islamists Ally with Seculars for Key Election

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has joined forces with 17 other parties, including liberals and leftists, to form a common platform for parliamentary elections, as it seeks to allay fears among secular groups and the country's Christian minority.

In a meeting on Tuesday, the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, the liberal Wafd party, the left-leaning Tagammu and the Noor party, newly formed by Salafist Muslim hardliners, said they would "channel their efforts ... into building a state of law based on citizenship, equality and sovereignty of the people."

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Ban Urges Security Council to Overcome Divisions on Syria

U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad lacked "credibility" and urged the U.N. Security Council to overcome divisions on the Syria crisis.

"I do not see much credibility (in) what he has been saying," Ban told a small group of reporters in an interview to mark his reelection as secretary general.

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Indonesia to Stop Sending Maids to Saudi over Beheading

Indonesia will suspend sending domestic helpers to Saudi Arabia after the beheading of a maid convicted of murdering her Saudi employer, a minister said Wednesday.

"The Indonesian government has decided to impose a moratorium on sending workers to Saudi Arabia," Labor Minister Muhaimin Iskandar was quoted by state news agency Antara as saying.

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Israel Security Cabinet Meets in Jerusalem Nuclear Bunker

Israel's security cabinet on Wednesday met for the first time in a secret nuclear bunker in Jerusalem, officials and press reports said, as part of a massive nationwide defense exercise.

As air raid sirens cut through the air at 11:00 am (0800 GMT), the 14-member security cabinet was safely ensconced inside the underground bunker which is located somewhere in the hills around Jerusalem, Israel's main newspapers and radio stations reported.

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NATO Vows to Press Libya Campaign over Italian Reservations

NATO vowed Wednesday to press its bombing campaign in Libya despite a call from member state Italy for a halt to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid as the civilian death toll mounts.

Alliance chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said more civilians would die if operations were not maintained under a U.N. mandate to protect Libyans from the exactions of the government of veteran leader Moammar Gadhafi.

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