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WORLD

Syria regime unleashes artillery barrage on Qusair

Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad unleashed on Saturday their heaviest artillery and rocket barrage yet in a week-long battle to dislodge rebels from a strategic western town, activists said.

WORLD

Chile's Indians take on world's largest gold miner

The Diaguita Indians live in the foothills of the Andes, just downstream from the world's highest gold mine, where for as long as anyone can remember they've drunk straight from the glacier-fed river that irrigates their orchards and vineyards with its clear water.

WORLD

Kerry makes sub-Saharan Africa visit

Making his first official trip to sub-Saharan Africa, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday demanded that Nigeria respect human rights as it cracks down on Islamist extremists and pledged to work hard in the coming months to ease tensions between Sudan and South Sudan.

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WORLD

Toronto mayor denies he smokes crack cocaine

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford denied that he smokes crack cocaine and said he is not an addict, breaking a week of silence over reports of a video purportedly showing him using the drug. Critics were not appeased, with one city councilor questioning whether the mayor told "the whole truth" and another ...

WORLD

NKorean envoy delivers letter to China's president

A top North Korean envoy has delivered a letter from leader Kim Jong Un to Chinese President Xi Jinping and told him Pyongyang would take steps to rejoin stalled nuclear disarmament talks, in an apparent victory for Beijing's efforts to coax its unruly ally into lowering tensions.

WORLD

Ex-Guatemala president extradited to US

Former Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo was extradited on Friday to the United States to face charges of laundering $70 million in Guatemalan funds through U.S. bank accounts.

WORLD

Soldier's slaying prompts UK security review

Both of the suspects accused of butchering a British soldier during broad daylight on a London street had long been on the radar of Britain's domestic spy agency, though investigators say it would have been nearly impossible to predict that the men were on the verge of a brutal killing.