Today's Reuters World News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
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Major battle in Syria; shops shut by strike
Sun,11 Dec 2011 07:51 PM PST
Reuters -  AMMAN (Reuters) - AMMAN, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Syrian troops and army defectors have fought one of the biggest battles in Syria's nine-month uprising while a protest strike shut businesses in a new gesture of civil disobedience, residents and activists said. Arab foreign ministers will meet on Saturday to discuss a response to Syria's conditional acceptance of an Arab peace plan aimed at ending its crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, Egypt's MENA news agency said, citing an Arab diplomat. ...
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Australia PM reshuffles cabinet, targets jobs
Sun,11 Dec 2011 07:38 PM PST
Reuters -  CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard reshuffled her cabinet on Monday, focusing on job creation and labor relations, as she tries to reverse plummeting voter support ahead of elections due within two years. Gillard's changes included promoting junior minister Bill Shorten to a new super ministry for jobs, prosperity and industrial relations, while other major economic, defense and foreign ministry portfolios were unchanged. "Our focus will always be jobs for Australians today and jobs tomorrow. ...
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Ex-Panama strongman Noriega returns home to prison
Sun,11 Dec 2011 07:14 PM PST
Reuters -  GAMBOA, Panama (Reuters) - Manuel Noriega, Panama's drug-running military dictator of the 1980s, was extradited back to the country on Sunday and taken straight to prison to serve a 20-year sentence for the murders of opponents during his rule. Noriega, now 77, was toppled in a U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989 and has spent the last two decades behind bars, first in Florida and then in France after being convicted for drug trafficking and money laundering. ...
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Death in custody follows fresh unrest in Chinese village
Sun,11 Dec 2011 07:04 PM PST
Reuters - HONG KONG (Reuters) - A Chinese man accused of participating in a riot over land claims in September died in police custody on Sunday, threatening to fan tensions in a far southern region that has become a source of persistent unrest. The death in Guangdong province occurred as masses of riot police moved to quell a longstanding dispute in Wukan village on the east coast of the booming province, where industrial development has consumed swathes of rice paddies. ... Full Story | Top |
South Korean coastguard "killed by Chinese fisherman"
Sun,11 Dec 2011 06:52 PM PST
Reuters - SEOUL (Reuters) - A South Korean coastguard was stabbed to death by a Chinese fisherman Monday in an operation to apprehend a Chinese vessel operating illegally near South Korean waters, a South Korean official said. Two South Koreans were stabbed in the operation in the Yellow Sea off the west coast near the border with North Korea, the coastguard said. Chinese fishing boats are frequently caught fishing in South Korean waters, sometimes leading to violent clashes with South Korean maritime police. "One officer is dead. There is another one injured. ... Full Story | Top |
Peru's Humala tightens grip in Cabinet overhaul
Sun,11 Dec 2011 06:49 PM PST
Reuters -  LIMA (Reuters) - Peruvian President Ollanta Humala swore in a new team of ministers on Sunday in a shake-up that could lead to harsher crackdowns on social protests but will leave the country's free-market economic model in place. Humala, who was a soldier before becoming a politician, named Oscar Valdes, a former army officer who was his instructor in the military, to be prime minister. ...
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Ivory Coast vote peaceful, opposition boycotts
Sun,11 Dec 2011 05:33 PM PST
Reuters -  ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivory Coast awaited results from its first parliamentary election for a decade, with officials saying a boycott by the opposition had done little to disrupt voting in the country recovering from a crippling civil war. Election officials said they expected most of the results from Sunday's vote would be known by Tuesday, with the outcome seen strengthening the hand of President Alassane Ouattara's ruling coalition. ...
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Medvedev orders Russia poll inquiry, gets insults
Sun,11 Dec 2011 04:39 PM PST
Reuters -  MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Dmitry Medvedev ordered an investigation on Sunday into allegations of fraud in Russia's parliamentary election, one day after tens of thousands of protesters demanded it be annulled and rerun. Medvedev responded on his Facebook site to the protesters' complaints that the December 4 election, won by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's United Russia, was slanted in its favor. But he did not mention their calls for an end to Putin's rule and received one insult after another on his Facebook site from people who made clear his reply was insufficient. ...
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Pakistan's Zardari to rest in Dubai for 2 more weeks: report
Sun,11 Dec 2011 03:47 PM PST
Reuters -  SINGAPORE, Dec 12 - Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari will remain in Dubai for two more weeks, the country's prime minister was quoted as saying, after his rush to a hospital there triggered speculation he might resign. Zardari, 56, likely suffered a transient ischemic attack, sources said last week, which can produce stroke-like symptoms but no lasting damage to the brain. Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani told the BBC in an interview published on its website on Sunday that Zardari was making rapid progress in hospital, but needed to rest for two more weeks before returning home. ...
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Peru's Humala picks technocrat for mining ministry
Sun,11 Dec 2011 03:33 PM PST
Reuters - LIMA (Reuters) - Peruvian President Ollanta Humala has picked Jorge Humberto Merino, who worked for the government agency that promotes foreign investment, to be his new mines and energy minister, local media reported on Sunday. Peru is a top global minerals exporter and relies on foreign investment in the mining and oil sectors to fuel its swift economic growth. Merino, an engineer, will replace Carlos Herrera, who had tussled with other members of a diverse Cabinet that Humala said on Saturday he would overhaul after only five months in office. ... Full Story | Top |
One person wounded in south Lebanon by rocket
Sun,11 Dec 2011 02:53 PM PST
Reuters - BEIRUT (Reuters) - One person was injured in southern Lebanon Sunday when a rocket apparently fired toward Israel hit a Lebanese border village, security sources in Lebanon said. They said the rocket was fired from the Wadi al-Qaisiyeh area, about 2 km (one mile) from the frontier and landed in the village of Houla inside Lebanon. Two weeks ago Israel said several rockets were fired across the border from Lebanon, the first such incident since 2009. Lebanon's army said Israel launched four rockets in return. ... Full Story | Top |
Former Panama strongman Noriega heads home to prison
Sun,11 Dec 2011 02:53 PM PST
Reuters - PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Manuel Noriega, Panama's drug-running military dictator of the 1980s, left Paris early on Sunday, headed for a prison in his home country to serve a 20-year term for the murders of opponents during his rule. Noriega, now 77, was toppled in a U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989 and has spent the last two decades behind bars, first in Florida and then in France after being convicted for drug trafficking and money laundering during his time in power. ...
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Ivorian vote peaceful, ruling coalition set to win
Sun,11 Dec 2011 02:51 PM PST
Reuters - ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivory Coast held its first parliamentary election for a decade on Sunday, a relatively peaceful vote which was expected to strengthen President Alassane Ouattara's ruling coalition and make it easier for him to rebuild a nation crippled by war. The election was boycotted by the party of former president Laurent Gbagbo, who is now in The Hague facing war crimes charges, over allegations of unfair treatment of Gbagbo supporters. ...
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France points finger at Syria for Lebanon attack
Sun,11 Dec 2011 02:47 PM PST
Reuters -  PARIS (Reuters) - France's Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Sunday Paris believed Syria was behind attacks on its troops in Lebanon earlier this week. A roadside bomb wounded five French peacekeepers in southern Lebanon on Friday, in the third attack this year on United Nations forces deployed near the frontier with Israel. "We have strong reason to believe these attacks came from there (Syria)," Juppe said on RFI radio. "We think it's most probable, but I don't have proof." France - with Britain, Germany and the United States - has been pushing for the U.N. ...
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Australia PM poised for first cabinet reshuffle
Sun,11 Dec 2011 02:21 PM PST
Reuters -  CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard is expected to unveil changes to her frontbench on Monday, focusing the government on jobs and labor relations as she tries to reverse plummeting voter support ahead of elections in two years time. In the first recasting of ruling Labor's cabinet since elections last year ushered in the first minority government in decades, Gillard will promote junior minister Bill Shorten to a new super ministry for jobs, prosperity and industrial relations, the Herald Sun newspaper said. ...
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Ex-PM Villepin seeks French presidency, harms Sarkozy
Sun,11 Dec 2011 01:56 PM PST
Reuters -  PARIS (Reuters) - Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said Sunday he would run for the French presidency next year as an independent candidate, a move that could draw some support away from President Nicolas Sarkozy. The 58-year-old, who was Sarkozy's main rival for leadership of the center right before the last election in 2007, is unlikely to win a large number of votes but his presence in the campaign could harm Sarkozy's chances by diluting support. Pollsters LH2 said Sunday Villepin would get about 1 percent of the vote, down from 2 percent in its November 20 poll. ...
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French government warns opponents on EU treaty delay
Sun,11 Dec 2011 01:51 PM PST
Reuters -  PARIS (Reuters) - France's imminent election campaign could throw the newly agreed EU plan for budget policy coordination into disarray, the French budget minister said on Sunday, warning that President Nicolas Sarkozy's opponents may stall necessary legislation. "Speed is vital to restore confidence," Valerie Pecresse told Europe 1 radio. "France has to set the example. It has been at the origin of this treaty with Germany and it would be a paradox if it was blocked for three months because there is a presidential election. This is a call for national unity. ...
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Former Panama strongman Noriega heads home to prison
Sun,11 Dec 2011 01:47 PM PST
Reuters -  PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Manuel Noriega, Panama's ruthless drug-running military dictator of the 1980s, is to be returned home on Sunday, headed for a jungle prison to serve a 20-year term for the murders of opponents during his rule. Noriega, now 77, was toppled in a U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989 and has spent the last two decades behind bars, first in Florida and then in France after being convicted for drug trafficking and money laundering during his time in power. ...
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Veteran rebel region leader defies Moscow in poll
Sun,11 Dec 2011 01:46 PM PST
Reuters - TIRASPOL, Moldova (Reuters) - The veteran leader of Moldova's breakaway Transdniestria region appeared well in front after a Sunday election in which he ran for a fifth term against the wishes of his former patron Russia. But Igor Smirnov, a 70-year-old Russian who has ruled the territory of half-a-million people for 20 years, seemed likely to fall short of the 50 per cent required to avoid a second round of voting, an exit poll showed. The poll, by the Vektor agency, gave Smirnov 47.38 percent of the vote, while Moscow-backed parliamentary speaker Anatoly Kaminsky was in third place with 22. ... Full Story | Top |
Major battle in Syria; shops shut by strike
Sun,11 Dec 2011 01:09 PM PST
Reuters - AMMAN (Reuters) - Army defectors fought government troops Sunday in one of the biggest battles of Syria's nine-month uprising, and a strike shut businesses in a new gesture of civil disobedience, residents and activists said. In a major international development likely to raise Western pressure on President Bashar al-Assad, France's Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Paris believed Syria was behind attacks that wounded French peacekeepers in neighboring Lebanon Friday. ...
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Medvedev orders Russia poll inquiry, gets insults
Sun,11 Dec 2011 12:18 PM PST
Reuters -  MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Dmitry Medvedev ordered an investigation on Sunday into allegations of fraud in Russia's parliamentary election, one day after tens of thousands of protesters demanded it be annulled and rerun. Medvedev responded on his Facebook site to the protesters' complaints that the December 4 election, won by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's United Russia, was slanted in its favor. But he did not mention their calls for an end to Putin's rule and received one insult after another on his Facebook site from people who made clear his reply was insufficient. ...
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Israel blames Palestinians for spurning peace talks
Sun,11 Dec 2011 12:16 PM PST
Reuters -  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel blamed the Palestinians Sunday for rejecting a call to hold face-to-face peace talks when representatives of Middle East power brokers visit the region later this week. Mark Regev, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel had renewed an offer to hold direct talks with the Palestinians ahead of Wednesday's visit by envoys of the so-called Quartet of the European Union, United States, Russia and the United Nations. ...
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New U.N. climate deal struck, critics say gains modest
Sun,11 Dec 2011 11:57 AM PST
Reuters -  DURBAN (Reuters) - Countries from around the globe agreed on Sunday to forge a new deal forcing all the biggest polluters for the first time to limit greenhouse gas emissions, but critics said the plan was too timid to slow global warming. A package of accords agreed after marathon U.N. talks in South Africa extended the 1997 Kyoto Protocol - the only global pact enforcing carbon cuts - allowing five more years to finalize a wider pact which has so far eluded negotiators. ...
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Congo opposition plans protest over election results
Sun,11 Dec 2011 11:49 AM PST
Reuters - KINSHASA (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo's opposition will call for peaceful demonstrations across the country early next week to protest against Joseph Kabila's disputed election victory, a situation France's foreign minister Alain Juppe described Sunday as explosive. Tensions are high in the vast minerals-rich central African state after a November 28 poll, its second post-war vote, marred by deadly violence, disorganization and allegations of fraud. Both sides have claimed victory. ... Full Story | Top |
Egypt liberal calls for shift in tactics
Sun,11 Dec 2011 11:43 AM PST
Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian liberals trailing Islamists in a parliamentary election must close ranks and tone down their anti-Islamist fears if they are to succeed, one of the country's most influential liberals said Sunday. Following the uprisings that toppled Hosni Mubarak in February, Amr Hamzawy has emerged as one of the most popular political figures of the new Egypt. The 44-year-old political science professor, who was educated in Egypt and Europe, is a founder of the Egypt Freedom Party. ... Full Story | Top |
Iran says EU will not impose oil sanctions
Sun,11 Dec 2011 11:41 AM PST
Reuters - TEHRAN (Reuters) - The European Union "definitely" will not impose sanctions on OPEC member Iran's oil exports because such a measure would harm the global crude market, Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi said on Sunday. EU leaders called on Friday for more sanctions against Iran by the end of January, in an effort to increase pressure on Tehran over its disputed nuclear program. "Our policy is sustainable supply of oil to Europe ... Iran is a major oil producer and any sanctions on our oil export would harm the global market," Qasemi told a news conference. ... Full Story | Top |
Georgian business tycoon launches opposition movement
Sun,11 Dec 2011 11:16 AM PST
Reuters -  TBILISI (Reuters) - Several thousand people gathered in the Georgian capital Tbilisi Sunday to attend the first public meeting of a new movement led by billionaire and aspiring opposition politician Bidzina Ivanishvili. Ivanishvili, whose wealth is estimated at $5.5 billion by Forbes magazine, announced his political ambitions in October and called for the resignation of President Mikheil Saakashvili, the pro-Western leader of Georgia's 2003 Rose Revolution. ...
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Bayrou closes on 3rd place in French 2012 race: poll
Sun,11 Dec 2011 11:08 AM PST
Reuters -  PARIS (Reuters) - French presidential candidate Francois Bayrou has almost doubled his support since saying Wednesday he would run for office, a poll showed on Sunday, marking him out as a key figure both left and right will seek to woo in next year's election. Bayrou, who proved surprisingly popular in the 2007 election, saw his backing jump six points to 13 percent of voter intentions in the first round of what will be a two-stage election, a LH2 poll for Yahoo showed. The centrist politician is back in contention for third place with far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, who scored 13. ...
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Arab ministers to meet on Saturday over Syria: report
Sun,11 Dec 2011 10:46 AM PST
Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - Arab foreign ministers will meet on Saturday to discuss a response to Syria's conditional acceptance of an Arab peace plan aimed at ending a crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, Egypt's MENA news agency said, citing and Arab diplomat. It said earlier that the ministers would meet at end of the week, but had not given a day. Syria faces sanctions from Arab nations in response to its violent crackdown on protests against President Bashar al-Assad. ... Full Story | Top |
German police arrest suspect in neo-Nazi cell probe
Sun,11 Dec 2011 10:43 AM PST
Reuters - BERLIN (Reuters) - German police arrested a man Sunday they suspect of assisting in six murders and one attempted murder committed by a neo-Nazi cell uncovered last month, a case that has renewed debate about banning a far-right party. Prosecutors said the 36-year old, named as Matthias D., was arrested in the early morning at his home in Erzgebirgskreis, an area in the eastern state of Saxony. Police were now searching three flats in the area. ... Full Story | Top |
Armed groups clash in turf war near Tripoli airport
Sun,11 Dec 2011 10:18 AM PST
Reuters - TRIPOLI (Reuters) - A convoy carrying one of Libya's most senior military leaders was involved in a gunfight between rival armed groups overnight near Tripoli's international airport, local militia commanders said Sunday. It was the latest in a series of clashes between rival militias which, in the absence of a fully-functioning central government, wield the real power on the streets in Libya since a revolt forced out former leader Muammar Gaddafi. ... Full Story | Top |
Afghanistan's Karzai extends private security closure
Sun,11 Dec 2011 08:29 AM PST
Reuters -  KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai scrapped Sunday a March 2012 deadline he had set for the closure of private security firms, giving them until September 2013 to operate in the country. Karzai, a frequent critic of private security companies, has previously set dates for the cessation of their work in Afghanistan, but each time the deadline has been extended. He did not say why he was giving the firms an extra 18 months, but the second half of this year has seen some of the bloodiest attacks on civilians and soldiers in the past decade. ...
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Analysis: As U.S. leaves, Iraqi forces still under construction
Sun,11 Dec 2011 08:07 AM PST
Reuters -  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Nearly nine years after the United States threw out Saddam Hussein and dissolved his feared security machine, Iraq's rebuilt military is a long way from matching up with regional powers like Saudi Arabia, Iran and Israel. With little air defense, marginal control of its borders and a tenuous grip on Sunni insurgents and Shi'ite militias, Iraq may depend on American military help for years to come, even as most U.S. troops leave Iraqi soil by mid-December. ...
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Syrian defectors regroup in Turkey, plot Assad's end
Sun,11 Dec 2011 07:58 AM PST
Reuters -  ANTAKYA, Turkey (Reuters) - Ayham Kurdi refused to open fire on unarmed protesters and is now an enemy of the Syrian state. A captain in President Bashar al-Assad's army, Kurdi, 30, a soft-spoken man with a trimmed black moustache, deserted his post in June and fled to neighboring Turkey with his family. He is now a member of the Free Syrian Army, a loose collection of deserters who are fighting to topple Assad. ...
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Bodies lie uncollected as Homs becomes war zone
Sun,11 Dec 2011 07:47 AM PST
Reuters - BEIRUT (Reuters) - The dead can lie uncollected in Homs until the shooting dies down or darkness screens their recovery. In daytime, sniper fire and bursts from heavy machineguns can make it too dangerous to retrieve the corpses of people shot on the open street. Accounts from people who have witnessed the scene in recent days, some having been wounded and escaped abroad, say the shooting is heavy and often indiscriminate. Together with video distributed by opposition activists, it suggests that some parts of the city of over a million people now resemble a war zone. ... Full Story | Top |
Syrians told: "End strike or your shops will be smashed"
Sun,11 Dec 2011 07:06 AM PST
Reuters - BEIRUT (Reuters) - Security forces in Syria told striking shopkeepers on Sunday to open up their stores or they would be smashed, activists said, in the first day of a mass strike called by the opposition to support a nine-month revolt against President Bashar al-Assad. Activists are promoting the strike to encourage Syrians who may be frightened to join the uprising against the Assad family's 41-year rule. His forces have cracked down on a revolt that began in March with peaceful protests but has become increasingly violent. Army deserters are now fighting state security forces. ... Full Story | Top |
Russia's Medvedev orders election investigation
Sun,11 Dec 2011 07:02 AM PST
Reuters -  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Sunday ordered an investigation into allegations of polling violations during December 4 parliamentary elections, his Facebook page said on Sunday, a day after crowds protested the vote in several major cities. Tens of thousands of people in Moscow and around Russia demanded a rerun of the election on Saturday in the biggest opposition protests Russia has seen in years. The opposition says the vote was rigged in favor of the ruling United Russia party, which won a slim majority in the State Duma Lower House. ...
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Mexico drug gangs up ante with high-tech tunnels
Sun,11 Dec 2011 06:57 AM PST
Reuters -  MEXICO CITY, Mexico (Reuters) - When architect Felipe de Jesus Corona built Mexico's most powerful drug lord a 200-foot-long tunnel under the U.S.-Mexican border with a hydraulic lift entrance opened by a fake water tap, the kingpin was impressed. The architect "made me one f---ing cool tunnel" Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman said, according to court testimony that helped sentence Corona to 18 years in prison in 2006. Built below a pool table in his lawyer's home, the tunnel was among the first of an increasingly sophisticated drug transport system used by Guzman's Sinaloa cartel. U.S. ...
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Ivorians vote in parliamentary election
Sun,11 Dec 2011 06:52 AM PST
Reuters -  ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivorians voted on Sunday in a parliamentary election which is expected to see the ruling coalition of President Alassane Ouattara strengthen its rule in the world's top cocoa producing nation. More than 5 million voters are expected to cast their ballots in an election that marks the first time in a decade that the West African nation is able to elect a parliament. ...
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Congo opposition plans protest over election results
Sun,11 Dec 2011 06:32 AM PST
Reuters -  KINSHASA (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo's opposition will call for peaceful marches across the country early next week to protest against Joseph Kabila's disputed election victory, a spokesman for veteran opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi said on Sunday. Tshisekedi, a veteran opposition politician who finished second in the poll but declared himself president on Friday, is hopeful that the international community can mediate a solution to the crisis, Albert Moleka told Reuters. "We insist that the protests will be non-violent. ...
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