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Gaza Militants Fire Rocket into Israel

Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a rocket into southern Israel on Wednesday, but it fell on open ground close to the border, Israeli police said.

"No injuries or damage were caused," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told Agence France Presse.

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Arabi Urges Syria Regime, Rebels to Agree Eid Truce

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi on Wednesday called on the Syrian government and its armed opposition to agree on a truce for the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday that starts on October 26.

A statement from the Arab bloc said Arabi called on "the Syrian government and armed Syrian opposition to respond to calls for a truce and stop violence and military action during the days of Eid."

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Gaza-Bound Ship Takes on Food, Activists Off Greek Coast

A sailing ship with pro-Palestinian activists that is planning to break an Israeli blockade of Gaza took on food and passengers off the southern Greek coast, a spokesman said Wednesday.

The Estelle, which first set off from Sweden and left Naples in Italy on October 6, stopped in international waters off the island of Crete Tuesday afternoon, where it loaded up with food and passengers.

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Pope Commits Church to Highly Delicate Mission in Syria

Pope Benedict XVI has engaged the Catholic Church in pushing for peace in Syria by dispatching a high-profile delegation to a country where Christians are divided on support for the rebels.

Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, the pope's right-hand man, announced Benedict's move on Tuesday to a synod of bishops saying: "We cannot be mere spectators of a tragedy such as the one that is unfolding in Syria."

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Report: Security Clampdown in Syrian Capital

The Syrian authorities have tightened security measures around government buildings in Damascus for fear of new rebel attacks, a pro-government daily reported on Wednesday.

"Security measures around official buildings and companies," Al-Watan newspaper said.

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Saudi Jails 16 Qaida Suspects for up to 25 Years

A Saudi court has sentenced 16 Al-Qaida suspects to between three and 25 years for murder and attacks on the kingdom's oil facilities, the official SPA news agency reported Wednesday.

The defendants, 15 Saudi nationals and a Yemeni, were convicted of "carrying out terror attacks, targeting oil (sites), and carrying out assassinations," the report said.

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Netanyahu 'May Endorse Report Backing Settler Outposts'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to adopt parts of a controversial report which proposes the government legalize unauthorized settler outposts, Israel's public radio said on Wednesday.

According to the radio, Netanyahu is looking to adopt some of the principles laid out in the so-called Levy report which was put together by three prominent Israeli jurists and presented to the ministerial committee on settlements in July.

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Syrian Forces Pound Rebels in North, Damascus

Syrian warplanes Wednesday blitzed rebel targets around the strategic northern town of Maaret al-Numan while ground forces shelled opposition belts outside the capital Damascus, a watchdog said.

"The Syrian airforce have made no less than six sorties early morning, pounding the villages of Deir Sharqi, Maarhtat and Bsida, east of Maaret al-Numan," which rebels captured a week ago, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

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PKK Vows 'Violent Reprisal' if Turkey Attacks Syrian Kurds

Turkey's Kurdish rebels will retaliate to any Turkish attacks on Kurds in war-torn Syria, the second in command of the outlawed PKK said in an interview published Wednesday.

"Turkey should stay out of this conflict and stop its scheming," Murat Karayilan, who heads the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the absence of its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan, told Swiss daily Le Temps.

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Britain to Close Consulate in Iraq's Basra

Britain will close its full consulate in the southern Iraqi city of Basra as part of government austerity measures, Foreign Secretary William Hague said Monday.

The Foreign Office will keep an office in Basra, which was under British command following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, but there will be no permanent staffing, Hague said.

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