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West Asia
Moderate candidate Rowhani elected as Iranian President
Iran’s newly elected reformist-backed president said Sunday that the country’s dire economic problems cannot be solved “overnight,” as he took his first steps in consulting with members of the clerically dominated establishment on his new policies. Hasan Rowhani’s surprise victory in Friday’s elections puts him in charge of an executive…
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West Asia
A Yemeni man condemns security forces that kill 4 protesters
Yemeni security officials say thousands have protested in the capital against “excesses” by security forces, calling for the overthrow of the president and national security apparatus. The demonstration came during the funeral of 13 Shiite protesters who were killed in clashes with police last Sunday. The protesters had been demanding…
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West Asia
Turkish PM Erdogan meets protersters to end Gezi Park sit-in
Turkey’s prime minister was meeting with anti-government protesters early Friday, hours after giving them his “final warning” to end their occupation of a central Istanbul park that has become a flashpoint for the largest political crisis of his 10-year rule. If the talks break down, an eventual police intervention to…
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West Asia
93,000 people confirmed dead in Syria’s civil war, UN says
April 17, 2013 file citizen journalism image provided by Aleppo Media Center AMC which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows a mass burial of people allegedly killed by Syrian Army snipers, in Aleppo, Syria. Syria’s upwardly spiraling violence has resulted in the confirmed killings…
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West Asia
Iranian reformist leaders unite behind moderate presidential candidate
Iran’s presidential race lost one more candidate Tuesday but gained a new script: reformist leaders uniting behind relative moderate Hasan Rowhani to boost his once-improbable shot at victory. Former presidents Mohammad Khatami and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani fell behind Rowhani after a rival moderate bowed out in attempts to consolidate reform-minded…
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West Asia
Iraq and Kuwait sign agreements to strengthen economic ties
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, background right, and his Kuwait counterpart Sheikh Jaber Al Mubarak Al Hamad Al Sabah, background left, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, foreground right, and Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheik Sabah Khalid Al Hamad Al Sabah, foreground left, sign agreements in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, June 12, 2013.…
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South Asia
Pakistani boys work at brick factory on World Day Against Child Labor
Pakistani boys work at a brick factory on World Day Against Child Labor in eastern Pakistan’s Lahore on June 12, 2013. The International Labor Organization launched the World Day Against Child Labor in 2002, which falls on each June 12. <Xinhua/NEWSis/Sajjad>
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West Asia
Turkish government offers referendum on Gezi Park development project
Turkey’s government on Wednesday offered a first concrete gesture aimed at ending nearly two weeks of street protests, proposing a referendum on a development project in Istanbul that triggered demonstrations that have become the biggest challenge to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s 10-year tenure. Protesters expressed doubts about the offer,…
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West Asia
Afghan local Islamic school graduates receive graduation certificate
An Afghan man hands a certificate to a student as he graduates from a local Islamic school or madrassa, during a graduation ceremony at the Mazharal Olom mosque in Ghazni province west of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, June, 12, 2013. <AP Photo/NEWSis/Rahmatullah Nikzad> An Afghan man adjusts the turban of a…
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West Asia
Situation turns to worsen in Turkey, anti-gov’t protest continues
Riot police firing tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets clashed into the early hours of Wednesday with defiant demonstrators occupying Istanbul’s central Taksim Square and its adjacent park, in the country’s most severe anti-government protests in decades. The crisis has left Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan looking vulnerable for…
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