Death toll in new Syria violence hits 33: NGO

NICOSIA: The death toll from a fresh surge of violence in Syrian flashpoints has risen to 33, rights activists said on Wednesday, adding that among the dead are six children and teenagers and five army defectors. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement received in Nicosia that 28 civilians were killed on Tuesday by security force gunfire, in addition to the five defectors. The Britain-based rights group had previously given a toll of 17 dead on Tuesday, including five boys in the flashpoint central province of Homs and a 12-year-old in the eas...

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Romney on Afghanistan: US cannot ‘cut and run’

WASHINGTON: Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney on Tuesday said the US military should not “cut and run” in Afghanistan, as such a move could jeopardize the massive US investment in the region. Romney, battling to stay ahead in the race for the Republican presidential nomination in the face of a surging Newt Gingrich, said a sizeable US force needed to remain for intelligence gathering and special forces operations. “We can’t just say good-bye to all of what’s going on in that part of the world. Instead we want to draw them towards modernity,” Romney said at a Republican debate on national security. He said pulling out troops faster than planned would “put at great peril the extraordinary sacrifices that have been made.” This...

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Posted in: INTERNATIONAL