Reuters World News Highlights at 2115 GMT, Dec 11
TOP STORIES
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BEIRUT - Syrian rebels clashed with forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad near Damascus airport on Tuesday, battling for the capital's outskirts after 20 months of conflict which the United Nations said has driven half a million people from the country.
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WASHINGTON - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner offered no concrete signs of progress on Tuesday on "fiscal cliff" talks but said he remained hopeful that both sides would reach an agreement by the end-of-year deadline.
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CAIRO - Egypt's army chief called for talks on national unity to end the country's deepening political crisis after a vital loan from the IMF was delayed and thousands of pro- and anti-government demonstrators took to the streets.
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ROME - Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti warned against a slide into populism on Tuesday as Silvio Berlusconi attacked his technocrat government, accusing it of failed "Germano-centric" policies that had dragged Italy into recession.
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Aruna Viswanatha and Brett Wolf - HSBC Holdings Plc agreed to pay a record $1.92 billion in fines to U.S. authorities for allowing itself to be used to launder a river of drug money flowing out of Mexico and other banking lapses.
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CARACAS - Venezuela's Hugo Chavez underwent surgery in Cuba on Tuesday for a cancer recurrence that has thrown his presidency into jeopardy and upended politics in the South American OPEC nation.
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BAMAKO - Mali's prime minister was forced to resign on Tuesday by the soldiers who staged a coup in March, underscoring the military's continuing grip and complicating international efforts to help push Islamists from the north.
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SEOUL - North Korea has started to dismantle a controversial long-range rocket on its launch pad in an apparent move to fix a technical problem but still looks likely to go ahead with the launch, South Korean news reports and experts said on Tuesday.
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DAVAO CITY, Philippines - Isolated communities in the Philippines including hill tribes are facing hunger a week after a typhoon struck, and with roads blocked, supplies will have to be dropped by air, authorities said on Tuesday.
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LANSING - Michigan legislators on Tuesday approved laws that ban mandatory membership in public and private sector unions, dealing a stunning blow to organized labor in the home of the U.S. auto industry.
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Simon Evans - The suspensions handed to four players for their roles in the New Orleans Saints' bounty scandal have been overturned, the NFL said on Tuesday.