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said in his first comments on the massacre. His last public address was in January.
• Assad, 46, denies that there is a popular will behind the uprising, saying foreign extremists and terrorists are driving the revolt.
• His remarks suggest he is still standing his ground, despite widespread international condemnation over his deadly crackdown on dissent. Although his words reflected many of the same general points of his previous speeches -- blaming terrorists and extremists, vowing to protect national security -- his comments on Houla were

widely anticipated.
• ___

• CHICAGO (AP) -- Doctors have successfully dropped the first "smart bomb" on breast cancer, using a drug to deliver a toxic payload to tumor cells while leaving healthy ones alone.
• In a key test involving nearly 1,000 women with very advanced disease, the experimental treatment extended by several months the time women lived without their cancer getting worse, doctors planned to report Sunday at a cancer conference in Chicago.
• More importantly, the treatment seems likely to improve survival; it will take more

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