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• The director of the Britain-based Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdul-Rahman, says the fighters of al-Qaida affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra group entered the Christian village of Maaloula overnight.
• Despite heavy army presence in the village in Western Syria, Abdul-Rahman says the rebels patrolled its streets on foot and in vehicles, briefly surrounding a church and a mosque.
• He says the rebels left Maaloula early Thursday morning and heavy clashes between President Bashar Assad's troops and Nusra Front fighters have raged since then in surrounding mountains.
• The Observatory has been documenting conflict since it started in March 2011 and has relied on a network of activists on the ground.
• ___

• CAIRO (AP) -- An explosion on Thursday targeted the convoy of Egypt's interior minister in Cairo's eastern Nasr City district, security officials and state television

said. The minister, Mohammed Ibrahim, survived the attack.
• The officials said it was not clear whether the late morning explosion was caused by a suicide car bombing or an explosives-laden car detonated by remote control.
• Egyptian state television gave a different account of the incident. It said an explosive device was tossed from the rooftop of a high-rise apartment building near the Nasr City residence of Ibrahim, who is in charge of the country's police force. The device detonated near the convoy of the minister shortly after it left the residence.
• It was not immediately possible to reconcile the two reports. Discrepancies are common in the immediate aftermath of attacks.
• State television said several people near the explosion were injured but that there were no fatalities. Police were searching for suspects in the area but no arrests have yet been made, it said.
• ___

• ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) -- As a candidate focused on his own election, Barack Obama championed restraint and global cooperation when faced with secu

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