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• The vice president seemed to be alluding to the authoritarian rule of China's government as he described a liberal and permissive intellectual culture in the United States.
• "I hope you observe it when you're there," said Biden, flanked by U.S. Ambassador Gary Locke. "From the beginning of our country, it's a constant stream of new immigrants, new cultures, new ideas, new religions, brand new people continuing to reinvigorate the spirit of America."
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Senior Hezbollah commander gunned down outside his home in Lebanon; Israel denies involvement
• BEIRUT (AP) -- Gunmen shot dead a senior Hezbollah commander outside his home Wednesday in southern Beirut, an attack that the Iranian-backed group quickly blamed on arch-enemy Israel. Israeli officials denied any involvement.
• Hezbollah ceremoniously announced the death of Hassan al-Laqis and described him as one of the founding members of the group, suggesting he was a high-level commander close to the Shiite party's leadership.
• An official close to Hezbollah said al-Laqis held some of the group's most sensitive portfolios and was close to the group's leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah.
• His shooting death comes as Lebanon faces increasing sectarian violence pouring over from the civil war in neighboring Syria, where Hezbollah forces fight alongside President Bashar Assad's troops, angering the mainly Sunni rebels seeking to oust him. Hezbollah strongholds have been the target of car bomb attacks and suicide bombers attacked the Iranian Embassy in Beirut last month, killing 23 people.
• Sunni militant groups have claimed responsibility for those attacks, calling it retaliation for Hezbollah's involvement in Syria.
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Recordings of 911 calls from Conn. elementary school shooting to be released Wednesday
• HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- Recordings of 911 calls from the Newtown school shooting are being released, days after a state prosecutor dropped his fight to continue withholding them despite an order to provide them to The Associated Press.
• For nearly a year, the AP has been asking for an opportunity to review the tapes, which will now be released Wednesday to the news cooperative in addition to other media organizations. The AP will review the tapes' content and determine what (Continued on page 23)
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