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Saudi Arabia and Turkey, have called the vote a sham. The so-called internal Syrian opposition groups seen as more lenient are also boycotting the vote, while many activists around the country are referring to it as "blood elections" for the horrific toll the country has suffered.
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A look at key events in Syria since the beginning of the uprising against Bashar Assad
• As Syrians vote for president on Tuesday, here's a look at some of the key events in the country since the uprising began:
• -- March 2011: Protests erupt in the city of Daraa over security forces' detention of a group of boys accused of painting anti-government graffiti on the walls of their school. On March 18, security forces open fire on a protest in this southern city, killing four people in what activists regard as the first deaths of the uprising. Demonstrations spread, as does the crackdown by President Bashar Assad's forces.
• -- April 2011: Security forces raid a sit-in in Syria's third-largest city, Homs, where thousands of people tried to create the mood of Cairo's Tahrir Square that was the epicenter of protests against Egypt's autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
• -- June 2011: Police and soldiers in Jisr al-Shughour in northeastern Syria join forces with the protesters they were ordered to shoot, and the uprising claims control of a town for the first time. Elite government troops, tanks and helicopters retake the town within days.
• -- August 2011: President Barack Obama calls on Assad to resign and orders Syrian government assets frozen.
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Ukraine launches offensive against rebels in eastern city of Slovyansk
• SLOVYANSK, Ukraine (AP) -- Ukrainian troops on Tuesday launched an offensive against pro-Russian insurgents in the eastern city of Slovyansk and advanced through the city's outskirts, the nation's interior minister said.
• Arsen Avakov said that government troops broke through rebel positions around the village of Semenovka on the eastern fringe of Slovyansk. "An active offensive stage of the counterterrorist operation is underway in Slovyansk," he wrote on his Facebook page.
• Local residents said that several Ukrainian combat jets and helicopter gunships (Continued on page 34)
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