Chinese climate negotiators raised the prospect of negotiating a legally binding climate pact at U.N. talks this weekend in South Africa, but the requirements they laid out for reaching that goal might make such a deal hard to reach. In separate remarks to reporters and non-governmental groups, two of China’s top climate officials suggested they might participate in talks aimed at forging a new, enforceable global warming agreement by 2020. That issue, along with the question of whether industrialized countries will agree to a new set of emissions reductions under an existing 1997 climate treaty, are key stumbling blocks in the ongoing climate talks in the coastal city of Durban. Read full article > >

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Chinese climate negotiators raise possibility of global warming pact by 2020

Libyan fighters said on Thursday that they had routed the last forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi from the coastal town of Surt, ending weeks of fierce fighting.

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Libyan Official Claims Qaddafi Dead After Fall of Stronghold

JERUSALEM — Militants in the Gaza Strip fired rockets into Israel and Israeli aircraft carried out deadly strikes across the coastal territory Friday in a surge of cross-border violence a day after attackers killed eight people near Israel’s frontier with Egypt . The multiple attacks Thursday north of the Red Sea resort of Eilat were the deadliest such incident in Israel in three years and threatened to ignite a new round of hostilities across the Israel-Gaza border after months of relative calm. The killings of an Egyptian military officer and two policemen in border skirmishes after the attacks have also enraged Egyptians, putting strain on the decades-long relationship between Egypt and Israel. Read full article > >

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8 killed in strikes on Gaza after deadly raid in Israel

Syrian activists have said two people were killed in the coastal city of Latakia when government tanks were deployed there.

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VIDEO: Syria: Tanks ‘enter city of Latakia’

Syrian security forces surround the coastal city of Baniyas, activists say, days after tanks and troops took control of Deraa in the south.

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Syrian army ‘surrounds Baniyas’

In Libya’s conflict, Finbarr O’Reilly writes, the coastal road running from Tobruk to Tripoli is the only constant.

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Lens: On the Road to Revolution

The rebels are on the march once again, now with NATO air support. After taking the strategic town of Ajdabiya, Gaddafi’s opposition seized the coastal towns of Brega and Ujala without a fight. The rebels also say they control the key oil town of Ras…

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Rebels Seize Town in Libya

The estimated number of victims has been re-evaluated at 30,000. There is growing concern for the 600,000 refugees faced with icy temperatures and deprivation. The cost in human life of the earthquake and sunami, which ravaged the north-east coast of Japan last Friday, keeps on growing. According to recent evaluations by local authorities, there will certainly be about 30,000 victims, taking into account the thousands of persons still reported missing in the coastal regions, the regions most severely damaged. read more

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The Cost in Human Lives Grows

The estimated number of victims has been re-evaluated at 30,000. There is growing concern for the 600,000 refugees faced with icy temperatures and deprivation. The cost in human life of the earthquake and sunami, which ravaged the north-east coast of Japan last Friday, keeps on growing. According to recent evaluations by local authorities, there will certainly be about 30,000 victims, taking into account the thousands of persons still reported missing in the coastal regions, the regions most severely damaged. read more

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The Cost in Human Lives Grows

Controversial selection UAB is blown out by the Tigers, and Matt Dickey sparks the Bulldogs past Coastal Carolina in a play-in game.

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NCAA tournament 2011: UAB blown out by Clemson; UNC Asheville edges Arkansas-Little Rock in opening game

Israeli warplanes bombed a half-dozen targets in the Gaza Strip, wounding a 7-month-old girl and a Palestinian man, medics in the coastal territory said.

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Israeli Strikes Wound Man and Baby

Officials urged thousands of people in Brisbane to flee on Tuesday as floodwaters that killed at least nine people rushed toward the coastal capital of 2 million people.

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Australia’s Third-Largest City at Risk From Floods