Reuters World News Highlights

ATHENS – Greece’s surging leftist leader predicted on Thursday his party would sweep next month’s election and refused to stop demanding an end to “barbaric” austerity policies he said were bankrupting the nation.
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THE HAGUE – Prosecutors in the genocide trial of Serb general Ratko Mladic on Thursday described five days of terror in the Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica in July 1995, when troops under his command massacred more than 7,000 unarmed Muslim boys and men.
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CAIRO – Israel has become a punchbag for politicians vying for votes in Egypt’s presidential election, playing on popular antipathy in Egypt towards its neighbour, but the realities of office are likely to ensure a 33-year-old peace treaty is not jeopardised.
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AMMAN – Syrian National Council President Burhan Ghalioun said on Thursday he was ready to quit as the head of the main opposition body, after mounting criticism of his leadership.
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WASHINGTON – Republican U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney raised almost as much money as President Barack Obama last month, taking in more than $40.1 million in fundraising efforts for his campaign and the Republican National Committee.
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WASHINGTON – For the first time, there are more black, Hispanic and other minority babies being born in the United States than white babies, according to government data released on Thursday that officially confirm what has been a long-growing trend.
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PARIS – France’s new left-wing government started work on Thursday with pledges to combat excessive austerity but better manage public finances, marking the debut with a 30 percent cut in pay for President Francois Hollande and all ministers.
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NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO – Facebook Inc priced its initial public offering at $38 a share, giving the world’s No. 1 online social network a $104 billion valuation in the third largest offering in U.S. history.