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Netanyahu Rejects Withdrawal Talk ahead of Kerry Meet

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected talk of Israel withdrawing from east Jerusalem and the West Bank within two years, on the eve of a meeting with the top U.S. diplomat.

"We... stand against the possibility of a diplomatic assault, that is an attempt to compel us by means of U.N. decisions to withdraw to the 1967 lines within two years," said Netanyahu.

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Saudi Arrests Man for Shooting at German Diplomats

Saudi authorities have arrested a man, wanted for a number of violent crimes, including shooting at the car of German diplomats earlier this year, the interior ministry said Friday.

The two Germans escaped unharmed in the January 13 incident in Awamiya village, Eastern Province.

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German Parties Lose Court Bid to Quiz Snowden in Berlin

Germany's top court said Friday it rejected a bid by leftist opposition parties to call former NSA contractor Edward Snowden as a witness in a parliamentary probe of U.S. intelligence activities.

The Federal Constitutional Court said in a statement it did not have jurisdiction in the case brought by the Greens and Left parties in October against the government and the parliamentary committee conducting the investigation.

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Mayor of Deadly French Flood Village Jailed for 4 Years

A French court Friday sentenced the former mayor of a small seaside village to four years in prison for concealing flood risks that led to the death of 29 people in a brutal storm.

The court ruled that Rene Marratier was aware of the risks of flooding in La Faute-sur-Mer on the western coast but "deliberately hid" them so as not to miss out on the "cash-cow" of property development.

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Germany's New Far-Right Populists Rail against Islam

They march in their thousands every Monday evening, wave German national flags and angrily protest against "criminal asylum seekers" and the "Islamization" of their home country.

In recent months, Germany has witnessed the emergence of a far-right populist movement that has drawn support from hardcore neo-Nazis and also a small but growing anti-euro party, the AfD.

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Germany to Train Anti-IS Fighters in Iraq

Germany said Thursday it planned to send around 100 soldiers to northern Iraq to train Kurdish peshmerga fighters battling the Islamic State militant group.

The defense and foreign ministers agreed on a proposal to present to the rest of the cabinet for a vote expected next week, the ministries' spokesmen told reporters.

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Berlin Says CIA Torture 'Violated Democratic Values'

Germany said Wednesday the CIA torture detailed in a U.S. Senate report was "a gross violation of our liberal, democratic values" that must never happen again and "a serious mistake."

Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier praised the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama for declassifying the information, calling it a transparent move that marked a clear break with his predecessor George W. Bush.

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Triumphant Merkel Re-elected Party Chief with 97 Percent

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was re-elected unopposed on Tuesday as chief of her conservative party at a triumphant congress that celebrated her role as Europe's most powerful leader.

From the Ukraine conflict to Europe's debilitating financial crisis, Merkel said her policies as the head of Europe's biggest economy promoted security and stability and lived up to Germany's responsibilities in the world.

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Case Dropped against German over WWII French Massacre

A German court Tuesday threw out the case  against an 89-year-old former soldier over the Nazis' worst atrocity on French soil, the 1944 massacre in the village of Oradour-sur-Glane.

The regional court in the western city of Cologne, citing a lack of evidence, said it would not try the unnamed pensioner who was charged in January with the murder of 25 people committed by a group, and with aiding and abetting the murder of several hundred people.

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Merkel: Communist-Raised 'Queen of Europe'

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who entered politics when the Berlin Wall fell 25 years ago, is nearing a decade as leader of Europe's biggest economy, her popularity ratings still sky-high.

Often called the world's most powerful woman, the pastor's daughter, trained scientist and master tactician has outlasted a generation of world leaders, with no obvious successor in sight.

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