One month into 2013, conflicts around the world raged on without relief.
Rebel fighters battled the Assad regime in Syria; Taliban fought international forces in Afghanistan; France launched a military intervention in Mali; Radical Islamists held hundreds of foreigners hostage in a gas facility in the Algerian desert.
HuffPost photo editor Damon Scheleur selected the best images out of conflict zones since the start of 2013. Take a look at the mind-blowing pictures in the slideshow below.
World In Conflict (GRAPHIC PHOTOS)
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A Christian man chases a suspected Seleka officer in civilian clothes with a knife near the airport in Bangui, Central African Republic, Monday Dec. 9, 2013. Both Christian and Muslim mobs went on lynching sprees as French Forces deployed in the capital. The Seleka man was taken into custody by French forces who fired warning shots to disperse the crowds. (Jerome Delay/AP) (credit:Jerome Delay/AP)
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Muslim men organized in militias with machetes rough up a Christian man while checking him for weapons in the Miskine neighbourhood of Bangui, Central African Republic, Friday Dec. 13, 2013. A band of about a dozen Muslim men with machetes faced off against an equally large group of Christian youths. Also in Miskine, French troops backed by a helicopter traded fire with unidentified assailants as France's Defense mMinister Jean-Yves Le Drian arrived in tBangui. More than 500 people have been killed over the past eight days in sectarian fighting in Central African Republic. (Jerome Delay/AP) (credit:Jerome Delay/AP)
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An injured Cambodian worker escapes from riot police in the compound of a Buddhist pagoda in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013. Police fired live ammunition during clashes with protesting garment workers outside Cambodia’s capital Tuesday, killing a bystander who was struck by a bullet while selling rice and injuring at least 20 people, rights groups said. Hundreds of workers from the SL Garment Processing (Cambodia) Ltd. Factory clashed with hundreds of riot police sent to block a march from the factory to the Phnom Penh residence of Prime Minister Hun Sen, according to several human rights groups. (AP) (credit:AP)
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A police officer is engulfed in flames after being hit by a Molotov cocktail thrown by protesters marking the anniversary of the Tlatelolco massacre in Mexico City, Wednesday Oct. 2, 2013. Mexico commemorated the 45th anniversary of the massacre of students holding an anti-government protest, killed by men with guns and soldiers ten days before the 1968 Summer Olympics celebrations in Mexico City. (Eduardo Verdugo/AP) (credit:Eduardo Verdugo/AP)
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Turkish riot police officer fires tear gas during clashes with protestors between Taksim and Besiktas in Istanbul on June 3, 2013 during a demonstration against the demolition of the park. Turkish police on June 1 began pulling out of Istanbul's iconic Taksim Square, after a second day of violent clashes between protesters and police over a controversial development project. Thousands of demonstrators flooded the site as police lifted the barricades around the park and began withdrawing from the square. What started as an outcry against a local development project has snowballed into widespread anger against what critics say is the government's increasingly conservative and authoritarian agenda. (credit:Bulent Kilic / AFP / Getty Images)
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A military police pePper sprays a protester during a demonstration in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Monday, June 17, 2013. Protesters massed in at least seven Brazilian cities Monday for another round of demonstrations voicing disgruntlement about life in the country, raising questions about security during big events like the current Confederations Cup and a papal visit next month. (Victor R. Caivano/AP) (credit:Victor R. Caivano/AP)
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Egyptian security forces help the lifeless body of Giza Police Gen. Nabil Farrag, center, who was killed after unidentified militants opened fire on security forces deployed early morning to the town of Kerdasa to drive off suspected Islamists taking control of the town near Giza Pyramids, Egypt, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2013. Egyptian security forces backed by armored vehicles and military helicopters on Thursday laid a siege on an Islamists’ stronghold near Giza Pyramids and exchanged fire with what official news agency identified as “terrorist and criminal elements.” (Ahmed Abdel Fattah/AP) (credit:Ahmed Abdel Fattah/AP)
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Inglewood police snipers take up a position outside a residence, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2013, in Inglewood, Calif., where a police officer was shot and another received minor injuries in a confrontation with a gunman who barricaded himself inside a home and could be holding a hostage, authorities said. (Nick Ut/AP) (credit:Nick Ut/AP)
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A body, left, lies outside the Westgate Mall, an upscale shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya Saturday Sept. 21 2013, where shooting erupted when armed men attempted to rob a shop, according to police. Witnesses say a half dozen grenades also went off along with volleys of gunfire in and around the mall. (Sayyid Azim/AP) (credit:Sayyid Azim/AP)
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A police vehicle is pushed off of the 6th of October bridge by protesters close to the largest sit-in by supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in the eastern Nasr City district of Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2013. Egyptian police in riot gear swept in with armored vehicles and bulldozers Wednesday to clear the sit-in camps set up by supporters of the country's ousted Islamist president in Cairo, showering protesters with tear gas as the sound of gunfire rang out. (Aly Hazzaa, El Shorouk Newspaper/AP) (credit:Aly Hazzaa, El Shorouk Newspaper/AP)
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Lebanese citizens and Hezbollah supporters gather at the scene of a car bomb explosion in southern Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday Aug. 15, 2013. The powerful car bomb ripped through a southern Beirut neighborhood that is a stronghold of the militant group Hezbollah on Thursday, killing at least three people and trapping others in burning buildings, the media said. (Hussein Malla/AP) (credit:Hussein Malla/AP)
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Supporters of ousted Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi pick up the body of a man shot near the Republican Guard building in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, July 5, 2013. Egyptian troops opened fire on mostly Islamist protesters marching on a Republican Guard headquarters Friday to demand the restoration of ousted President Mohammed Morsi, killing at least one. The shooting came as tens of thousands of his supporters chanting "down with military rule" rallied around the country. (Khalil Hamra/AP) (credit:Khalil Hamra/AP)
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Police clash with demonstrators during a protest near the Spanish Parliament in Madrid, Spain, Thursday April 25, 2013. The protest, mostly against austerity measures, comes on the day that Spain's jobless figures were released. With over 6 million unemployed for the first time ever, Spain’s jobless rate shot up to a record 27.2 percent in the first quarter of 2013, the National Statistics Institute said Thursday, in another grim picture of the recession-wracked country. (Andres Kudacki/AP) (credit:Andres Kudacki/AP)
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Supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi, run for cover from tear gas fired by police, not seen, during a protest in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Aug. 30, 2013. Tens of thousands of protesters and Muslim Brotherhood supporters rallied Friday throughout Egypt against a military coup and a bloody security crackdown, though tanks and armored police vehicles barred them from converging in major squares. (Khalil Hamra/AP) (credit:Khalil Hamra/AP)
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A youth walks past burning tires across a street in the northern city of Tripoli, on June 23, 2013, during protests in support of Sunni Muslim Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir whose supporters have clashed with the Lebanese army in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon. Two Lebanese army officers and a soldier were killed in the clash with supporters of the radical Sunni Muslim Sheikh opposed to the powerful Shiite movement Hezbollah, an army statement said. (credit:Ibrahim Chalhoub / AFP / Getty Images)
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Opponents of ousted President Mohammed Morsi carry their injured friend who was wounded during clashes with Morsi supporters, in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, July 22, 2013. Several hundred Morsi supporters tried to march toward the U.S. Embassy, passing near Tahrir Square, where Morsi opponents have been camped out. Clashes erupted between the two sides.(Hussein Malla/AP) (credit:Hussein Malla/AP)
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An Egyptian protester attacks Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in Muqattam district in Cairo, Sunday, June 30, 2013. Massive crowds thronged the streets of Cairo and cities around the country Sunday and marched on the presidential palace in a cheering tide of people that filled a broad avenue for blocks in an attempt to force out the Islamist president with some of the most gigantic protests Egypt has seen in 2 ½ years of turmoil. After dark, youths attacked the headquarters of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo with rocks and firebombs, sparking clashes. (Manu Brabo/AP) (credit:Manu Brabo/AP)
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An Egyptian security force escorts a supporter of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi as security forces clear a sit-in camp set up near Cairo University in Cairo's Giza district, Egypt, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2013. Egyptian police in riot gear swept in with armored vehicles and bulldozers Wednesday to clear the sit-in camp and the other encampment set up by supporters of the country's ousted Islamist president in Cairo, showering protesters with tear gas as the sound of gunfire rang out. (Hussein Tallal/AP) (credit:Hussein Tallal/AP)
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A bleeding protester shouts as she is being taken away by a riot policeman during a march in Mexico City, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2013. Teachers, anarchists and other groups protesting against the proposed energy and education reforms are marching separately towards the national congress as Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto sends his Interior Minister to congress to deliver the written version of his first State of the Nation and a day later, Pena Nieto will offer his State of the Nation address. (Marco Ugarte/AP) (credit:Marco Ugarte/AP)
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Protesters throw stones at a police vehicle in Ubate, north of Bogota, Colombia, Monday, Aug. 26, 2013. Hundreds of protesters clashed with police in support of farmers who had being blockading highways for a week for an assortment of demands that include reduced gasoline prices, increased subsidies and the cancellation of free trade agreements. (Fernando Vergara/AP) (credit:Fernando Vergara/AP)
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A military attack helicopter flies over a street near the presidential palace, in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, July 5, 2013. The top leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has vowed to restore ousted President Mohammed Morsi to office, saying Egyptians will not accept "military rule" for another day. General Guide Mohammed Badie, a revered figure among the Brotherhood's followers, spoke Friday before a crowd of tens of thousands of Morsi supporters in Cairo. A military helicopter circled low overhead. (Hassan Ammar/AP) (credit:Hassan Ammar/AP)
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Riot police use water cannons and pepper gas to disperse thousands of Turkish teachers who were gathered to protest against the government's education and economic policies in Ankara, Turkey, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2013.(AP) (credit:AP)
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Military police uses pepper spray on a protester after the military ceremony marking Independence Day in Brasilia, Brazil, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2013. Brazilians are protesting corruption and poor public services. (Eraldo Peres/AP) (credit:Eraldo Peres/AP)
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A Libyan man stands in a building used by Ansar al-Sharia militia after it was torched by residents on November 25, 2013 in Benghazi. Military governor Colonel Abdullah al-Saidi declared a "state of alert" after Jihadist group Ansar al-Sharia attacked Libyan special forces in Benghazi, sparking an all-out battle in which at least five soldiers died, in what was the first such confrontation between the army and Libya's top jihadist group. (credit:Abdulla Doma / AFP / Getty Images)
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A Palestinian protester uses a sling shot during clashes with Israel troops in Betunia near the West Bank city of Ramallah on September 27, 2013. Thousands of Palestinians demonstrated in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and east Jerusalem to mark the anniversary of an uprising against occupation, clashing in places with Israeli forces. (credit:Abbas Momani / AFP / Getty Images)
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A Libyan protester holds a gun during clashes between demonstrators and troops of the Libyan Shield Forces (LSF), a coalition of militias, following a demonstration outside the LSF office in the northern city of Benghazi on June 8, 2013. (credit:Abdullah Doma / AFP / Getty Images)
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A Bahraini riot-police car is hit by a petrol bomb during clashes with demonstrators following the funeral of Hussein Abdullah, in the village of Saar, west of Manama, on June 26, 2013. Bahrain, a Gulf kingdom ruled by the Sunni Al-Khalifa dynasty, was shaken in February 2011 by a protest movement led by the Shiite majority. (credit:Mohammed Al-Shaikh / AFP / Getty Images)
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Laser lights directed by Egyptian protestors are seen on military helicopters flying over the presidential palace in Cairo as Hundreds of thousands of Egyptian demonstrators gather at the Egyptian Presidential Palace during a protest calling for the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi on July 1, 2013 in Cairo, Egypt. The Egyptian army warned on Monday that if Islamist President Mohamed Morsi failed to meet the demands of the people within 48 hours, it would intervene with a roadmap of its own, after millions took to the streets to demand he step down.The military's statement, read out on state television, received a rapturous welcome from Morsi's opponents who have been camped out in Cairo's Tahrir Square and a muted response from his Islamist supporters. (credit:Gianluigi Guercia / AFP / Getty Images)
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A damaged Capitol Hill police car is surrounded by crime scene tape after a car chase and shooting on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013. A woman driving a black Infiniti with a young child inside tried to ram through a White House barricade Thursday, then led police on a chase that ended in gunfire outside the Capitol, witnesses and officials said. (Evan Vucci/AP) (credit:Evan Vucci/AP)
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A firefighter is helped as he extinguishes fire at the site of an explosion in Beirut's southern suburb neighbourhood of Bir al-Abed on July 9, 2013. A car bomb rocked Beirut's southern suburbs, stronghold of Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah movement, wounding 15 people, television reports and a military source said. (credit:AFP / Getty Images)
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A man throws a piece of furniture during a clash between loyalist protesters and riot police in North Belfast, Northern Ireland on July 13, 2013. Trouble flared after police tried to enforce a decision by an adjudication body banning the Orange Order from marching through a Catholic republican area of Belfast during their annual July 12 march, which commemorates King William of Orange's victory over Catholic King James II in 1690. Hundreds of extra police were deployed to Northern Ireland on July 13 following a night of rioting in Belfast that left 32 officers injured and a politician hospitalised. (credit:Peter Muhly / AFP / Getty Images)
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A protestor wears his gas mask on September 12, 2013 at Kadikoy in Istanbul. Thousands of people angry over the death of a 22-year-old demonstrator in southern Turkey on Monday clashed with police in Istanbul, the capital Ankara, the western city of Izmir as well as in the southern cities of Mersin and Atakya. (credit:Bulent Kilic / AFP / Getty Images)
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Indian police officials arrest an activist of Krishak Mukti Sangram Samity (KMSS) during a demonstration in the Dispur area of Guwahati on October 1, 2013. The KMSS activists were demonstrating to demand land rights for those living for prolonged period of time on government land. (credit:AFP / Getty Images)
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A member of the Lou Nuer tribe comes back home in the Yuai village, Uror county, Jonglei state in South Sudan, on July 23, 2013 after fighting against the rebel group of Yau Yau in Pibor county, South Sudan. Over 100,000 South Sudanese civilians are cut off from aid in the eastern state of Jonglei amid fierce fighting between rival ethnic groups, aid agencies and the United Nations warned on July 17. (credit:Camille Lepage / AFP / Getty Images)
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Egyptians mourn over bodies wrapped in shrouds at a mosque in Cairo on August 15, 2013, following a crackdown on the protest camps of supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi the previous day. The day's violence was Egypt's worst in decades, exceeding even that seen during the 18-day uprising that ousted president Hosni Mubarak. (credit:Mahmoud Khaled / AFP / Getty Images)
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An Afghan policeman walks past a fire of expired medicine on the outskirts of Jalalabad on September 20, 2013. Afghanistan Health ministery officials set alight expired medicines which were collected from different hospitals and pharmacies in Nangarhar province. (credit:Noorulla Shirzada / AFP / Getty Images)
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A protestor throws back a canister of tear gas to Turkish riot policemen during a protest against the demolition of Taksim Gezi Park on May 31, 2013, at Taksim in Istanbul. Police reportedly used tear gas on early May 31 to disperse a group, who were standing guard in Gezi Parki to prevent the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality from demolishing the last remaining green public space in the center of Istanbul as a part of a major Taksim renewal project. (credit:Bulent Kilic / AFP / Getty Images)
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Firemen battle a fire in Lashio , Northern Shan state of Myanmar on May 29, 2013. Myanmar's government called for calm after mobs burned down a Muslim orphanage, a mosque and shops during a new eruption of religious violence in the east of the country. (credit:Ye Aung Thu / AFP / Getty Images)
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Afghan defence personnel inspect the scene following a suicide attack in Bazarak district, Panjshir province, on May 29, 2013. Afghan security forces killed six suicide bombers who attacked the Panjshir provincial governor's office early on May 29, officials said, in an assault on one the the most stable areas of the country. (credit:Shah Marai / AFP / Getty Images)
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Iraqis gather around burnt vehicles at the site of a car bombing at a market in Baghdad's impoverished district of Sadr City on May 16, 2013 as at least eight people were killed in blasts across the country. Violence in Iraq has fallen from its peak in 2006 and 2007, but attacks remain common, killing more than 200 people in each of the first four months of this year. (credit:Ahmad Al-Rubaye / AFP / Getty Images)
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Sikh protesters being taken to police station from outside Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi's residence during a protest against the acquittal of politician Sajjan Kumar in 1984 Anti-Sikh riot case on May 2, 2013 in New Delhi, India. A Delhi court has acquitted a ruling party politician of murder in a trial linked to the massacre of Sikhs following the 1984 assassination of then Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi. (credit:Arijit Sen / Getty Images)
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Burnt out government vechiles are parked following a clash between police and Islamists, in Dhaka on May 6, 2013. At least 22 people were killed as Bangladeshi police fought pitched battles with tens of thousands of hardline Islamists in the capital Dhaka, police and medical officials said Monday. (credit:Munir Uz Zaman / AFP / Getty Images)
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A policeman walks on a street in Dhaka, Bangladesh on Sunday, May 5, 2013 during a protest by Islamic activists. Police in Bangladesh's capital fired rubber bullets to disperse stone-throwing Islamic activists Sunday during the protest to demand that the government enact an anti-blasphemy law. The government in this Muslim-majority nation has rejected the groups' demands, saying Bangladesh is governed by secular liberal laws. (Rahul Talukder/AP) (credit:Rahul Talukder/AP)
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Turkish riot police fire tear gas after chasing protesters out of Gezi Park in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, June 15, 2013. Riot police stormed the park after protesters ignored government appeals and a warning from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the two-week standoff that has fanned nationwide demonstrations to end. (Vadim Ghirda/AP) (credit:Vadim Ghirda/AP)
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In this Tuesday, June 11, 2013, file photo, a protester tries protect from water projected by a water canon from police during clashes in Taksim square in Istanbul. Hundreds of police in riot gear forced through barricades in Istanbul's central Taksim Square early Tuesday, pushing many of the protesters who had occupied the square for more than a week into a nearby park. (Kostas Tsironis/AP) (credit:Kostas Tsironis/AP)
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A protester throws a petrol bomb towards riot policemen during clashes in Taksim Square in Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, June 11, 2013. Hundreds of police in riot gear forced through barricades in Istanbul's central Taksim Square early Tuesday, pushing many of the protesters who had occupied the square for more than a week into a nearby park. (Kostas Tsironis/AP) (credit:Kostas Tsironis/AP)
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Taksim Square is flooded by tear gas as clashes between protesters and riot police continue into the night in Istanbul Tuesday, June 11, 2013. Hundreds of police in riot gear forced through barricades in the square early Tuesday, pushing many of the protesters who had occupied the square for more than a week into a nearby park. (Vadim Ghirda/AP) (credit:Vadim Ghirda/AP)
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Military police detain a man during an anti-government protest in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, June 20, 2013. More than half a million Brazilians poured into the streets of at least 80 Brazilian cities Thursday in demonstrations that saw violent clashes and renewed calls for an end to government corruption and demands for better public services. Riot police battled protesters in at least five cities, with some of the most intense clashes happening in Rio de Janeiro, where an estimated 300,000 demonstrators swarmed into the seaside city's central area. (Victor R. Caivano/AP) (credit:Victor R. Caivano/AP)
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Medics transport an injured Lebanese soldier, after clashes between followers of a radical Sunni cleric Sheik Ahmad al-Assir and Shiite gunmen, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Sunday, June 23, 2013. A Lebanese security official says clashes have erupted in the south between Lebanese factions supporting opposing sides in the Syrian civil war. Several of Lebanese soldiers were killed and wounded. (Mohammed Zaatari/AP) (credit:Mohammed Zaatari/AP)
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A woman cries at the scene of one of the explosion sites, after several explosions killed at least 18 people and injured dozens in Reyhanli, near Turkey's border with Syria, Saturday, May 11, 2013, Turkish Interior Minister Muammer Guler said. (Cem Genco/Anadolu Agency/AP) (credit:Cem Genco/Anadolu Agency/AP)
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Police forensic officers work as army commandos patrol the area at the scene at one of the Saturday explosion sites that killed 46 and injured about 50 others, in Reyhanli, near Turkey's border with Syria, Sunday, May 12, 2013. The bombings on Saturday marked the biggest incident of cross-border violence since the start of Syria's bloody civil war and has the raised fear of Turkey being pulled deeper into the conflict.(AP) (credit:AP)
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Riot police use pepper gas to disperse demonstrators protesting against the cutting down of trees in the center of Taksim Square in Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, May 28, 2013.(AP) (credit:AP)
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An Afghan policeman fires his weapon during a gunbattle following a suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, May 24, 2013. A suicide bomber struck in the heart of the Afghan capital on Friday, sending a plume of smoke billowing over Kabul and setting up a gunbattle in the second major attack in the city in little over a week, police said. (Ahmad Jamshid/AP) (credit:Ahmad Jamshid/AP)
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A police officer uses his baton to beat back supporters of Haiti's former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide who gathered outside the courthouse where Aristide arrived earlier in the day in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, May 8, 2013. The two-time president showed up at the courthouse to testify before a judge investigating the 2000 slaying of Jean Dominique, one of the Caribbean country's most prominent journalists. (Dieu Nalio Chery/AP) (credit:Dieu Nalio Chery/AP)
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Turkish protesters clash with riot police at the city's main Taksim Square in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, June 1, 2013. Turkish police retreated from a main Istanbul square Saturday, removing barricades and allowing in thousands of protesters in a move to calm tensions after furious anti-government protests turned the city center into a battlefield. A second day of national protests over a violent police raid of an anti-development sit-in in Taksim square has revealed the depths of anger against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who many Turks view as increasingly authoritarian and dismissive of opposing views.(AP) (credit:AP)
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Local self-defense squads watch as Mexican army soldiers enter the town of La Ruana, Michoacan, Mexico, Monday, May 20, 2013. Residents of western Mexico towns who endured months besieged by a drug cartel are cheering the arrival of hundreds of Mexican army troops. Hundreds of people in the state of Michoacan have taken up arms to defend their villages against drug gangs, a vigilante movement born of frustration at extortion, killings and kidnappings in a region wracked by violence. (Marco Ugarte/AP) (credit:Marco Ugarte/AP)
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Supporter trow a concrete block toward riot police during Paris Saint-Germain soccer club celebrations for winning the the French league title at Trocadero Plaza in Paris, Monday, May 13, 2013. Paris Saint-Germain clinched its first French league title since 1994 by defeating Lyon 1-0 on Sunday. (Michel Euler/AP) (credit:Michel Euler/AP)
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Wounded churchgoers lie on the ground as Roman Catholic nuns run for cover after a blast at the St. Joseph Mfanyakazi Roman Catholic Church in Arusha, Tanzania Sunday, May 5, 2013. A Tanzanian police official says a woman died and over 40 people were seriously injured when a bomb exploded in the Roman Catholic Church in northern Tanzania, with eyewitnesses reporting that the bomb was thrown from a motorcycle. (AP) (credit:AP)
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Russian riot police officers clash with CSKA Moscow soccer fans celebrating their team's Russian Premier League Championship title, in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, May 18, 2013, (Denis Tyrin/AP) (credit:Denis Tyrin/AP)
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A man who threatens Vincent Autin and Bruno Boileau as they arrive at Montpelier City Hall, for their civil wedding, is grabbed by plainclothes policemen, Wednesday May 29, 2013. Bruno Boileau, 30, from Paris and Vincent Autin, 40, are the first same-sex couple to marry in France, since French government voted a new law legalizing same-sex marriage. (Remy de la Mauviniere/AP) (credit:Remy de la Mauviniere/AP)
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A burning Iraqi army military vehicle near the demonstration site in Ramadi, Iraq, 70 miles (115 kilometers) west of Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, April 23, 2013. Protesters threw stones on a military convoy that was passing near the protest site in Ramadi, one army Humvee was flipped over and the soldiers opened fire on the fire, then they left, the protesters set fire on the abandoned army vehicle. Iraqi security forces backed by helicopters raided a Sunni protest camp before dawn Tuesday, prompting clashes that killed at least 36 people in the area and significantly intensified Sunni anger against the Shiite-led government. (AP) (credit:AP)
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Riot police fires tear gas toward demonstrators, Tuesday, April 23, 2013 in Paris. France legalized gay marriage on Tuesday after a wrenching national debate that exposed deep conservatism in the nation's heartland and triggered huge demonstrations that tapped into intense discontent with the Socialist government. Within hours, fiery clashes broke out between protesters and riot police. (Christophe Ena / AP) (credit:Christophe Ena / AP)
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This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows smoke rising from burned cars after a huge explosion shook the Sabaa Bahrat Square, one of the capital's biggest roundabouts, in Damascus, Syria, Monday, April. 8, 2013. A car bomb rocked a busy residential and commercial district in central Damascus on Monday, killing more than a dozen with many more injured and sending a huge cloud of black smoke billowing over the capital’s skyline, Syrian state-run media said. (SANA / AP) (credit:SANA / AP)
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Egyptian protesters clash near a bus belonging to Muslim Brotherhood supporters burns after it was reportedly set alight by anti- government protesters in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, April 19, 2013. Clashes erupted Friday between several hundred opponents and supporters of Egypt’s Islamist president during a rally by his allies calling on him to “cleanse the judiciary” of alleged supporters of the old regime. (Mostafa Elshemy / AP) (credit:Mostafa Elshemy / AP)
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Egyptian protesters drag a wounded Muslim Brotherhood supporter during clashes between supporters and opponents of Egypt’s powerful Muslim Brotherhood near the Islamist group’s headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, March 22, 2013. Egyptian protesters clashed with the president's Muslim Brotherhood backers and ransacked three offices nationwide Friday as anger over allegations of beatings and power-grabbing boiled over into the largest and most violent demonstrations yet on the doorstep of the powerful group. (Khalil Hamra / AP) (credit:Khalil Hamra / AP)
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A Palestinian protester throws a Molotov cocktail towards Israeli soldiers, not pictured, during clashes in the West Bank city of Hebron, Wednesday, April 3, 2013. Palestinian prisoners have been rioting and hunger striking since a 64-year-old prisoner died of throat cancer Tuesday while in custody in a civilian hospital, having been transferred there from prison.The Palestinians have blamed Israel for the man's death, saying he was not given proper medical care. The prisoner, Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh, had been serving a life sentence for his role in a foiled attempt to bomb a busy cafe in Jerusalem in 2002. (Nasser Shiyoukhi / AP) (credit:Nasser Shiyoukhi / AP)
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Kenyan police with clubs chase a small group of supporters of presidential candidate Raila Odinga after they ran down a street smashing shop windows in protest at the verdict of the Supreme Court in Nairobi, Kenya Saturday, March 30, 2013. Kenya's Supreme Court on Saturday upheld the election of Uhuru Kenyatta as the country's next president, in a verdict on a petition by candidate Raila Odinga appealing the election result, ending an election season that riveted the nation amid fears of a repeat of the 2007-08 post election violence. (Ben Curtis / AP) (credit:Ben Curtis / AP)
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People leave the Great Prophet Shiite mosque after a suicide car bomb attack in Kirkuk, 180 miles (290 kilometers) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, March 29, 2013. A suicide bomber drove his explosive-laden car into a group of worshipers as they were leaving a mosque after Friday prayers. A string of bombings targeting Shiite mosques on Friday, killing and wounding dozens of people, police said. (Emad Matti / AP) (credit:Emad Matti / AP)
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In this Thursday, March. 21, 2013 photo, local residents walk on a road near a burning building following ethnic unrest between Buddhists and Muslims in Meikhtila, Mandalay division, about 550 kilometers (340 miles) north of Yangon, Myanmar. Burning fires from two days of Buddhist-Muslim violence that killed at least 20 people smoldered across a central Myanmar town Friday as residents cowered indoors amid growing fears the country's latest bout of sectarian bloodshed could spread. The government's struggle to contain the unrest in Meikhtila is proving another major challenge President Thein Sein's reformist administration as it attempts to chart a path to democracy after nearly half a century of military rule that once crushed all dissent. (AP) (credit:AP)
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A Bahraini anti-government protester is engulfed in flames when a shot fired by riot police hit the petrol bomb in his hand that he was preparing to throw during clashes in Sanabis, Bahrain, Thursday, March 14, 2013. Protests and clashes erupted in opposition areas nationwide Thursday with government opponents observing a "Dignity Strike" _ blocking roads, closing shops, protesting and staying home from work and school _ called by the more radical February 14 youth group. (Hasan Jamali / AP) (credit:Hasan Jamali / AP)
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Pakistani men, part of an angry mob, react after burning belongings of Christian families, in Lahore, Pakistan, Saturday, March 9, 2013. A mob of hundreds of people in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore attacked a Christian neighborhood Saturday and set fire to homes after hearing accusations that a Christian man had committed blasphemy against Islam's prophet, said a police officer. (K.M. Chaudary / AP) (credit:K.M. Chaudary / AP)
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A masked Palestinian hides between olive trees during clashes with Israeli forces in the West Bank village of Abud near Ramallah, Friday, March 8, 2013. Clashes erupted after the funeral of Palestinian Mohammed Asfour, who was struck in the head by a rubber-coated bullet during an anti-Israel demonstration in the West Bank on Feb. 22. The Israeli military says rubber bullets are meant to be "non-lethal" means of dispersing protests. (Majdi Mohammed / AP) (credit:Majdi Mohammed / AP)
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People gather on the site of bomb blast in Karachi on March 3, 2013. A bomb attack in Pakistan's largest city Karachi on Sunday killed at least 23 people, including women and children, and wounded 50 others, police said. (Asif Hassan / AFP / Getty Images) (credit:Asif Hassan / AFP / Getty Images)
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This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrian security agents carrying a body following a huge explosion that shook central Damascus, Syria, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. A car bomb shook central Damascus on Thursday, exploding near the headquarters of the ruling Baath party and the Russian Embassy, eyewitnesses and opposition activists said. (SANA / AP) (credit:SANA / AP)
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A US soldier stands alongside the body of a suspected suicide bomber in Kabul on February 24, 2013. Afghan security forces Sunday shot dead two suspected suicide bombers in a car near a construction site in Kabul's diplomatic enclave, a police official and an AFP photographer said. (Shah Marai / AFP / Getty Images) (credit:Shah Marai / AFP / Getty Images)
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Palestinian protestors hurls rocks at an Israeli Army bulldozer during clashes next to Ofer prison, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, following a demonstration in support of Palestinian detainee, Samer Issawi, who has been on hunger strike for more than 200 days, and other prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli prisons on February 21, 2013. Israel's Supreme Court rejected an appeal by a hunger-striking Palestinian prisoner on February 20, saying it was not authorised to overrule the restrictive military order under which he had been jailed. (Abbas Momani / AFP / Getty Images) (credit:Abbas Momani / AFP / Getty Images)
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Masked Palestinians use a back car seat as a shield during a protest to support Palestinian prisoners, outside Ofer, an Israeli military prison near the West Bank city of Ramallah, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013. Palestinian protesters clashed with Israeli soldiers at a rally Tuesday in support of four imprisoned Palestinians on hunger strike, as hundreds of inmates said they were refusing food for the day in solidarity with the fasting inmates. One of the four hunger-striking Palestinians is 35-year-old Samer Issawi whose health has severely deteriorated after he has refused food, on-and-off, for more than 200 days. (Bernat Armangue / AP) (credit:Bernat Armangue / AP)
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Palestinians are covered with tear gas smoke during clashes with Israeli troops, outside Ofer, an Israeli military prison near the West Bank city of Ramallah, Friday, Feb. 15, 2013. Palestinian demonstrators clashed with Israeli soldiers on Friday at a rally held in support of a prisoner observing an intermittent hunger strike to protest his incarceration. The Israeli military said about 200 Palestinians threw rocks at soldiers who responded with tear gas during the rally outside Ofer prison in the West Bank. The protesters called for the release of Samer Issawi, who has been on an on-again, off-again hunger strike for several months as he serves time for alleged terror activity. (Majdi Mohammed / AP) (credit:Majdi Mohammed / AP)
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Egyptian protesters throw fire bombs and stones at the presidential palace during a demonstration in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Feb. 8, 2013. Egypt has witnessed a fresh cycle of violence over the past two weeks since the second anniversary of the 2011 uprising that deposed longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak with clashes across the country that have left scores dead and hundreds injured. (Khalil Hamra / AP) (credit:Khalil Hamra / AP)
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Egyptian riot police fire tear gas at protesters demonstrating in front of the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Feb. 1, 2013. Thousands of protesters denouncing Egypt's Islamist president marched on his palace in Cairo on Friday, clashing with security forces firing tear gas and water cannons in the eighth day of the country's wave of political violence. (Khalil Hamra, AP) (credit:Khalil Hamra, AP)
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An Egyptian protester throws a live tear gas canister fired by riot police toward a fire during clashes near Tahrir Square on January 27, 2013 in Cairo, Egypt. Violent protests continued across Egypt two days after the second anniversary of the Egyptian Revolution that overthrew former President Hosni Mubarak on January 25, and one day after the announcement of the death penalty for 21 suspects in connection with a football stadium massacre one year before. The verdict was announced in a case over the deaths of more than seventy fans of Egypt's Al-Ahly football club in a stadium massacre on February 1, 2012, in the northern city of Port Said, during a brawl that began minutes after the final whistle of a match between Al-Ahly and opposing side, Al-Masry. 21 fans of the opposing side, Al-Masry, were given the death penalty, a verdict that must now be approved by Egypt's Grand Mufti. (Ed Giles, Getty Images). (credit:Ed Giles, Getty Images)
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An Egyptian protester carries an injured boy away from clashes with Egyptian riot police during a protest following the announcement of the death penalty for 21 suspects in connection with a football stadium massacre last year, on January 26, in Cairo, Egypt. Protests have continued across Egypt after a verdict was announced in a case over the deaths of more than seventy fans of Egypt's Al-Ahly football club in a stadium massacre on February 1, 2012, in the northern city of Port Said, during a brawl that began minutes after the final whistle of a match between Al-Ahly and opposing side, Al-Masry. 21 fans of the opposing side, Al-Masry, were given the death penalty in the court case, a verdict that must now be approved by Egypt's Grand Mufti. The verdict was handed down during a period of high tension across Egypt, one day after the second anniversary of the beginning of Egypt's 2011 revolution that overthrew former President, Hosni Mubarak. (Ed Giles, Getty Images) (credit:Ed Giles, Getty Images)
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An Egyptian protester evacuates an injured boy during clashes near Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Two years after Egypt's revolution began, the country's schism was on display Friday as the mainly liberal and secular opposition held rallies saying the goals of the pro-democracy uprising have not been met and denouncing Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. (Khalil Hamra, AP) (credit:Khalil Hamra, AP)
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Police using water canon on BJP workers who are protesting against Home minister Sushilkumar Shinde’s Hindu Terror remark on January 24, 2012 in Chandigarh, India. Home minister Shinde has alleged that BJP and RSS were behind Hindu terror during recently held Congress Conclave at Jaipur. (Keshav Singh, Hindustan Times / Getty Images) (credit:Keshav Singh, Hindustan Times / Getty Images)
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This picture taken late on January 23, 2013 shows Thai police officers inspecting the dead body of a suspected separatist militant (C) who was shot dead in clashes with Thai soldiers in the Srisakorn district of Thailand's restive southern province of Narathiwat. More than 5,300 people, both Buddhist and Muslim, have been killed since 2004 in Thailand's restive south, according to local conflict monitor Deep South Watch. (Madaree Tohlala, AFP / Getty Images) (credit:Madaree Tohlala, AFP / Getty Images)
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Forensic investigators inspect the scene where the bodies of six people lie on a street in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013. According to police, the victims were shot to death. (Fernando Antonio, AP) (credit:Fernando Antonio, AP)
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Afghan security forces exchange fire with militants at the site of a suicide attack near the Afghan intelligence agency headquarters in Kabul on January 16, 2013. A squad of suicide bombers attacked the national intelligence agency headquarters in heavily-fortified central Kabul on January 16, killing at least two guards and wounding dozens of civilians, officials said. (Shah Marai, AFP / Getty Images) (credit:Shah Marai, AFP / Getty Images)
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A soldier of the French foreign legion wearing a skeleton mask stands next to an armored vehicule in a street in Niono, on January 20, 2013. French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said today that the goal of France's military action in Mali was to retake control of the entire country from Islamist militants who have seized the north. "The goal is the total reconquest of Mali. We will not leave any pockets" of resistance, Le Drian said on French television. (Issouf Sanogo, AFP / Getty Images) (credit:Issouf Sanogo, AFP / Getty Images)
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French anti-riot policemen try to evacuate farmers who spread straw on the pavement early on January 16, 2013 in Paris, near the Agriculture ministry and the Prime Minister official residence, the Hotel Matignon, during a protest called by farmers union FNSEA against new constraints arising from the applications of European Union rules against nitrates. A new map identifies "vulnerable areas" to nitrates which require special protection to not pollute water resources. (Miguel Medina, AFP / Getty Images) (credit:Miguel Medina, AFP / Getty Images)
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Afghan security and intelligence check a dead body at the scene after an attack by militants in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013. Six militants wearing suicide vests including one driving a car packed with explosives attacked the gate of the Afghan intelligence in Kabul on Wednesday, setting off a blast that reportedly caused several deaths and wounded at least 30 civilians, officials said. (Ahmad Jamshid, AP) (credit:Ahmad Jamshid, AP)
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A South African policeman. left, fires a rubber bullet, at striking farm workers as they demonstrate in De Doorns , South Africa, Thursday, Jan 10, 2013. Striking farm workers in South Africa have clashed with police for a second day during protests for higher wages. The South African Press Association says police on Thursday fired rubber bullets at rock-throwing demonstrators in the town of De Doorns in Western Cape province, and protests were occurring in at least two other towns. (Schalk van Zuydam, AP) (credit:Schalk van Zuydam, AP)
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Security officers walk away as a man mourns next to the bodies of his wife and daughter, who were gunned down outside their house as they attempted to escape when suspected Orma raiders attacked their village of Kibusu in Kenya Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013. The raiders set more than twenty houses on fire and killed at least ten people as the Tana River County ethnic clashes erupted yet again. (AP) (credit:AP)
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A Palestinian protester throws back a tear gas canister fired by Israeli soldiers near a cloud of black smoke rising from burning tyres during a demonstration against the expropriation of Palestinian land by Israel in the village of Kfar Qaddum, near the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, on January 4, 2013. (Jaafar Ashtiyeh, AFP / Getty Images (credit:Jaafar Ashtiyeh, AFP / Getty Images)
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A Chadian soldier wearing reflective sunglasses observes the convoy ahead of him, as Chadian soldiers who are fighting in support of Central African Republic president Francois Bozize, ride on the road leading to Damara, about 70km (44 miles) north of the capital Bangui, Central African Republic Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2013. More than 30 truckloads of troops from Chad line the two-lane highway just outside of Damara, supporting government forces who want to block a new rebel coalition from reaching the capital, and Gen. Jean Felix Akaga, who heads a 10-nation regional force, says the town is a "red line that the rebels cannot cross" or his forces will attack. (Ben Curtis, AP) (credit:Ben Curtis, AP)
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People leave Damara, the last strategic town between the rebels from the SELEKA coalition and the country's capital Bangui, on January 2, 2013, as the commader of the regional African force FOMAC warned rebels against trying to take the town, saying it would "amount to a declaration of war." The rebels, who began their campaign a month ago and have taken several key towns and cities, have accused Central African Republic leader Francois Bozize of failing to honor a 2007 peace deal. (Sia Kambou, AFP / Getty Images) (credit:Sia Kambou, AFP / Getty Images)
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A Syrian rebel plays football in the Saif al-Dawlah neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria, Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2013. The United Nations estimated Wednesday that more than 60,000 people have been killed in Syria's 21-month-old uprising against authoritarian rule, a toll one-third higher than what anti-regime activists had counted. The U.N. human rights chief called the toll "truly shocking." (Andoni Lubacki, AP) (credit:Andoni Lubacki, AP)
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Palestinians hurl stones at Israeli soldiers, not seen, during clashes in the West Bank village of Tamoun, near Jenin, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013. Palestinians say a raid by Israeli soldiers disguised as vegetable vendors to seize members of a militant group has sparked clashes in the northern West Bank. (Mohammed Ballas, AP) (credit:Mohammed Ballas, AP)
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