WASHINGTON - As Barack Obama basks in his historic accomplishment as the first black U.S. presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton ends her groundbreaking effort as the first woman to go as far as she did in the quest for the White House.

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AOMORI, Japan - Energy officials from five top consumer nations urged producers to step up investment on Saturday, a day after crude's biggest surge ever, but they offered no new ideas on how to deal with record prices and remained divided on fuel subsidies.

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ST PETERSBURG, Russia - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev blamed "aggressive" United States policies on Saturday for the global financial crisis and said Moscow's growing economic muscle could be part of the solution.

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TBILISI - Georgia's newly-elected parliament held its first session on Saturday, without the main opposition coalition which boycotted the chamber in protest at what it says was a rigged election.

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ANKARA - Turkey's parliament speaker suggested curtailing the powers of the Constitutional Court on Saturday after it annulled a law which removed a ban on headscarves at universities.

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ISLAMABAD - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said on Saturday that he has no immediate plan to resign or go into exile, in a bid to quash rising speculation that he will quit office soon.

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JUBA, Sudan - Ugandan rebels have killed 23 people including 14 south Sudanese soldiers and "started war", a south Sudanese minister said on Saturday.

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MAJINGXIANG, China - Chinese troops on Saturday eased pressure on a swelling "quake lake" threatening hundreds of thousands of people, but a smaller lake burst its banks in a show of destructive force.

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DAKAR - Hamas and Fatah delegates have met Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade in a first round of mediation aimed at finding a common position for an eventual deal with Israel, Senegalese state media reported on Saturday.

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HONG KONG - Hong Kong has found the feared H5N1 bird flu virus at a poultry stall in one of the territory's many markets and ordered the culling of 2,700 birds, a government spokeswoman said on Saturday.

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