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TOP STORIES

Mourning Venezuelans parade Chavez's coffin, prepare for vote

CARACAS - Weeping and shouting, sea of Hugo Chavez's supporters parade his coffin through streets in emotional outpouring that could help his deputy win election and keep his self-styled socialist revolution alive. (VENEZUELA-CHAVEZ/ (UPDATE 5, PIX, TV), moved, by Simon Gardner and Andrew Cawthorne, 1,106 words)

+ See also:

- VENEZUELA-CHAVEZ/MOOD (PIX, TV), moved, by Terry Wade, 745 words

U.N. set to crack down on North Korea financing, illicit cargo

UNITED NATIONS - In response to North Korea's third nuclear test, Security Council is set to tighten financial restrictions on North Korea and crack down on Pyongyang's attempts to ship and receive banned cargo in violation of existing sanctions. (KOREA-NORTH/UN (UPDATE 3), moved, by Louis Charbonneau, 714 words)

Syrian rebels seize UN peacekeepers near Golan Heights

BEIRUT - Syrian rebels seize convoy of U.N. peacekeepers near Golan Heights and say they will hold them captive until President Bashar al-Assad's forces pull back from rebel-held village which sees heavy fighting. (SYRIA-CRISIS/ (WRAPUP 3, TV, PIX), moved, by Oliver Holmes, 1,062 words)

+ See also:

- SYRIA-CRISIS/RUSSIA-MILITANTS, moved, by Thomas Grove and Mariam Karouny, 963 words

U.S. House passes funding bill, Obama reaches out to Senate

WASHINGTON - Legislation easily passes U.S. House of Representatives to avert another partisan budget battle and possible government shutdown, as President Obama also opens new lines of communication with Republicans. (USA-FISCAL/ (WRAPUP 3), moved, by David Lawder and Richard Cowan, 894 words)

U.S. senator leads filibuster of Brennan nomination as CIA head

WASHINGTON - Kentucky Republican Rand Paul takes to floor of U.S. Senate and keeps talking for hours in attempt to block confirmation of President Obama's counterterrorism advisor, John Brennan, as director of CIA. (OBAMA-NOMINATIONS/BRENNAN (UPDATE 3, PIX), moved, by Patricia Zengerle and Mark Hosenball, 685 words)

UNITED STATES

In Louisiana, a conservative backlash against gun control

BATON ROUGE, La. - Backlash against President Obama's proposed restrictions on firearms seems to be everywhere here. (USA-GUNS/LOUISIANA, moved, by John Whitesides, 1,509 words)

Surge in English-speaking militants worries U.S., European officials

WASHINGTON - Increased use of English in videos by Islamic extremists and rising flow of recruits from Europe to fight in Syria and on other battlegrounds disturbs U.S. officials who fear some could return to Europe or come to United States to plot attacks. (USA-SECURITY/MILITANTS, moved, by Mark Hosenball, 772 words)

New U.S. anti-smuggling center uncovers internal surprises

WASHINGTON - FBI counter-espionage agents spend years investigating American suspected of smuggling aerospace components to China, when they get word that other U.S. law enforcement agents are about to arrest man. (USA-SMUGGLING/, moved, by John Shiffman, 850 words)

MIDDLE EAST

US envoy walks out of nuclear meeting over Iran's Israel remark

VIENNA - U.S. ambassador to U.N. nuclear watchdog storms out of agency meeting in protest when Iran's representative accuses Israel of "genocide", diplomats say. (IRAN-NUCLEAR/USA (UPDATE 5, TV), moved, by Fredrik Dahl, 656 words)

Egypt court throws election timetable up in the air

CAIRO - Egyptian court throws timetable for parliamentary elections into confusion, ordering cancellation of President Mohamed Mursi's decree calling vote and forcing likely delay to polls due to start in April. (EGYPT-ELECTIONS/COURT (UPDATE 4), moved, by Marwa Awad and Yasmine Saleh, 662 words)

ASIA

China navy seeks to 'wear out' Japanese ships in disputed waters

HONG KONG - China's naval and paramilitary ships churn up ocean around islands it disputes with Tokyo in what experts say is strategy to overwhelm numerically inferior Japanese forces that must sail out to detect and track flotillas. (CHINA-JAPAN/NAVY (PICTURE, GRAPHIC), moved, by David Lague, 1,572 words)

EUROPE

Italy's Bersani seeks way out of vote impasse

ROME - Italian centre-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani rallies his party behind plan to form minority government backed by populist Beppe Grillo after failing to secure victory in last week's election. (ITALY-VOTE/ (UPDATE 2, TV, PIX), moved, by James Mackenzie, 896 words)

+ See also:

- ITALY-VOTE/MEDIASET, moved, by Danilo Masoni, 732 words

AFRICA

Anxiety builds as Kenyans still wait for presidential winner

NAIROBI - Kenyan authorities say election results will not be compromised even after electronic vote counting technology fails, delaying presidential results for third day. (KENYA-ELECTIONS/, PIX, TV), moving shortly, by George Obulutsa and James Macharia, 724 words)

HEALTH & SCIENCE

Too much salt may trigger autoimmune diseases - studies

CHICAGO - Increased salt consumption may be key culprit behind rising rates of autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, researchers report in trio of papers looking at role of specific class of cells linked with inflammation. (SALT-DISEASE/, moved, by Julie Steenhuysen, 705 words)

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/thomson-reuters/130306/world-news-schedule-at-2300-gmt6-pm-et