Politics

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A Syrian boy arrives at a field hospital after an airstrike hit homes on the outskirts of Aleppo on Wednesday. As bloodshed increases in Syria, critics say President Obama has relied too heavily on the United Nations. (Associated Press)

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“The president seems to be running just to hang on to power. I think he’ll do anything in his power to try and get re-elected. These personal attacks, I think, are demeaning to the office of the White House.” — Mitt Romney (Associated Press)

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Vice President Joe Biden gives two thumbs up Monday, Aug. 13, 2012, during a rally at the Durham Armory in Durham, N.C. (AP Photo/The News & Observer, Travis Long)

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China reportedly has told North Korea’s Kim Jong-un not to provoke South Korea militarily until after China’s leadership change this fall. (Associated Press)

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Customs and Border Protection agents found 3.6 grams of marijuana hidden in this cereal box, packed in the luggage of a 15-year-old American teen returning from France. Photo from Customs and Border Protection.

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Israeli schoolchildren wear gas masks during a drill in the central Israeli city of Lod in 2007. Matan Vilnai, Israel’s outgoing civil defense chief, said in an assessment published Wednesday that an attack on Iran’s nuclear sites would likely trigger a drawn-out war that would last for a month and kill as many as 500 Israelis. (Associated Press)

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Uotsuri Island, one of the islands of Senkaku as the Japanese call it and Diaoyu as the Chinese refer to it, is located in the East China Sea. Activists from China and South Korea used Wednesday’s anniversary of the end of World War II to press rival sea territory claims, prompting 14 arrests by Japanese police. (Kyodo News via Associated Press)

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Kelsey Grammer, seen here with Sanaa Lathan, his co-star on TV’s “Boss,” says he may have been passed over for an Emmy because of his political views. (Associated Press)