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President Assad's former allies were turning on him in rapid succession, a sign of profound impatience with a leader who has failed to stem months of unrest that could explode into a regional conflagration. Up to 90 people, including Syrian troops, were killed in a gruesome wave of violence Monday, activists said.

The former House speaker says the troubled mortgage giant paid him the consultant fee in 2006 for his "advice as a historian" — and that he was not a lobbyist. Strictly speaking, that's right. But one expert says what Freddie really wanted was "political protection and cover."

The New York Supreme Court Justice said police had a right to enforce rules that prohibit camping in Zuccotti Park and that the city's eviction of the demonstrators did not violate their First Amendment rights.

Steven Chu says even in hindsight, he sees no way his department could have known the solar energy company would go bankrupt.

The U.S. House unveiled a spending bill that would unravel some of the Obama administration's efforts to revamp school lunches. Under the bill, pizza would still count as a vegetable. Nutrition advocates say if the rule stays, it will be a win for industry and a loss for kids.

More illegal immigrants are crossing the U.S. and Mexico border by sea. As law enforcement cracks down on the risky sea journeys, immigrant smugglers are taking their contraband loads even farther up the coast of California, sometimes hundreds of miles from the border.

Workers at the world's largest gold mine, located in Indonesia's remote Papua province, have gone on strike for higher pay; several people have died in clashes with police. Critics say the mine's owner, American mining conglomerate Freeport-McMoRan, operates with impunity because of powerful friends.

Many Egyptians are outraged over military rulers' plans to change the constitution to protect the armed forces from civilian oversight and give themselves the final say on key policies. It's the latest clash between pro-democracy factions and the ruling military council, which is accused of clinging to power despite vowing to cede control.

One of Japan's most venerable corporations is facing possible bankruptcy and its executives face jail time. The corporate scandal has stunned the nation. Olympus, a maker of cameras and medical equipment that is a household name in Japan, has been cooking its books and covering losses dating back to the 1990s.

The animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is attacking Nintendo's new video game Super Mario 3-D Land. In the game, Super Mario sometimes wears the skin of a tanooki, which is a raccoon dog. Since tanooki are, in real life, killed for their fur, the group says the game "sends the message that it's OK to wear fur."