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WASHINGTON (AP) A last-minute compromise on a way to avoid the fiscal cliff of middle-class tax increases and possible deep spending cuts continues to elude Senate leaders. President Barack Obama warns that failure could mean a "self-inflicted wound to the economy."

NEW YORK (AP) Winter storm warnings have been in effect for parts of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut thanks to a widespread storm that dumped snow over the Northeast and parts of Ohio on Saturday. The National Weather Service expected up to a foot of snow in parts of southern New England.

WASHINGTON (AP) President Barack Obama says 50 U.S. troops have deployed to the African country of Chad to help evacuate U.S. citizens and embassy personnel from the neighboring Central African Republic's capital in the face of rebel advances toward the city. Obama informed congressional leaders of Thursday's deployment in a letter Saturday citing a "deteriorating security situation" in the Central African Republic.

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) A government official says 17 people have been killed in a suicide car bombing that targeted a bus carrying Shiite Muslim pilgrims in southwest Pakistan. Authorities say more than 20 people were wounded in the attack Sunday in Baluchistan province. Pakistan has experienced a spike in killings over the last year by radical Sunni Muslims.

MOSCOW (AP) Russia's foreign minister says Syrian President Bashar Assad has no intention of stepping down and it would be impossible to try to persuade him otherwise. Sergey Lavrov also says that the Syrian opposition risks sacrificing many more lives if it continues to insist on Assad leaving office as a precondition for holding talks on Syria's future.