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Alcohol is a leading preventable cause of cancer and alcoholic beverages should carry a warning label like cigarette packs do, the U.S. surgeon general said Friday.It's the latest salvo in a heated debate over the risks and benefits of moderate drinking as the influential U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans are about to be updated. For decades it was said that drinking moderately helped prevent heart attacks and strokes. This perception has been incorporated into the dietary advice given to Americans. But growing research has linked alcohol consumption, sometimes even within recommended limits, to various types of cancer. Labels currently on bottles and cans of alcoholic beverages warn of drinking during pregnancy or before driving or operating other machinery, and of "health risks" in g...

Syria's new leaders met with French and German foreign ministers in the capital Damascus on Friday, in one of the highest-level Western diplomatic visits since the fall of President Bashar al-Assad last month.German Annalena Baerbock and her French counterpart, Jean-Noël Barrot, arrived in Damascus on the first such trip in years on behalf of the European Union, as world powers began building ties with Hayat Tahrir al- Sham, the Islamic group that leads the new Syrian government.Ms Baerbock and Mr Barrot met Ahmad al-Shara, the group's leader, after visiting the infamous Sednaya prison, where the al-Assad regime had tortured and killed thousands of inmates.“We travel to Damascus today to offer our support, but also with clear expectations of the new rulers,” Ms. Baerbock said in a statemen...