Lebanese police arrest members of pro-Syrian party
By AP
Lebanese police arrested four people and seized large quantities of explosives, electrical fuses and timers in several homes in northern Lebanon on Thursday, a police statement said.
An official close to the investigation said those detained were members of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, a pro-Syrian Lebanese political party.
The police statement said Prosecutor General Saeed Mirza ordered authorities to raid the homes in the district of Koura after receiving information of explosives stashed there. Police found large quantities of explosives with electrical fuses, timers as well as large numbers of weapons.
It said four people were arrested and an investigation was under way.
This is interesting (from JPost).
Speaking of Kosovo....
Kosovo officials arrested after huge weapons haul
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2742690 ^ | December 21, 2006
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1756744/posts
Posted on 12/21/2006 8:29:38 AM EST by joan
By Fatos Bytyci
Dec 21, 2006 — PRISTINA, Serbia (Reuters) - Two officials of Kosovo's governing coalition have been arrested after police found a minibus packed with heavy weapons and ammunition.
A police source said the haul included a 12.7 mm anti-aircraft gun and more than 100 rocket-propelled grenades.
Local media reports said the find, made late on Wednesday in the Drenica region of central Kosovo, was the largest in Kosovo since the 1998-99 war and the deployment of NATO peacekeepers.
Three men were arrested, including a senior adviser to the Kosovo labor minister and a member of the governing Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), which emerged from the guerrilla Kosovo Liberation Army.
The find sharpened fears of unrest in the U.N.-run province, where major powers have delayed a decision on the demand of 2 million ethnic Albanians for independence from Serbia.
The Kosovo government issued a statement expressing regret for what it said was an isolated case. The AAK, a junior member of the governing coalition, said it was "surprised" that two of its members were involved.
The breakaway province, run by the United Nations since 1999 and patrolled by 17,000 NATO-led peacekeepers, is braced for possible violence after the major Western powers and Russia let slip a year-end deadline to decide its fate until Serbia holds a general election on January 21.
(snip)
# Fragile ceasefire holds in Gaza for second day AFP - 1 hour, 59 minutes ago
GAZA CITY (AFP) - A fragile ceasefire aimed at halting deadly clashes between rival Palestinian factions held in Gaza for a second day as president Mahmud Abbas urged all sides to consolidate the truce.
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In this photo made available by the Government Press Office, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, center, smiles during a meeting with U.S. Senators John Kerry, left, and Christopher Dodd, right, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, Dec. 21, 2006. (AP Photo/GPO, Moshe Milner, HO)
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Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, speaks to the media at his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah, Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2006. Abbas said Tuesday night that a comprehensive cease-fire had been agreed to in the volatile Gaza Strip after more than a week of factional violence there. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)
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Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas during a joint press conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Abbas has said that he hoped to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert before the end of the year.(AFP/Abbas Momani)
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A Palestinian militant from the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas, displays Qassam rockets during a rally in Gaza City, September 2005. A senior minister has said Israel should ignore a month-old ceasefire and strike back against Palestinian militants firing rockets from the Gaza Strip in violation of the truce.(AFP/File/Mohammed Abed)
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Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa jokes with journalists while on his way to meeting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus December 21, 2006. (Khaled al-Hariri/Reuters)
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Jordan's King Abdullah II (L) shares a light moment with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso (R) prior to their talks at a hotel in Tokyo. Japan has reaffirmed to Jordan's visiting King Abdullah II its commitment to efforts promoting peace in the Middle East, the foreign ministry said.(AFP/Toru Yamanaka)
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A woman and her colleague, carrying a Hezbollah and Lebanese flags respectively, attend a sit-in protest near the government headquarters in central Beirut, December 15, 2006. (Jamal Saidi/Reuters)
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# Terrorist sentenced to death in Jordan AP - Thu Dec 21, 5:27 AM ET
AMMAN, Jordan - A Jordanian man of Palestinian origin was convicted Thursday and sentenced to death in the fatal shooting of a British tourist he saw as an enemy of Islam.
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Palestinian security forces clash with supporters of the ruling Hamas party in the West Bank city of Ramallah 15 December 2006. Plans by the United States to provide military support for Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas would help restore security in the region and counterbalance the threat posed by Hamas, a US diplomat said.(AFP/File/Abbas Momani)
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