KIRYAT SHMONA, Israel (AFP) – Nov – 21 An Israeli army position in the disputed Shebaa Farms border area came under heavy …

MARJAYOUN, Lebanon (Reuters) Nov 21 – Israeli warplanes attacked targets on the Lebanese side of the border on Monday shortly after Hizbollah …

According to the office of Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom he shook the hand of Lebanese President Emile Lahoud at a recent diplomatic event in Tunis. Lahoud's office, however, denies the event ever took place, saying the account was "based on imagination". It also rejected a media report that his wife, Andree Lahoud, spoke with Shalom's wife, Judy Nir-Mozes, on the sidelines of the conference.

According to the Israeli foreign ministry account, Shalom was standing near Lahoud as he shook the hands of dignitaries standing close by at a function the Tunisian government put on for delegates to a UN conference, foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev said. State of war "We do not relate any diplomatic importance to this," Regev said, adding that the handshake - whether or not it took place - did not herald any moves towards peace talks with Lebanon.

 Iraq received a high score on the freedom index in which the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) ranked 20 countries on 15 indicators of political and civil liberty. The BBC commented that Iraqis no long live under a dictatorship and now have plenty of publications and political parties to choose from. But their freedom of movement is constrained by the bombings and kidnappings, and that is a big limitation.

The Index of Political Freedom lists Lebanon, Morocco, Iraq and the Palestinian Territories as the most democratic parts of the region. Libya received the lowest rating, below Syria and Saudi Arabia. The analysts found little evidence of democratisation in some countries.  Sitting at the bottom of the table, Libya has long had a reputation as one of the world's worst violators of human rights. Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's government has also long restricted freedom of expression and independent political activity.