CANBERRA - Australian women and teenage girls of Lebanese descent have approached their embassy in Beirut seeking help to escape arranged marriages and to return to Australia, a newspaper reported on Tuesday. The Australian embassy had been approached in the past two years by 12 females - seven of them under 18-years-old - fleeing their new husbands, The Australian newspaper reported.

Aug. 1 (Bloomberg) -- King Fahd, who led Saudi Arabia since 1982 as he balanced pro-U.S. policies and local Islamic forces, died after years of worsening health, state television reported. His age isn't known, though he was in his early 80s. The king's half-brother, Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, who assumed day-to-day power after Fahd's 1995 stroke, becomes monarch. He'll be crowned Wednesday, a Royal Court spokesman said on state TV. Abdullah, who ignored terrorists in the kingdom for a decade, is now battling al-Qaeda cells in the country, where they killed almost 100 foreigners in the past two years. ``I don't expect any change in policies, only continuity,'' Prince Turki al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the U.S., told reporters at a meeting in London. As ruler of Saudi Arabia since 1982 after the death of half- brother King Khaled, Fahd tapped the world's largest oil reserves to bolster the royal family and bankroll Islamist groups and poorer Arab states. King Fahd died in King Faisal hospital in the capital, Riyadh, at 7:30 a.m. local time, said a member of the royal family, who declined to be identified. `Saudi Arabia is a dinosaur state,'' said Anthony Harris, formerly the U.K.'s ambassador the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia's Persian Gulf neighbor. ``It can't be good for a country to ruled by leaders in their 80s,'' Harris said. Al-Qaeda The ruling family's balancing act began to unravel after 15 Saudi nationals took up the call of Fahd's greatest nemesis, Osama bin Laden, and conducted the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. Two decades of per-capita-income decline while the House of Saud continued to build palaces across the world, along with an education system dominated by Islamic studies, provided a recruiting ground for al-Qaeda. To view more pictures and News update pls click READ MORE

President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said here Monday the Lebanese Hizbollah is a symbol of pure thought of Islam in Lebanon and at the forefront of the Islamic world. Ahmadinejad made the remark in a meeting with leader of Lebanese Hizbollah Sheikh Hassan Nasrollah who is currently here on an official visit. "Success, victories and progress of this popular and faithful force in political, cultural, social and military domains of Lebanon are results of purity and reliance on God's will which should be preserved and institutionalized as the main factor in the fight against enemies of Islam," he said. Terming Lebanon's Hizbollah as a very respectful and dear organ for the Islamic ummah (nation), Ahmadinejad said, "Hizbollah as an intelligent and smart force lies in the hearts of world Muslims. "The Islamic world, particularly the Iranian nation are following up with keen interests and sensitivity the developments in Lebanon as well as Hizbollah's stance and role in this regard." The president-elect stressed the permanent relationship between the Iranian and Lebanese nations. He referred to recent presidential election in Iran as a Divine blessing and a great victory for the Islamic system and a symbol of the Iranian nation's strength. Nasrollah, for his part, called his visit to Iran as a chance to convey the congratulatory message of the Lebanese nation to the president-elect on his election as Iran's president. Terming the recent presidential election in Iran as very significant event, he felicitated the Iranian president-elect on his election to the post.

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