This image made from Saudi TV shows sons of the late Saudi King Fahd carrying his body, wrapped in a plain brown cloth on a wooden plank, into the Imam Turki bin Abdullah mosque in Riyadh for his pre-burial service Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2005. Heads of state from the Islamic world and Saudi princes and Islamic clerics prayed for the late King Fahd, who died Monday, in the packed mosque Tuesday, bidding farewell to this oil-rich country’s ruler for almost a quarter of a century. (AP Photo/Saudi TV) To view More pictures pls click “READ MORE“
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. 
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 
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. 
By Lin Noueihed BEIRUT, July 29 (Reuters) – Victims of war and occupation or traitors who betrayed their country to work with an enemy state? A spat over the fate of Lebanese former militiamen living in Israel is threatening to reopen old wounds in Lebanon, with Christian leaders demanding they receive an official amnesty and Muslim leaders insisting “collaborators” are punished. Fearing reprisals or heavy punishment if they stayed in Lebanon, some 6,000 members of Israel’s defunct proxy militia, the South Lebanon Army (SLA), took their families and fled to the Jewish state with withdrawing Israeli troops in 2000. Though over half have returned in recent years, many remain in Israel. Parliament passed an amnesty bill this month that freed Christian warlord Samir Geagea and hundreds of Sunni Muslims suspected of links to a failed Islamist uprising in 2000. Christian deputies in the new parliament now want to extend a similar amnesty to those Lebanese who worked with Israeli troops during their 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon. But the proposal has received a frosty reception among many, especially Shi’ite Muslim Hizbollah whose guerrilla attacks were instrumental in ending the Israeli occupation.Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun told parliament on Thursday it was time for those who fled to the Jewish state to come home so Lebanon can turn the page on its troubled past. “Why can’t we bring back the thousands of Lebanese refugees in Israel? This issue can only be ended through a parliamentary, judicial inquiry,” Aoun said, adding that many had little choice but to work with the Israelis during the occupation. “The people of Jezzine and the border strip paid the price and are now considered collaborators.” Some Lebanese who joined the SLA fought against their own country and ran a notorious jail.
By Roula Khalaf (Financial Time) Lebanon’s new prime minister is striking a conciliatory tone towards Syria, pledging strong relations in the hope of resolving a border crisis that has led to a virtual closure of traffic to Lebanese trade. Fouad Siniora, picked by the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority that emerged after the April departure of Syrian troops from Lebanon, is expected to travel to Damascus on Thursday after the expected confirmation of his government by parliament. In an interview with the Financial Times, the 62-year-old Mr Siniora said he would not wait until the results of a UN probe into the February assassination of Rafiq Hariri, the former Lebanese premier, before restoring ties with Syria. Damascus’ alleged role in the killing is being investigated.
By Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Congresswoman)), 
BEIRUT, 26 July (IRIN) – Stringent new Syrian customs procedures have left hundreds of truck drivers in Lebanon waiting at the border with dwindling resources since the start of the month. The move is seen as a growing threat to Lebanon’s agricultural exports. A long caravan of trucks carrying Lebanese exports destined for the rest of the region has been stranded for weeks in the 11 km no-man’s land between the two countries. Inspections became stricter than usual in June but the real logjam started in July, according to truckers and local Lebanese officials. Painstaking inspection procedures by the Syrians are only allowing a few trucks through each day, forcing drivers to wait in harsh conditions, given the hot sun and dwindling food and money, while they wait with their cargo, much of it perishable. “Prices have already gone down by almost 50 percent as exporters cannot buy Lebanese agricultural products,” said Antoine Hoyek, president of the Syndicate’s Federation of Agricultural Producers in Lebanon. He estimated that the delays are costing the Lebanese economy $300,000 a day. Adnan Kassar, president of the Lebanese Trade Unions and Farm Syndicates, warned that long-term losses could severely affect the already ailing Lebanese economy, as other Arab countries would stop importing Lebanese goods. Most of the trucks stuck at the border are carrying perishable goods to destinations such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Jordan, and even Syria, according to truckers and customs officials. Other loads include contain plastic goods, engine parts and wood. The drivers complained of the imminent risk of spoiling cargoes of fruit and vegetables, mostly from the agricultural heartland of Chtaura, in the Bekaa Valley in Central Lebanon. They said they are given an allowance of about US $2,450 for a trip, to include all expenses (such as customs clearance, administrative fees and their own sustenance) and their salary.
