Lebanon
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Army Arrests People Smugglers in Bekaa

The Lebanese army said on Friday that it arrested a Lebanese man and four Syrians involved in a human trafficking ring in the eastern Bekaa Valley.

An army unit raided the houses of Lebanese Moussa Rida Shouman and Ahmed Khaled al-Sumaili in the West Bekaa town of al-Swairi after receiving information that they have held Syrians captives and asked for ransom from their families, the military said in a communique.

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Report: 10 Poultry Farms in Bekaa Isolated over Bird Flu

The threat of an H5N1 bird flu virus that plagued a poultry farm in al-Nabi Sheet in Baalbek has been contained and the necessary measures to stop the spread of the virus were taken, media reports said on Friday.

On Thursday, Agriculture Minister said that the virus has been detected in one of the poultry farms and that the ministry has kicked off efforts to prevent full-fledged epidemic.

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Car Theft Ring Members Wounded in Police Chase

Two car theft gang members were injured on Friday in a shootout with police in the northern Zgharta district, the state-run National News Agency reported.

NNA said members of the Internal Security Forces arrested the two men after they were wounded in the exchange of fire during the chase in the town of Ashash.

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Jumblat Urges Compromise to End Baabda Vacuum

Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat has called for a compromise to end Lebanon’s almost two-year presidential deadlock.

Jumblat told LBCI’s Kalam al-Nass talk show late Thursday that Change and Reform bloc leader MP Michel Aoun and Marada Movement chief lawmaker Suleiman Franjieh should reach a compromise to facilitate the election of a new president.

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Berri Tasks Advisers to Contact Christian Parties on Parliament Reactivation

Speaker Nabih Berri has tasked his advisers to contact Christian parties to bridge the gap on the initiative he launched at the national dialogue table on “necessary legislation,” parliamentary sources close to Ain el-Tineh said Friday.

The sources told al-Liwaa daily that Berri urged his advisers to bring views closer despite the rejection of some Christian parties to discuss any issue if the electoral draft-law is not placed at the top of the agenda of a parliamentary session.

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Netanyahu Meets Putin, Fears Weapons from Iran Falling in Hizbullah Hands

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow Thursday over fears the Kremlin's involvement in Syria and weapons deliveries to Iran could bolster the Jewish state's fiercest opponents.

"Israel has obvious and evident red lines connected to our security," Netanyahu told Putin at the start of the meeting.

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Riyadh-U.S. Summit Accuses Iran of Destabilizing Region, Supporting 'Terror Groups' Like Hizbullah

The United States and leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council concluded on Thursday a summit in the Saudi capital Riyadh during which they accused Iran of “destabilizing the region.”

The Islamic Republic is destabilizing the region and “supporting terrorist groups, including Hizbullah,” said the leaders of the GCC in their concluding statement.

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Police Arrest Two Suspects in Attempted Kidnap

Police have arrested two people involved in the attempted kidnapping of a Lebanese man in southern Lebanon, the state-run National News Agency reported on Thursday

NNA said that three assailants in an SUV without license plates tried to abduct Nabih Qousan on the main road of al-Tibeh in Marjayoun district.

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Man Stabbed to Death in Dbayeh

A young man was stabbed six times Thursday night in the area of Dbayeh north of Beirut, the state-run National News Agency reported.

NNA said that Joseph Qasouf was stabbed three times in his abdomen, twice in his back and one time in the head.

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Russian Sources: Circumstances not Apt for Presidential Elections

The circumstances required to hold an over two-year delayed presidential elections are not appropriate yet and they are linked to a political solution that could be brought on to Syria and the region, al-Joumhouria daily said on Thursday.

Al-Mustaqbal movement chief ex-PM Saad Hariri was informed during his latest visit to Moscow and after a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that the “conditions required to hold the Lebanese presidential elections are not ready yet,” Russian sources following up closely on the Lebanese file told the daily.

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