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Twitter 'Source of all Evil', Says Top Saudi Cleric

Twitter is nothing more than "a source of lies" and evil, Saudi Arabia's top Muslim cleric said, in comments that sparked lively debate Tuesday on the micro-blogging site.

"If it were used correctly, it could be of real benefit, but unfortunately it's exploited for trivial matters," Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh said on his "Fatwa" television show broadcast late Monday.

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Pakistani Executed in Saudi for Drug Trafficking

Saudi Arabia on Tuesday beheaded a Pakistani convicted of drug smuggling, the interior ministry announced, bringing to 58 the number of executions in the conservative Muslim kingdom this year.

Baz Mohammed Ghul Mohammed was found guilty of attempting to smuggle a "large amount of heroin" by hiding it in his stomach, the ministry said in a statement carried by SPA state news agency.

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Geagea Heads to Saudi for 'Talks with Top Officials'

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea traveled to Saudi Arabia on Monday evening on an “official visit.”

“The chief of the LF party left this evening for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia via Beirut's airport, on an official visit during which he will meet with top Saudi officials,” Geagea's press office said in a statement.

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Shooting in Eastern Saudi after Cleric's Death Sentence

Gunfire aimed at security forces set fire to an oil pipeline in eastern Saudi Arabia Saturday, official media said, three days after a dissident local Shiite cleric was sentenced to death.

Officers in the Sunni-dominated kingdom "came under heavy gunfire from an unknown source, which led to a limited fire breaking out on a subsidiary oil pipeline," the official SPA news agency said.

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Half-Ton of Smuggled Ivory Seized in Saudi Arabia

Authorities in Saudi Arabia say they have seized half a tonne of ivory being smuggled from Africa to east Asia.

Customs agents at King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh intercepted the shipment, which was in transit, the official SPA news agency said on Saturday.

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Report: Aoun Slams Talks on Presidential Elections, Refuses to Back Down

Head of the Free Patriotic Movement MP Michel Aoun slammed on Friday consultations between al-Mustaqbal movement chief Saad Hariri and Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi over the names of the presidential candidates.

“They can talk as much as they want... I will not withdraw my candidacy and I will never back down,” Aoun's visitors quoted him as saying in comments published in As Safir newspaper.

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Controversial Iranian Military Aid Delayed as U.S. Urges its Postponement

Discussions over a controversial Iranian grant to the Lebanese army have been “frozen” to avoid any rift between cabinet members as the United States pressed to “delay” the matter until other arming pledges are met.

According to the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat, Prime Minister Tammam Salam is stalling all discussions at cabinet meetings over the matter to prevent any crisis between its two main components Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal movement.

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Saudi Arabia Beheads Pakistani for 'Smuggling' Heroin

Saudi Arabia on Wednesday beheaded a Pakistani man, the interior ministry said, bringing to almost 60 the number of executions in the kingdom this year.

Mohammad Yunus Mohammed Shoaib, executed in the Eastern Province community of Qatif, "was caught smuggling a large quantity of heroin into the kingdom inside his gut," the ministry said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

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Kuwaiti Official: Gulf States Plan Joint Naval Force

Arab states in the Gulf plan to launch a joint naval force, a top Kuwaiti defense official said on Wednesday, in a bid to protect waters shared with neighboring Iran.

The new force is expected to be formed in the "coming months", Major General Ahmad Yussef al-Mulla was quoted as saying by the official KUNA news agency.

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Top Saudi Cleric Sentenced to Death for 'Sedition'

A Saudi court on Wednesday sentenced prominent Shiite cleric and anti-government protest leader Nimr al-Nimr to death after convicting him of sedition, his family said.

Nimr was a driving force behind demonstrations against the Sunni authorities that erupted in 2011 in the oil-flush east, alongside a Shiite-led protest movement in neighboring Bahrain.

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