Visiting British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Wednesday he hopes 2009 will usher in changes around the globe that will bring about a comprehensive Middle East peace settlement.

Visiting British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Wednesday he hoped 2009 would see a comprehensive Middle East peace settlement given changes in the US and Israeli administrations and elections in the region.

`I think 2009 is going to be a very important year,` Miliband told reporters after meeting with Lebanese President Michel Sleiman.

Visiting British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Wednesday he hoped 2009 would see a comprehensive Middle East peace settlement given changes in the US and Israeli administrations and elections in the region.

`I think 2009 is going to be a very important year,` Miliband told reporters after meeting with Lebanese President Michel Sleiman.

BEIRUT, Nov 17, 2007 (AFP) - Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema said on Saturday it was possible for Lebanon's feuding political leaders to elect a new president by a deadline just six days away but warned the situation was 'difficult.'

'I believe that it is possible for Lebanon to have a president next week, my impressions at the end of the day, after having met many leaders of the country, is that an agreement would be possible,' he told reporters at the end of a 24-hour visit.

BEIRUT, Nov 17, 2007 (AFP) - Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema met Lebanese leaders Saturday, officials said, in a last-minute push to choose consensus candidates for next week's presidential poll in the divided state.

D'Alema, who arrived in Beirut overnight, began a series of meetings with members of the Western-backed ruling coalition and the Syrian-backed opposition still deadlocked ahead of a November 23 deadline to elect a new president.

BEIRUT, Nov 17, 2007 (AFP) - Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema met Lebanese leaders Saturday, officials said, in a last-minute push to choose consensus candidates for next week's presidential poll in the divided state.

D'Alema, who arrived in Beirut overnight, began a series of meetings with members of the Western-backed ruling coalition and the Syrian-backed opposition who have yet to reach a compromise ahead of a November 23 deadline to elect a new president.

BEIRUT, Nov 17, 2007 (AFP) - Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema met Lebanese leaders Saturday amid efforts to chose consensus candidates for a presidential poll due next week in the politically divided country.

D'Alema, who arrived in Beirut overnight, began a series of meetings with members of the Western-backed ruling coalition and the Syrian-backed opposition who have yet to reach a compromise ahead of a November 23 deadline to elect a new president.

JERUSALEM, Oct 22, 2007 (AFP) - Israel said on Monday it has received a poignant letter written by an airman who has been missing for more than 20 years, following a rare prisoner swap with Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Ron Arad, a national hero in Israel who has never been officially declared dead, wrote the letter to his wife Tami in 1986, shortly after he was captured in Lebanon during the civil war after ejecting from his fighter-bomber.

WASHINGTON, Oct 22, 2007 (AFP) - A top leader of Lebanon's ruling majority accused Syria and Hezbollah of political killings and disrupting its bid to name a new president, shortly before the process was postponed Monday.

'They can kill four more of us and we will be reduced as a majority,' parliamentarian Walid Jumblatt told CNN news Sunday, alluding to the killing of anti-Syrian MP Antoine Ghanem in September which he blamed on Damascus.

'We won't be able to vote for a free president, a president that will abide by international law and resolutions,' Jumblatt said.

BEIRUT, Oct 22, 2007 (AFP) - Lebanon's parliament speaker on Monday again postponed a special session to elect a president to allow the divided country's feuding political factions time to agree on a consensus candidate.

'The parliament speaker (Nabih Berri) has decided to postpone the session to Monday November 12 for more consultation and agreement over the president, who symbolises the country's unity,' a parliament statment said.

BEIRUT, Oct 22, 2007 (AFP) - Lebanon's parliament speaker on Monday again postponed a special session to choose a president to allow the divided country's feuding political factions time to agree on a consensus candidate.

'The parliament speaker (Nabih Berri) has decided to postpone the session to Monday November 12 for more consultation and agreement over the president, who symbolises the country's unity,' a parliament statment said.

BEIRUT, Oct 22, 2007 (AFP) - A special session of the Lebanese parliament to choose a new president has been delayed from Tuesday to November 12, parliament speaker Nabih Berri announced on Monday.

'The parliament speaker has decided to postpose the session to Monday November 12 for more consultation and agreement over the president, who symbolises the country's unity,' a parliament statment said.

Lawmakers from the ruling coalition and the Hezbollah-led opposition have until November 24 to pick a candidate to succeed the current pro-Syrian head of state Emile Lahoud.

JERUSALEM, Oct 22, 2007 (AFP) - Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah has given Israel a letter written by an air force navigator who has been missing for more than 20 years, an Israeli newspaper reported on Monday.

Written by Ron Arad to his wife in 1986 shortly after he was captured in Lebanon during the civil war, the letter was handed over to Israel as part of a prisoner and body swap with Hezbollah last week.

BEIRUT, Oct 22, 2007 (AFP) - Lebanon's parliament speaker was set on Monday to postpone a special session for lawmakers to elect a president to allow rival factions more time to agree on a consensus candidate, officials told AFP.

'The speaker will issue a communique concerning Tuesday's session later today,' a source close to speaker Nabih Berri told AFP.

Lawmakers from the ruling coalition and the Hezbollah-led opposition have until November 24 to pick a candidate to succeed the current pro-Syrian head of state Emile Lahoud.

BEIRUT, Oct 22, 2007 (AFP) - Locked up and cut off from her family for nine years, without even a penny for the endless scrubbing and washing up, Siriani knew it was time to flee or 'die'.

Like thousands of Filipinas, Sri Lanka Lankans, Nepalese or Ethiopians, Siriani came to Beirut at the age of 20 as a house maid -- a must-have in the image-conscious country.

JERUSALEM, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni charged on Sunday that weapons were still being smuggled from Syria to the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah, undermining the UN mission in Lebanon.

'Continued smuggling of weapons and ammunition from Syria damages UNIFIL's ability to dismantle Hezbollah's armaments and will do so in the future as well if the smuggling continues,' she told Claudio Graziano, the UN force commander.

LANSDOWNE, Virginia, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - US Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday accused Syria of using 'bribery and intimidation' to undermine a free vote in Lebanon's upcoming presidential election.

'We are of course hopeful and a great deal concerned about the future of Lebanon, which will elect a president in the coming weeks,' he said in a speech to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

BEIRUT, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - A session of parliament due on Tuesday to elect Lebanon's next president is expected to be postponed, analysts said on Sunday, after an EU diplomatic mission failed to break a political deadlock.

The foreign ministers of France, Italy and Spain met the leaders of rival Lebanese factions in Beirut on Saturday, but attempts to put a positive spin on the outcome of the talks left Lebanon's leading newspapers cold.

BEIRUT, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - Lebanon's leading newspapers said on Sunday that a visit by a troika of EU ministers aimed at breaking a months-long political deadlock had failed to achieve a breakthrough.

'The three ministers don't have Alexander the Great's sword to cut through Lebanon's Gordian knot,' said the independent daily al-Anwar following Saturday's visit by the foreign ministers of France, Italy and Spain.

BEIRUT, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - A scheduled parliament session this week to elect Lebanon's president is expected to be postponed again as feuding political parties are unable to agree on a consensus candidate, analysts and politicians say.

'Nothing will take place on Tuesday simply because we want to give negotiations a chance,' Henri Helou, a deputy from the ruling coalition, told AFP at the weekend, referring to the upcoming parliamentary session. 'We have to wait a bit but for sure there will be no session on Tuesday.'

BEIRUT, Oct 20, 2007 (AFP) - France, Italy and Spain's foreign ministers met on Saturday with Lebanon's feuding political leaders in a bid to break a long-running deadlock that is preventing the election of a president.

France's Bernard Kouchner, Italy's Massimo D'Alema and Spain's Miguel Angel Moratinos met with parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a leading member of the Hezbollah-led opposition, and with Western-backed Prime Minister Fuad Siniora in hopes of a breakthrough just days before parliament is to convene for a vote on the presidency.

BEIRUT, Oct 20, 2007 (AFP) - French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner began his visit to Beirut at the weekend by crashing a wedding party and dancing the dabke, or traditional Lebanese dance, with the bridal couple.

Kouchner was dining at a fish restaurant in the Lebanese capital with friends and decided to pay a visit late Friday to the bridal party next door where he stayed for about 20 minutes.

He was pictured on the front-page of a Lebanese paper on Saturday clapping and smiling from ear-to-ear as the bride belly-danced before about 500 guests.

BEIRUT, Oct 20, 2007 (AFP) - The foreign ministers of France, Italy and Spain met Saturday with Lebanon's feuding political leaders in a bid to break a long-running deadlock that is preventing the election of a president.

France's Bernard Kouchner, Italy's Massimo D'Alema and Spain's Miguel Angel Moratinos were meeting with parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a leading member of the Hezbollah-led opposition, and with Western-backed Prime Minister Fuad Siniora in hopes of a breakthrough just days before parliament is to convene for a vote on the presidency.

NAQURA, Lebanon, Oct 20, 2007 (AFP) - The foreign ministers of France, Italy and Spain on Saturday reiterated their commitment toward ending a long-running political crisis in Lebanon that is blocking the election of a president.

BEIRUT, Oct 20, 2007 (AFP) - The foreign ministers of France, Italy and Spain meet Lebanese leaders on Saturday to discuss the long-running political crisis that threatens to scuttle the country's presidential election.

France's Bernard Kouchner, Massimo D'Alema of Italy and Spain's Miguel Angel Moratinos arrived in Beirut late on Friday in the latest international bid to end a standoff between the Western-backed government and the Hezbollah-led opposition.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak met with UN chief Ban Ki-moon here Friday for talks that centered on Iran's nuclear ambitions, Lebanon and the fate of abducted Israeli soldiers.

Barak, who is also deputy prime minister, said after the meeting that he brought up Iran's alleged efforts to acquire a nuclear weapons capability, stressing that 'this is an issue that should concern the whole world'.

DAMASCUS, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - Syria says it is ready to open diplomatic ties with neighbouring Lebanon once the current government of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora has been replaced by a more friendly administration.

In a letter to UN chief Ban Ki-moon, a copy of which was carried by the official SANA news agency on Friday, Syria accused Washington and militia leaders from the 1975-90 Lebanese civil war of blocking the establishment of 'balanced' relations between the two countries.

BEDDAWI, Lebanon, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - Patience is wearing very thin among Lebanese whose children are unable to attend schools now being used to accommodate Palestinians after deadly clashes in a refugee camp in the north.

Hundreds of Palestinians from Nahr al-Bared camp were relocated to schools in the nearby town of Beddawi and another refugee camp there in May after fierce battles erupted between al-Al Qaeda-inspired militants and the army.

EL-TIRI, Lebanon, Oct 17, 2007 (AFP) - Thousands of Hezbollah supporters massed on Wednesday for the funeral of a Lebanese guerrilla whose body was handed over in a rare swap between Israel and the Shiite Muslim militia.

Brandishing the yellow flags of Hezbollah, about 10,000 loyalists flocked in buses and cars to the southern village of El-Tiri for the burial of Mohamed al-Esseili, slain in last year's Lebanon war.

NAQURA, Lebanon, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - Israel on Monday handed over the bodies of two Hezbollah militants and a prisoner in exchange for the remains of one Israeli and information on a missing airman.

The swap, the first between Israel and Lebanon in nearly four years, took place at the Naqura border crossing between the two countries in a deal brokered by German and UN mediators.

JERUSALEM, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - Israel confirmed that an exchange was carried out with Lebanese militant group Hezbollah on Monday in a first concrete step in negotiations for the return of missing Israeli soldiers.

'The Israeli government announces that during this evening a new step was taken within the framework of negotiations for the return of kidnapped Israeli soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser,' the prime minister's office said.

NAQURA, Lebanon, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - Israel and Lebanon on Monday carried out an exchange of remains, with the Jewish state handing over the bodies of two Hezbollah fighters in exchange for the body of one Israeli, a security source told AFP.

'The swap of the bodies of two Hezbollah fighters for the remains of an Israeli man has taken place,' said the source, who did not wish to be identified.

The swap, the first between the two countries in nearly four years, took place at the Naqura border crossing between Israel and Lebanon.

JERUSALEM, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - Hezbollah will provide information on Israeli airman Ron Arad, missing for more than 20 years, as part of an exchange of two dead fighters for an Israeli man, an Israeli official said on Monday.

'As part of the prisoner exchange deal, Hezbollah will provide Israel with information on Ron Arad,' an official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

'This was a confidence-building measure, a small move in the hope it will lead to future progress in negotiations with Hezbollah,' the official added.

BEIRUT, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - Lebanese prosecutors on Monday charged a further seven suspected members of the Al-Al Qaeda-inspired militant group Fatah al-Islam with 'murder and belonging to a terrorist group.'

The suspects, only one of whom is in custody, are of Lebanese or Palestinian origin, the office of prosecutor general Saeed Mirza said in a statement.

NAQURA, Lebanon, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - Israel and Lebanon on Monday carried out a prisoner swap, with the Jewish state handing over the bodies of two Hezbollah fighters in exchange for the remains of an Israeli man, a security source told AFP.

'The swap of the bodies of two Hezbollah fighters for the remains of an Israeli man has taken place,' said the source, who did not wish to be identified.

NAQURA, Lebanon, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - Israel and Hezbollah were set to carry out a prisoner swap on Monday, with the Jewish state to hand over the bodies of two militants and a prisoner in exchange for the remains of an Israeli man.

'An exchange of bodies and a prisoner swap should take place this afternoon at the Naqura crossing betweeen Israel and Lebanon,' a security source who did not wish to be identified told AFP.

BEIRUT, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - The Lebanese army said on Monday it had arrested a gang of foreigners who were plotting attacks on UN peacekeepers patrolling the south of the country.

'The Lebanese army's secret service arrested a network of non-Lebanese terrorists who were watching the movements of UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) troops in south Lebanon and who were planning to carry out attacks against them,' the army said.

BEIRUT, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - The Lebanese army said on Monday it had arrested a gang of foreigners who were plotting attacks on UN peacekeepers patrolling south of the country.

'The Lebanese army's secret service arrested a network of non-Lebanese terrorists who were watching the movements of UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) troops in south Lebanon and who were planning to carry out attacks against them,' the army said.