Middle Orient

WASHINGTON (AFP) —  US President George W. Bush  celebrated victory on Saturday after he signed into law a long-sought  bill committing $100 billion to the wars in Iraq and  Afghanistan.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A revised UN resolution to unilaterally establish an international tribunal to prosecute suspects in the assassination of Lebanon’s former prime minister would give the Lebanese parliament a grace period until June 10 to ratify it.

BEDDAWI (AFP) —  With their long beards, Pakistani-style clothes and brand new weapons, the Fateh Islam guerrillas have long spread fear among Palestinian refugees in an embattled camp in northern Lebanon.

BAGHDAD (AFP) — US and British forces on Saturday clashed with Moqtada  Sadr’s supporters in Baghdad and Basra, even as Iraq’s politicians cautiously welcomed the radical Shiite cleric’s return to the political scene.

GAZA CITY (AP) — Israeli air strikes killed five Hamas members in Gaza on Saturday, shortly after fighters floated the idea of halting rocket fire on Israeli border towns if Israel ended its 10-day-old air campaign.

NAHR BARED (Reuters) — The United States sent more ammunition on Saturday to Lebanon, whose army is struggling to defeat a group of heavily armed Islamists holed up inside a Palestinian refugee camp.

A bomb exploded in a busy market area of Athgaon, Guwahati killing 7 people and injuring almost 30. ULFA, the banned outfit, seems to be behind the deadly blast which created panic across the city. Police officials are already probing an enquiry into the blast.

Fighting between the Lebanese military and Muslim fighters at a Palestinian refugee camp has continued into a fourth day, with renewed gunfire reported in the evening. The fighting has left scores dead, destroyed houses and triggered a flood of refugees from the camp.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Libya has agreed to postpone the execution of an Egyptian man who was due to die on Sunday, after Egypt asked Tripoli to allow more time in that and nine other cases, the Egyptian state news agency MENA said on Saturday.

Consiliul de Securitate al ONU va vota miercuri un proiect de rezoluţie care instituie tribunalul internaţional pentru judecarea presupuşilor asasini ai fostului premier libanez anti-sirian Rafik al-Hariri.