JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has rejected an appeal by his defense minister to halt excavation work near Jerusalem’s most important holy site, the Haaretz daily newspaper reported on Thursday.

EIGHTY Tanzania People’s Defence Forces (TPDF) soldiers, including ten women, left for Lebanon yesterday where they will join the United Nations Interim Force in the Lebanon (UNIFIL).

Lebanese and Israeli troops are reported to have exchanged fire on the border between the two countries.