MECCA, Saudi Arabia – The leaders of the two main Palestinian political groups ended their first day of an emergency summit meeting yesterday promising to stay until they agreed on a new government to end a wave of violence in Gaza and the West Bank.
Ismail Haniyeh, the Palestinian prime minister, and Khaled Mashaal, the Damascus-based militant leader, both of Hamas, faced Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah at a round table.
New York Times News Service
Forces from Lebanon,
Israel clash at border
BEIRUT, Lebanon – Lebanese troops exchanged fire with Israeli forces across the border last night for the first time since the summer war between Hezbollah and Israel, Lebanese and Israeli officials said. The incident was sparked by an Israeli bulldozer crossing a fence near the border village of Maroun el-Rass. There were no reports of injury.
Israel said the bulldozer crossed the fence but remained within Israeli territory and was searching for bombs near where explosive devices were planted by Hezbollah on Monday. Hezbollah claims the bombs were planted before the war.
Associated Press
Honduran accident
victims from Georgia
CARTERSVILLE, Ga. – Three Americans killed when a truck filled with charity workers overturned in Honduras were from a Georgia-based outreach program that helps build homes and bring water to poor Honduran villages, the mission's organizer said yesterday.
On Tuesday, 28 adults from four churches were riding through rugged terrain when the truck flipped, police said. Honduras Outreach Inc. identified the dead as Perry Goad, 45; Richard Dupree Mason Jr., 58; and Martha Aline Fuller, 66.
Associated Press
French leader backs
paper's caricatures
PARIS – A French paper accused of insulting Muslims by printing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad surprised a court hearing yesterday with a letter of support from Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.
“I prefer an excess of caricatures to an absence of caricatures,” Sarkozy, who is running for president, wrote in a letter read out by a lawyer for the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.
Reuters
