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The deeply divided national unity government is to meet on Wednesday after a month of wrangling over the controversial issue of alleged false witnesses who testified to U.N. investigators probing the murder of ex-PM Rafik Hariri.
Cabinet meeting comes as tensions soar over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), which is expected to issue an indictment implicating Hizbullah in the 2005 Beirut bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others.
Full StoryIsraeli gunfire wounded two Palestinians near the Erez checkpoint on the border with Israel on Tuesday, a Palestinian medical source said.
The two men were among a group collecting gravel for construction north of Beit Hanoun, in an area which the Israeli military has declared a no-go zone for Palestinians.
Full StoryItaly held its breath on Tuesday as lawmakers staged a knife-edge confidence vote on Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government that could bring down the flamboyant Italian leader.
Berlusconi voiced confidence in a victorious outcome as he arrived in parliament and said he "absolutely excluded" his resignation, demanded by former allies from his centre-right coalition who rebelled against him.
Full StoryWith the holidays approaching fast, are you in need of a drinking companion? Hire one, offers a group of entrepreneurial Ukrainians.
For just up to 150 Ukrainian hryvnias (18 dollars), an entertainment firm in eastern Ukraine will provide you with a drinking buddy with whom you can talk everything from politics to art to women or simply bemoan the condition of the world.
Full StorySouth Korea's army chief resigned Tuesday over a controversial property investment, at a time of high tensions with North Korea following its deadly artillery attack on a border island last month.
The departure of General Hwang Eui-Don is a further blow to the South's military, widely criticized for a perceived feeble response to the North's bombardment, which triggered international alarm.
Full StoryJapan's Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors said Tuesday they would deepen cooperation in making cars as the firms seek out new markets and try to counter the effects of a strong yen.
The firms also said they were looking at a possible tie-up that will pool resources to deal with ever-tougher domestic and overseas markets.
Full StoryChinese archaeologists believe they have discovered a 2,400-year-old pot of soup, sealed in a bronze cooking vessel and dug up near the ancient capital of Xian, state press said Monday.
"It's the first discovery of bone soup in Chinese archaeological history," the Global Times quoted Liu Daiyun of the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology as saying.
Full StoryRetired tennis star Martina Hingis has married French showjumper Thibault Hutin in Paris, Swiss celebrity magazine Schweizer Illustrierte said.
According to the magazine's website, the 30-year-old former Grand Slam champion and the 24-year-old rider held their civil wedding on Friday in the presence of close family.
Full StoryDiabetes is costing the United States up to 160 billion dollars per year and might affect one-third of Americans by the middle of the century, former U.S. President Bill Clinton said in Dubai.
"By the middle of this century, the diabetes rate in the United States could be as high as one-third of our whole population," Clinton said on the sidelines of the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) Diabetes Leadership Forum held in Dubai.
Full StoryIran said Tuesday its nuclear and foreign policies will not change after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad fired Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and replaced him with the atomic chief.
"Iran's major international policies are defined in higher levels and the foreign ministry executes these policies. We will not see any changes in our basic policies," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said at his weekly briefing.
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