A round-up of today's other world news in brief.
LEBANON -Four Lebanese soldiers were killed in pitched battles with al Qaeda-inspired militants at a Palestinian refugee camp yesterday as Lebanon's worst fighting since the civil war entered its 10th week.
Security sources said 15 soldiers were also wounded in the fighting with Fatah al-Islam militants at Nahr al-Bared camp. There was no immediate word on militant casualties.
The deaths brought to 117 the number of soldiers killed in the battles that began on May 20th. More than 81 militants and at least 41 civilians have also died. - (Reuters)
Palestinian gunmen die in Israeli attack
GAZA- Israel killed four Palestinian gunmen in the Gaza Strip yesterday, two in a ground assault and two in an air strike against militants launching rockets, Palestinian witnesses and medics said.
The violence was the worst in coastal Gaza in 10 days, and came a day before Tony Blair makes his first visit to the region as envoy to the Quartet of Middle East power brokers.
Palestinian witnesses said an Israeli attack helicopter opened fire in northern Gaza, killing two militants. The Islamic Jihad group said both were members and that they had been firing rockets at Israel. - (Reuters)
Sisters stabbed to death in Gaza
GAZA- Three sisters were found stabbed to death in the Gaza Strip yesterday, raising suspicion they were killed by relatives because of suspected immoral behaviour, a human rights organisation said.
The three sisters, Nahed Hija (16) and her sisters, Suha (19) and Lina (22), were found dead from multiple stab wounds, buried in a shallow grave in the central Gaza Strip early yesterday, said Hamdi Shakkour of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights.
Shakkour said they suspected the women were victims of "honour crimes" in which women are murdered by male relatives because of suspected intimate relations - not necessarily sex - outside of marriage. - (Reuters)
Belgian anthem gaffe hits YouTube
BRUSSELS- Belgium's prime minister-in-waiting, who has irked Belgium's French speakers by saying they were too stupid or unwilling to learn Flemish, could not remember his country's anthem on National Day this weekend.
Asked by television reporters if he knew Belgium's La Brabanconne, Yves Leterme hesitantly said he knew it a little bit. Pressed to sing a few bars, he launched into the opening line of France's La Marseillaise. Mr Leterme, formerly prime minister of the Flemish-speaking regional government, was appointed by Belgium's king to form the country's next government but has a tough task ahead to be a unifying force after his comments about French speakers.
Footage of his gaffe was splashed across Belgian media yesterday and was circulating on internet site YouTube. - (Reuters)
Britain denies crisis with Russia
MOSCOW- Britain's ambassador to Russia said London's relations with Moscow were not in crisis despite diplomatic tensions over Russia's refusal to extradite a suspect charged with killing emigre Alexander Litvinenko.
"Talking of British-Russian relations, I would not use the word 'crisis'," Tony Brenton said in an interview with Russian news agency Interfax and Kommersant daily, published in Russian.
"We are being linked by rapidly developing economic ties, the relationship between our peoples has become ever closer, and the number of issues on which we cooperate is growing," he said. Last week the two countries engaged in tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats. - (Reuters)