Beirut, Dec 16 : Najaam Sethi, Editor-in-Chief of Friday Times and Daily Times in Pakistan, has been awarded the 2009 Golden Pen of Freedom, the annual press freedom prize of the World Association of Newspapers.

Sethi, whose newspapers advocate liberal and secular ideas in Pakistan, too-often torn by religious extremism, was honoured for his outstanding defence and promotion of press freedom under difficult circumstances and constant personal danger, the Daily Times reported.

Beirut  - A bomb exploded late Monday inside the Palestinian refugee camp Ain el Hilweh in southern Lebanon, but did not inflict any casualties, Palestinian sources said.

The bomb exploded in Hay al Manshiyeh, an area inside Ain el Hilweh, which is the home of some 70,000 Palestinian refugees, and caused only material damage, the sources said.

Ain el Hilweh, one of the 12 camps that host some 367,000 Palestinian refugees across Lebanon, has in recent months seen clashes between the mainstream Fatah movement and fundamentalist groups Jund al-Sham and Fatah al-Islam.

Beirut  - French president Nicolas Sarkozy is expected to visit Lebanon but will not visit neighboring Syria, Lebanese governmental sources said Monday.

Sarkozy's visit would include a single meeting with President Michel Suleiman and a trip to meet with the French contingent in UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, on New Year's day.

Beirut, 15th Dec. 2008 -- The Emirates Initiative for Support and Construction of Lebanon has commenced installation of equipment at the Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed hospital in Lebanon.

The hospital is being built under instructions of UAE President H. H. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

''Construction and fitting of the hospital, located at Arqoub area, are progressed as schedule .......... specialised medical and technical teams have already started commissioning of equipment and fittings,'' said Abdullah Al Gafli, Deputy Director of the Initiative.

Amman - Lebanese President Michel Suleiman arrived in Amman Sunday for a two-day state visit, the first to Jordan by a Lebanese head of state in nine years.

Beirut - The United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) have taken extra precautionary measures after receiving threats against UN peacekeepers, a local Lebanese radio said Thursday.

Extraordinary security measures have been carried out in southern Lebanon after a bomb was discovered in the Wassani area on December 7, according to Voice of Lebanon radio.

Lebanese security sources were quoted as saying that UNIFIL has warned its patrols against passing near the southern Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh when crossing the costal highway from Sidon to Beirut.