Beirut  - The head of the Christian-dominated Lebanese Forces, Samir Geagea, hit back Friday at Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah for accusations against his party regarding the fate of four Iranians who went missing in Lebanon in 1982.

"Who can explain the pressing interest of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in the four Iranian diplomats, who were kidnapped during the (1975- 1990 Lebanese) civil war? Is this issue more important than Lebanese detainees in the Syrian prisons?" Geagea asked in a press conference at his residence, north of Beirut.

Madrid  - The Spanish government has begun granting certificates recognizing the suffering of General Francisco Franco's leftist victims during the 1936-39 civil war and Franco's ensuing dictatorship, sources of the Justice Ministry said Friday.

The first 42 recipients included the family of former Catalan regional prime minister Lluis Companys, who was sentenced to death by a Francoist tribunal on what is widely regarded as insufficient evidence, and executed in 1940.

Davos, Switzerland  - The fight against terrorism could only succeed in Afghanistan and Pakistan, officials gathered at Davos have said, if there was strong international military cooperation and if ordinary people's lives were improved.

The two neighbouring countries would have to implement a strategy which relied as much on development projects as it would on military action against extremists groups employing terrorism, otherwise the people would not be on board.

Ostrava, Czech Republic - Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country chairs the European Union until June 30, called for a nuclear power revival in the wake of a gas crisis that left thousands of Eastern Europeans without heat in the midst of winter.

"Do we want sustainable energy supply with low (CO2) emissions? Then we cannot do without nuclear," Topolanek told an energy security conference in north-eastern Czech Republic.

While backing atomic power, Topolanek warned against reliance on "imported" sources of energy.

Davos, Switzerland  - Israel and Syria were on the path to direct talks but the progress was set back by the three-week offensive in the Gaza Strip, Turkish officials said Thursday while attending the World Economic Forum.

Turkey had hosted four rounds of indirect talks between the two nations, who are still at a state of war since 1948. Damascus called off after the discussions after the Israeli offensive began.

"We had problems with only a few words," said Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, referring to negotiations which had gone on when Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was in Ankara just days before the offensive began.

Washington  - Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich made a final effort to save his job, denying any wrongdoing at his impeachment trial in the state's Senate Thursday and arguing that removing him from office would set a dangerous precedent.

Blagojevich appeared in the Senate for the first time since the body began weighing whether he should be stripped of his job following his December arrest on broad corruption charges, including trying to sell President Barack Obama's vacated US Senate seat to the highest bidder.