| United
Nations |
| Key powers
agree deal to end Israel-Hizbollah war |
agencies
Key
U.N. Security Council members have agreed on
a resolution to end Israel's month-old war with
Hizbollah and a vote was possible later on Friday,
British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said.
An Israeli political source said Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert was reviewing the draft resolution.
Earlier in the day, Israel ordered an expansion
of its ground offensive and said it would press
ahead with the campaign if it was unhappy with
any deal.
Israeli tank forces were preparing for orders
to sweep into Lebanon after the wider offensive
was approved, Israeli TV said.
"
We have an agreed text," Beckett told reporters,
adding she hoped that Israel and Lebanon would
abide by it. She said the full Security Council
would receive the draft at 1900 GMT.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice flew
to New York in anticipation of a vote on ending
the war, in which at least 1,030 people in
Lebanon and 123 Israelis have been killed.
She was set to meet U.N. Secretary-General
Kofi Annan, the United Nations said. French
officials
said Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy
was en route to the United Nations.
A senior Lebanese political source said Lebanese
leaders had made progress in talks with a U.S.
official in Beirut and Beirut had no further
major objections to the proposed deal.
Israel's Channel 10 quoted Foreign Minister
Tzipi Livni as telling Rice by telephone earlier
on
Friday that Israel's acceptance of the resolution "could
not be taken for granted".
Israel's security cabinet had authorized expanding
the ground war on Wednesday, with some talking
of a 30-day push deeper into Lebanon. But ministers
had later said the expansion was put on hold
to allow more time for diplomacy.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said
in Beirut that if a deal was not reached this
week: "It
would not be a short war, it would be a long
war ... that would be very dangerous."
NO LET-UP IN VIOLENCE
There was no immediate let-up in the violence
in Lebanon and Israel. Air raids killed another
19 people in Lebanon. An Israeli soldier
was reported killed in fighting and Hizbollah
rockets
wounded seven people in northern Israel.
Israeli raids on a bridge near the border
with Syria killed 12 people and wounded
18, hospital
staff said. Witnesses said a second strike
hit the bridge 15 minutes after the first
had brought
rescuers rushing to the scene.
Israeli strikes killed two people in the
eastern Bekaa Valley and five in south
Lebanon, security
sources said.
An Israeli soldier was killed and one
was badly wounded in fighting with
Hizbollah guerrillas,
Al Arabiya television reported. The
Israeli army had no immediate comment.
More bombs hit Beirut's battered Shi'ite
Muslim suburbs, hours after dawn
raids on the capital.
Many people fled the suburbs on Thursday
after Israel dropped warning leaflets.
Hizbollah, whose seizure of two Israeli
soldiers sparked the war on July
12, fired more than
55 rockets into Israel, wounding
seven people, police
and ambulance staff said.
Humanitarian agencies sought ways
to get aid to an estimated 100,000
people
trapped
in southern
Lebanon and the mayor of Tyre
said the city could run out of food
in two days.
Aid convoys have been unable
to deliver supplies since an
Israeli
air strike
hit a bridge
on the Litani River on Monday.
A deal on a resolution had
been delayed over the timing
of an
Israeli withdrawal
from
southern Lebanon. Lebanon
wanted a quick Israeli pullout,
but Israel had said a strong
multinational force must
be deployed first.
The latest compromise calls
for a phased Israeli withdrawal
as
the
Lebanese
army moves into
the south. At the same
time, the U.N. Interim Force
in Lebanon would be reinforced
by up to 15,000 French
and other troops.
As part of the deal, Hizbollah
would pull out from south
of the Litani
River, 20
km (13 miles)
from the Israeli border.
A second resolution on
a permanent ceasefire
would follow within
a month, tackling
a range of outstanding
issues,
including the release
of the two soldiers held
by Hizbollah.
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| 5.9
magnitude |
| Earthquake
rocks Mexico |
agencies
An
earthquake rattled Mexico City on Friday with
a force that sent people fleeing onto the streets
in panic and revived memories of a devastating
1985 temblor.
No casualties or major damage were immediately
reported after the 9:30 a.m. quake.
"
It was very short but it felt really strong," said
74-year-old Juana Ruiz in the city's Spanish
colonial center, which was devastated by the
earthquake 21 years ago that killed at least
12,000 people.
The 5.9-magnitude quake was centered in the
western state of Michoacan, about 126 miles
southwest
of the Mexican capital of 20 million people,
according to the U.S. National Earthquake Information
Center.
"
For the moment, there are no reports of emergencies.
Only panic attacks. It's minimal. No buildings
fell," said a spokesman for Mexico City
emergency services.
An official in Michoacan also reported no
major damage.
Mexican authorities said the epicenter was
near the town of Huetamo, on the border of
Michoacan
and Guerrero states.
The center of Mexico City sits on the soft
bed of a drained lake and shakes easily with
earthquakes.
Students at the capital's UNAM university,
the biggest in Latin America, ran out of
the library
in fear.
"
I went out as well. I didn't want to die in the
library, squashed by books," said anthropology
student Hector Parra.
Some hospitals in Mexico City evacuated
patients who were able to walk but there
was no full-scale
evacuation.
Office worker Lucero Martinez, 48, went
through the 1985 earthquake and said Friday's
was
not big in comparison.
"
You get scared but after going through such a
strong one nothing frightens you as much," she
said outside her office in the city center.
Some 2.6 million people poured out of
buildings in the capital in September
in an evacuation
drill to mark 20 years since the 1985
earthquake, which laid waste to parts
of the city center.
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