Hezbollah getting chemical arms: Israel lawmaker

Jerusalem: A former Israeli defense minister alleged on Monday that Syria's chemical weapons are "trickling" to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. It was the first such claim by a senior politician in Israel, but he did not supply evidence to support his assertion.

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, a retired general who is now a lawmaker from the opposition Labor party, told The Associated Press: "The process of weapon transferal to Hezbollah has begun."

He told Israel Radio that he "has no doubt" that Syrian President Bashar Assad has already used chemical weapons and that that "these weapons are trickling to Hezbollah."

PM Fayyad set to quit: Palestinian official

RAMALLAH: Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has prepared a letter of resignation which he will submit to president Mahmud Abbas on Thursday, a senior Palestinian official said.

Abbas and Fayyad are known to have been at loggerheads over a raft of issues, including the resignation of the Palestinian Authority's finance minister, which Abbas refused to accept but which was agreed by Fayyad, a US-educated economist.

Saudi Arabia denies paralysis punishment

Saudi Arabia has denied reports that a court in the kingdom has ordered a punishment of paralysis for a man who caused the paralysis of a friend.

A Saudi justice ministry spokesman said the reports about the sentence were completely false.

The justice ministry said on its twitter account that the judge in the case decided to dismiss demands for such a sentence.

Reports of the sentence sparked widespread condemnation.

Amnesty International, the human rights organisation, called for the sentence to be annulled.

Indonesian minorities protest growing religious intolerance

JAKARTA : Around 200 Christian, Muslim Shiite and Ahmadiyah leaders protested in the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Monday against growing religious intolerance in the Sunni Muslim-majority country.

The rally of minority groups followed the demolition of a church and the closure of an Ahmadi mosque, both in Bekasi, east of Jakarta, in recent weeks after pressure from Muslim hardliners.