Lebanon's most prominent anti-Syrian opposition leader said yesterday that Hezbollah, the Syria-backed Shiite Muslim group, should keep its weapons until Israel withdraws from Shebaa Farms, a tiny disputed border enclave on the border between Lebanon, Israel and Syria's Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The meeting between Druze leader Walid Jumblatt and Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the first between the two prominent figures since last month's car-bomb assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, could signal a thaw in frosty relations between the opposition and Hezbollah.

The United States has labeled Hezbollah a terrorist organization and led international calls for it to be disarmed. The United States also has backed calls by the Lebanese opposition for Syria to quit meddling in the country.

Hezbollah was the only Lebanese political party to openly keep its arms at the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.

Jerusalem

Israel to delay transfer of Qalqilya

Israel will delay a promised hand over of the West Bank town of Qalqilya to Palestinians that was expected this week, claiming Palestinians had failed to confiscate weapons from militants in two towns relinquished earlier, political sources said yesterday.

The transfer process is seen as an important step toward reviving peace talks frozen by fighting since 2000. The Palestinians want the West Bank as part of an independent Palestinian nation.

Palestinian officials disputed Israel's position about disarming groups in Jericho and Tulkarm, saying agreements called only for gunmen to register weapons and not carry them around.

Cairo

Egypt cracks down on opposition group

Egypt has arrested about 100 members or supporters of the banned Muslim Brotherhood and yesterday blocked the group, Egypt's largest opposition force, from holding a mass demonstration calling for political reform.

Thousands of riot police lined roads in central Cairo to stop demonstrators gathering for the protest in front of parliament. A few hundred protesters regrouped to hold demonstrations in other central Cairo locations.

The Interior Ministry said the demonstrations had not been approved and were unnecessary because Egyptians had other channels for expression. It said 50 people had been arrested for refusing to disperse.

Leading Brotherhood member Essam el-Erian said authorities had detained 49 of the protest organizers late Saturday night.

The Muslim Brotherhood, like other Egyptian opposition groups, has criticized President Hosni Mubarak's proposal to introduce multi-candidate presidential elections, saying restrictions will ensure victory for Mubarak, who has governed Egypt since 1981.

Harare, Zimbabwe

Archbishop seeks anti-Mugabe protest

A prominent Roman Catholic archbishop and outspoken critic of President Robert Mugabe called yesterday for peaceful street protests aimed at overthrowing the longtime ruler, saying Thursday's parliamentary elections are certain to be rigged.

Pius Ncube, bishop of Zimbabwe's second-largest city, Bulawayo, said he was willing to put on his vestments and lead a march to Mugabe's presidential residence himself, but feared: "If I do it, I do it alone."

"The people are so scared," he said of the political climate in Zimbabwe. "You are not going to get that where people are so cowardly."

Mugabe, a former guerrilla leader largely ostracized by the international community, has led Zimbabwe since the end of white rule in 1980.

Seoul, South Korea

North Korea admits outbreak of bird flu

North Korea yesterday acknowledged an outbreak of bird flu for the first time, saying that hundreds of thousands of chickens were killed to prevent its spread, and the disease was not passed on to humans.

The outbreaks occurred at a "few chicken farms," and "hundreds of thousands of infected chickens" were burned before burial, the North's official Korean Central News Agency reported.

The North said last year it was strengthening quarantine measures against bird flu following the outbreak of the virus in Southeast Asian countries, but it had not previously acknowledged the disease was present in the country. Japan and South Korea stopped imports of North Korea poultry this month after media reports of bird flu in the North.

Belem, Brazil

Farmer surrenders, wanted in nun slaying

Brazilian farmer Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura, suspected of ordering the murder of U.S.-born nun land-rights activist Dorothy Stang, surrendered to authorities yesterday, police said.

Moura is the last of four suspects indicted for the nun's murder to be taken into custody, after his lawyer negotiated with police to guarantee his safety. Other suspects implicated Moura as the one who ordered the killing.

The murder of Stang, 73, near the town of Anapu, Para on March 12 prompted Brazil's government to send in thousands of troops to try to restore order to this lawless jungle region.

Her death is seen as the outcome of tensions between illegal land grabbers, loggers and ranchers and environmental and land-rights activists for the poor in Brazil's Amazon Basin.

Havana

Dissidents' wives demand their release

One week after being confronted by a group of pro-government counter protesters, the wives of jailed dissidents marched peacefully yesterday to demand the release of their husbands.

The counterprotesters from the Federation of Cuban Women had indicated last week they would return again, but did not.

"I think that this time they didn't want to make the same big error, especially with the vote in Geneva coming," said marcher Gisela Delgado, referring to the expected vote on Cuba's human-rights record in mid-April by the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

Delgado is the wife of prisoner Hector Palacios, one of 75 dissidents rounded up two years ago on a crackdown on independent writers and journalists. Although 14 of the original 75 have been freed on medical parole, 61 remain behind bars on charges of working with U.S. officials to undermine Fidel Castro's government — something the dissidents and the Bush administration deny.