Leaders call for peacekeepers in Lebanon
WASHINGTON, July 28 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair called for an international force to be sent to Lebanon to end Israeli-Hezbollah fighting.
Bush and Blair appeared a White House news conference Friday, saying they had covered many items in their meeting. But leading the conversation was the fighting centered on southern Lebanon.
"We agree that a multinational force must be dispatched to Lebanon quickly to augment a Lebanese army as it moves to the south of that country," Bush said. "An effective multinational force will help speed delivery of humanitarian relief, facilitate the return of displaced persons and support the Lebanese government as it asserts full sovereignty over its territory and guards its borders."
Blair said the diplomatic efforts must address a longer view of the situation in Lebanon and with the Palestinian people.
Blair said, "The purpose of what we are doing, therefore, is to bring about, yes, the cessation of hostilities, which we want to see as quickly and as urgently as possible, but also to put in place a framework that allows us to stabilize the situation for the medium and longer term."
Hezbollah leader may be hiding in Beirut
BEIRUT, Lebanon, July 28 (UPI) -- The leader of the Hezbollah militants may be hiding in Beirut, possibly in the Iranian Embassy, intelligence reports say.
Israel is searching for Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, who fled his Beirut headquarters shortly before Israeli jets bombed the building last week. Israeli intelligence speculates he is in the Iranian mission, The Washington Times said.
Other reports indicate Nasrallah may be in Damascus.
The Times said if he is found to be in an embassy, that could lead to a possibly war-widening air strike.
Foreign embassies are sovereign territory and an attack could be considered an act of war.
Four illegals drown in Arizona tunnel
NOGALES, Ariz., July 28 (UPI) -- Authorities in Nogales, Ariz., have called off the search for four people who drowned while trying to enter the United States illegally though a flooded tunnel.
Thirty-four other people making the same journey from Mexico were rescued by border patrol agents aided by the Nogales police and fire departments, the Arizona Daily Star reports.
"Our agents were pulling people out of the water and saw four people swept away," Sean King, a Border Patrol spokesman said.
Police and firefighters were unable to locate the four after searching for hours from the point of the rescue to the city limits.
"There was no trace of anybody but we will continue to be watchful," city spokesman Juan Pablo Guzman told the newspaper.
The tunnel where the 34 were found is a flood-control system for cities on both sides of the border.
Authorities said it had been swollen to flash-flood levels by overnight rains.
More highway shooting reports in Indiana
HAMMOND, Ind., July 28 (UPI) -- Authorities in Hammond, Ind., are wondering whether a copycat is at work following reports of three sniper shootings along a stretch of highway.
The incidents, which took place on or near Cline Avenue, follow a Sunday shooting spree along Interstate 65 south of Indianapolis that left one man dead and another injured, the Chicago Tribune reports.
The Hammond shootings began Tuesday when a pick-up truck driver told police his vehicle was clipped by a bullet on the passenger side. Two new reports came in Thursday, the first from an elderly woman who said her windshield was chipped by a projectile. Hours later Hammond police were told a bullet shattered the side window of a truck.
Police have charged Zachariah Blanton of Delaware County, Ind., in connection with the Sunday shootings.
