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Short Takes:
Arab League Secretary General Esmat Abdul Meguid called yesterday on the deadbeat member states to pay their dues and financial commitments, which amount to $95 million. Go

Qatari dailies published over the past week held unanimous views that the people of Qatar oppose Israel's participation in the world youth championship for handball, due to be held in Doha in August. The dailies urged the citizens to boycott the games in protest of Israel's participation in the said games. Go

A Moroccan-born Belgian woman has become the 1st woman of foreign origin to seat at the Belgian House of Representatives. Ms. Fouzia Tahlaoui, who run for the latest legislative elections held in Belgium under the Ecolo-Flanders banner, gained the polls with overwhelming victory in the Anvers district, stronghold of the Flemish Fascist Party. Go

Moroccan lorry drivers started Monday a five-day strike to protest their deteriorating situation and the absence of regulations governing their sector. Go

A modern statistic for Tunis central bank indicated that the net foreign reserves of Tunisia amounted to 1.82 billion Tunisian dinar on May 4, in comparison to 1.69 billion dinars in the same period last year. Go

It was decided to inaugurate the 35th Carthage International Festival for the Arts on July 8 with the attendance of Arab and foreign stars in the theater, cinema, popular arts, literature, poetry and music. Go

The International organization for navigation BEMCO has decided to organize its annual conference in 2003 in Egypt. Admiral Ahmed Fadel, the head of Egyptian Suez Canal, said he presented a request to host the organization's annual conference in the organization's meeting in Barcelona in late March, adding that 700 participants take part in the conference annually, representing owners of ships, navigation companies, the international navigation chamber in London and coast guards. Go

The five-nation group monitoring the fighting in south Lebanon on Monday held Israel responsible for violating a 1996 agreement which bans attacks on or from civilian areas. In a statement the April Understanding Monitoring Committee said that Israel damaged houses and civilian property between June 9 and 12 in clashes and confrontations along the border strip of south Lebanon. Go

The Syrian army's chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Ali Aslan, on Monday received the commander of contingent number four in the Japanese land defense forces, Lt. Gen. Mitso Notaka, and members of the accompanying delegation. Talks dealt with friendship and cooperation relations between the armies of the two countries and means of boosting ties in the interests of the friendly people of Syrian and Japan. Present at the meeting were Japan's ambassador in Damascus and the chairman of the Syrian delegation in the truce committee. Go

Former US Secretary of State James Baker will hold a two-day official visit to Lebanon starting on June 21. Baker is accompanied in his visit by a former US undersecretary of state for Near East affairs and former US ambassador to Syria, Edward Djerjian. Go

Ten gunmen belonging to Algerian armed groups have surrendered themselves to security forces in Chlef district and announced their redemption. The Algerian daily al-Khabar said on Monday that four citizens were killed by the armed groups at a forged barrier they set up on the road linking between Sedei Bayazid and Has Bahaj towns in Djelfa province, 275 km from the capital, Algiers. The paper added that the armed groups killed one member of the self-defense men in Tizi Ouzou province, 130 km from the capital. Go