Excerpt from report by Interfax-Ukraine news agency Kiev, 14 February: The central committee's presidium of the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine decided today to mobilize society in order to block the international exercise Sea Breeze in Mykolayiv and Odessa.

The following are highlights of the Syrian press on the internet on 18 January 2006. Lebanon The newspapers highlight the news of the demonstration that thousands of Lebanese students staged outside the US embassy in Beirut on 17 January to protest American "interference" in Lebanese affairs.

By Lin Noueihed BEIRUT (Reuters) - A row between pro-Syrian Hizbollah guerrillas and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt has plunged Lebanon deeper into a political crisis that has paralyzed the government and divided the country along sectarian lines.

BEIRUT, Lebanon - A car bomb exploded Friday in central Beirut, wounding a former Lebanese Cabinet minister and killing his driver, officials said. Former Economy Minister Marwar Hamadeh reportedly suffered minor wounds and was in stable condition.