Hizbullah will launch a new stage of escalation this month when international tribunal prosecutor Daniel Bellemare hands over the first part of his indictment to the pre-trial judge, a diplomat told al-Liwaa daily.

He said the escalation will start this Thursday and last till January 15 when Bellemare delivers the first of three indictment parts to Judge Daniel Fransen.

Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani is making contacts to hold a Muslim-Christian spiritual summit in the aftermath of attacks on Christians in the region, the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa daily reported Tuesday.

The newspaper said that the summit could be held at the seat of the Maronite church in Bkirki end of this week to contain the repercussions of attacks on Christians in Iraq, Egypt and Nigeria.

French car maker PSA Peugeot Citroen said on Tuesday it would temporarily boost production at its Slovak plant in response to high demand.

"The company, currently operating in two shifts, will prolong the second shift by one hour for three weeks, starting January 10," PSA spokesman Peter Svec told Agence France Presse.

French police are investigating threats made against Coptic churches in France in the wake of a deadly attack on one in Egypt, a security source said Monday.

The Paris anti-terrorism squad launched a probe on terrorism-related charges after a church leader filed a complaint, the source said.

American tennis legend John McEnroe said Tuesday that there were no likely challengers who could break Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal's stranglehold on the game's top tournaments.

"Federer and Nadal are two of the greatest players that have ever lived," McEnroe told reporters ahead of the exhibition Hong Kong Tennis Classic.

Two Afghan policemen stand paralyzed by fear in front of a plastic cup. But this is not some farcical scene from the battle against the Taliban -- it is a sketch from a new clown show in Kabul.

The performance, put on by nine members of the Azdar troupe, seems improbable in a country locked in a nine-year battle between U.S.-led NATO troops and the Islamist militants.

Egypt was on high alert on Monday ahead of the Coptic Christmas holiday following a New Year's Day church bombing that killed 21 people as investigators raced to identify those behind the attack.

Police cancelled leave for top officers and were tightening surveillance of airports and ports to prevent suspects from leaving the country, as new checkpoints were set up across the nation.

New Year revelers around the planet will welcome 2011 in a blaze of fireworks and parties Friday, temporarily banishing the misery of extreme weather which has struck countries across the world.

Some 1.5 million people will cram Sydney's foreshore for fireworks on the Harbour Bridge, with sunshine attracting record crowds in the afternoon even as the country's northeast battled devastating floods.

A virus infecting mobile phones using Google's Android operating system has emerged in China that can allow a hacker to gain access to personal data, U.S. security experts said.

A report this week from Lookout Mobile Security said the new Trojan affecting Android devices has been dubbed "Geinimi" and "can compromise a significant amount of personal data on a user’s phone and send it to remote servers."

South Korea on Friday confirmed its first outbreak of bird flu for more than two years, with more than 100,000 birds slaughtered as authorities bid to contain the lethal virus.

Two poultry farms, one in the central city of Cheonan and the other in the southwestern city of Iksan, were confirmed to have been contaminated by the H5N1 virus, the agricultural ministry said.