BEIRUT--The refugees come in hundreds of cars along the twisted mountain roads in the Chouf Mountains. The ride from Tyre to Beirut is normally 45 miles along a major highway that takes, even with traffic, maybe an hour or so to drive. But the highways now are almost completely cut at each overpass or bridge south of Beirut. From Tyre to Sidon, you can use the highway with long detours and impromptu dirt paths around the destruction, but once you hit Sidon, just 30 minutes south of Beirut, the cars have to wend their way through the mountains, through Druze and Christian villages that have not been targeted, for more than three hours.
Sales of new homes fell 3 percent in June, the biggest decline in four months and 11 percent below the same period a year ago, the Commerce Department reported today in the latest sign that the market has turned in favor of buyers. Sales for May were also revised downward.
AP - Hezbollah fired what it called a new kind of rocket, landing its deepest hit into northern Israel in 17 days of fighting. Israeli authorities reported that five rockets hit fields outside the town of Afula, causing no casualties.
AP - President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair met Friday to discuss the deteriorating Mideast crisis, where Israelis and Hezbollah guerrillas are waging war, amid indications Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will return to the region.
AP - Floyd Landis says he has naturally high testosterone levels, and asks not to be judged until a study can show he is innocent of doping at the Tour de France.
Israel vows to go at own pace in Hezbollah battle Troops will not be deployed hastily, official saysHezbollah says it fired new, longer-range rocketTony Blair seeks U.S. support for U.N. resolutionDeath tolls nears 450 in Lebanon and Israel
British Prime Minister Tony Blair headed Friday to Washington, where he was expected to press President Bush on a swift solution to the Middle East crisis.