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Lebanon detains ex-Palestinian envoy at Beirut airport on corruption charges

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese authorities detained the former Palestinian ambassador to Lebanon on corruption charges shortly after he arrived in the country, officials said Wednesday.

The officials said Ashraf Dabbour was arrested upon arrival at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport late Tuesday. The two judicial and two security officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas relieved Dabbour of his post as Palestinian ambassador to Lebanon last year after the Palestinian Authority accused him of corruption.

The Lebanese officials said authorities detained Dabbour in Beirut based on a Red Notice issued by Interpol late last year.

Dabbour was reportedly involved in selling property in Lebanon that was owned by the Palestine Liberation Organization, which was based in the country until Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon.

The officials said Dabbour was being questioned by a judge at the prosecutor’s office in Beirut.

Beijing bans 4 New Zealand lawmakers from entering China because they visited Taiwan

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Beijing banned four New Zealand lawmakers from traveling to China for a year and demanded they apologize because they visited Taiwan on a parliamentary trip, according to a message from the Chinese embassy conveyed via parliamentary officials and shown to The Associated Press on Thursday. China has hit lawmakers from other countries with sanctions related to contact with Taiwan before, but it's the first time for New Zealand parliamentarians, the government in Wellington said. Beijing has been increasing pressure in recent years on the democratically governed island that it claims as its own territory. Two lawmakers reached by the AP on Thursday rejected the demand for an apology, while the other two could not be immediately reached. New Zealand's government said it would express concern about the travel bans to Beijing. The elected officials visited Taipei in May, as New Zealand parliamentarians have done “for decades,” a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement.
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