BELGIUM

14 detained in blast plot; capital on alert

BRUSSELS — Belgian authorities detained 14 people they described as Islamic extremists on Friday, saying they had uncovered a plot to use explosives to free an al-Qaida sympathizer jailed for planning to attack an American air base.

The authorities put the capital, Brussels, on a high state of alert, increasing security at main train stations, the airport and major public places where people were gathering to do their Christmas shopping.

The arrests came after the police raided 15 locations, most of them in Brussels, seizing explosives and arms.

SAUDI ARABIA

Muslim pilgrims conclude annual hajj

MECCA — After five days of exhaustion and hardships, Muslim pilgrims were saddened to see the annual hajj come to a close Friday, ending what for many is a spiritual high point of their lives.

"Bidding farewell is hard," said Afaf al-Nuweihi, her voice choking with emotion. "I wish I could stay longer — in a place of worship where you pray and get closer to God."

Al-Nuweihi, a 61-year-old retired teacher from Egypt, spent her nights during the hajj sleeping on roadsides in her tent and her days moving from ritual to ritual with some 3 million other pilgrims.

After performing the ritual of stoning pillars that represent the devil in Mina on Friday, pilgrims proceeded to the nearby holy city of Mecca to bid "farewell" to the Kaaba by circling it seven times in the final rite of the hajj.

The pilgrimage ended without any major incidents, but even as the pilgrims were preparing to journey back to their countries Friday, the Interior Ministry announced it had arrested a group of militants plotting to disrupt the hajj with attacks on the holy sites.

JERUSALEM

Israeli official favors Hamas cease-fire

Israel's infrastructure minister said Friday that he favored a conditional cease-fire with Hamas, becoming the highest-ranking Israeli official to welcome the militant group's proposal.

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, a former defense minister, said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert may consider discussing a long-term cease-fire with Hamas if the group stops smuggling arms into the Gaza Strip and negotiates the release of an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas-affiliated militants last year.

"The prime minister I know doesn't totally rule anything out," Ben-Eliezer told Israel Radio.

Israel's official position is that it will not talk with Hamas unless the group renounces all violence, recognizes Israel's right to exist and accepts previous peace agreements.

Olmert's office reiterated that stance Friday.

IRAQ

Sunnis mourn slain leader

BAGHDAD — Former Sunni insurgents — wearing masks and wailing in grief — joined a funeral procession Friday for a leader killed for turning his guns on Islamic extremists instead of America in a contested city that al-Qaida in Iraq once considered its capital.

The burial of 29-year-old Naseer Salam al-Maamouri, placed in a casket draped with the Iraqi flag, also served as a show of resolve for the tribes that have chosen to back the U.S.-led struggle to regain control of Baqouba, the strategic urban hub of Diyala province northeast of Baghdad.

—From wire reports