Syrian security forces on Wednesday killed thirteen people across the country, “including two army deserters, two women and a man who died under torture,” activists said.

Nine people were killed in the central opposition bastion Homs, two in the restive countryside around Damascus, one in the northwestern province of Idlib and another in the northern province of Aleppo, the Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on ground, said.

With a rise in entrepreneurialism across the Middle East in full swing, 2012 is expected to see unprecedented growth in start-ups in the region, according to Arabnet Founder Omar Christidis.

Following hard on the heels of the ‘Arab Spring’, many young people across the region have decided to take the leap and start their own ventures. The Arabnet Digital Summit 2012, to take place between 27-21 March, is the premier regional conference for the emerging Arab web/mobile industry.

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly held talks on Tuesday with Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on the political and security situation in Lebanon and the current situation in Syria.

She stressed after the meeting “U.S. concerns that developments in Syria not contribute to instability in Lebanon.”

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar (WCMC-Q) have made a possible advancement in the way ovarian cancer is treated.

Using the latest techniques and taking a new approach involving studying a smaller sample and deeper analysis of the genetic abnormalities of the metastasized lesions, researchers found clear differences between the genetic expression of the primary ovarian cancer and the metastasized lesions.

Syria's government on Tuesday rejected the possibility of the Arab League deploying troops in the unrest-swept country as suggested by the emir of Qatar and said its people would confront such action.

"Syria rejects the statements of officials of Qatar on sending Arab troops to worsen the crisis... and pave the way for foreign intervention," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

A Bangkok court ordered on Tuesday a Lebanese-Swedish Hizbullah suspect detained for 12 days for illegally possessing explosive materials.

Thai police charged Atris Hussein on Monday after he led them to a warehouse containing four tons of urea fertilizer and several gallons of liquid ammonium nitrate.

President Michel Suleiman vowed on Tuesday to resume the National Dialogue and said the success of the Arab initiative to resolve the Syrian crisis falls in Lebanon’s interest.

“I will continue to exert efforts to guarantee all the necessary conditions to resume dialogue between all parties to preserve the safety of the Lebanese” and achieve a national defense strategy, Suleiman told the diplomatic corps that was in Baabda palace for a protocol visit on the occasion of the New Year.

Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi revealed on Tuesday that the probe in the 2010 crash of the Ethiopian plane off the Lebanese coast, in which all 90 people on board died, points to a pilot error.

“The truth is in the Lebanese report, the pilot is completely responsible for the plane crash,” the minister said during a press conference held at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International airport.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat has warned that revolt-hit Syria might “descend into civil war if the bloodshed continues,” stressing that the Arab peoples “can no longer tolerate autocratic parties and rulers.”

In his weekly column in his party’s Al-Anbaa newspaper to be published Tuesday, Jumblat said: “The Arab peoples can no longer tolerate autocratic parties and rulers, and the freedom fighters and revolutionaries in all countries do not buy anymore the obsolete rhetoric that was used for years to control the masses.”

Thai authorities charged on Monday a Lebanese Hizbullah suspect with illegally possessing explosive materials. He faces up to five years in prison.

Atris Hussein was detained by police Thursday at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport, trying to leave the country. Police are still looking for another Lebanese suspect.