Pope: Importing Arms to Syria Is 'Grave Sin'

With protests raging not far away, Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Lebanon today, calling for peace and "moderation" amid conflicts in Syria and across the region. "Instead of importing arms, which is a grave sin, one should import ideas of peace, creativity, find solutions for accepting everyone in his otherness," he said, apparently referring to Bashar al-Assad's government, the rebels fighting him, and the nations sending weapons to both. He spoke approvingly of the Arab Spring, but added that "there is always a danger of forgetting a fundamental aspect of liberty: tolerance for others and the fact that human liberty is always a shared liberty."

Meanwhile, protests related to the anti-Islam film made in the US broke out in the Lebanese city of Tripoli, CNN reports. Armed men entered a local KFC and asked people to leave before setting it on fire; responding police fired at the men and killed one. Some 25 were injured. A Hardee's and a Krispy Kreme also were attacked, the AP reports. Click for a roundup of other protests today. (More Lebanon stories.)