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JERUSALEM (JPS) — Israeli investigators are expected to recommend closing the case against President Ezer Weizman due to a lack of evidence that any crime was committed, Channel 1 reported Tuesday night.

The recommendation was expected to be presented to State Attorney Edna Arbel by the end of the week. Police and Justice Ministry spokesmen refused to comment on the report.

The TV report on Weizman said the president is not suspected of any crime pertaining to the cash payments he received from millionaire Edouard Seroussi, which are being viewed as private gifts and not bribes.

Libya's president denies Israeli invite

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Libyan leader Moammar Khadafy has dismissed reports that Libya invited a senior Israeli politician to visit.

"We cannot recognize any state based on racism or religion," Khadafy told a television interviewer Tuesday.

A day earlier, the secretary of Israel's Labor Party, Ra'anan Cohen, said he was invited to visit Libya by the head of the Libyan delegation at a conference of legislators from Mediterranean states that met this week in Marseilles, France.

Israeli sales to China 'counterproductive'

JERUSALEM (JTA) — During a visit to Israel on Monday, Secretary of Defense William Cohen made clear the U.S. concern about Israel's plans to sell conventional and high-technology weapons to China.

Cohen called the move "counterproductive" at a news conference in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak at his side.

"The United States does not support the sale of this type of technology to China because of the potential of changing the balance in that region, with the tensions running high as they are between China and Taiwan," Cohen said.

Barak said he would take the U.S. concerns into account, but Israel still intends to proceed with the deal.

Clinton, Albright to meet with Arafat

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat is scheduled to visit Washington later this month for talks with President Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, the State Department said.

The talks are expected to concentrate on the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, which aim at reaching a final peace accord by September.