DEARBORN (Michigan) - CLOSE to 1,000 Arab-Americans and others marched through the Detroit suburb of Dearborn on Tuesday evening, waving Palestinian flags and shouting slogans to protest Israeli military strikes against the Gaza Strip.

Protesters braving freezing weather filled eight blocks of a major thoroughfare in Dearborn, widely seen as the heart of Arab America. Hundreds more gathered in New York City outside the Israeli consulate.

SAN JOSE - COSTA Rican police arrested a 20-year-old Spanish woman at the country's main airport carrying 17kg of cocaine wrapped up as Christmas presents, the Security Ministry said on Tuesday.

Police found six cocaine packets on the woman in their biggest seizure of the year on a single mule, or drug carrier, at San Jose International airport, a statement said.

GAZA CITY - ISRAEL is considering a 48-hour halt to its punishing four-day air campaign on Hamas targets in Gaza to see if Palestinian militants will stop their rocket attacks on southern Israel, Israeli officials said on Tuesday. However, the Israeli leadership made no declaration after a late-night meeting.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert discussed the proposal - floated by France's foreign minister - and other possible next steps with his foreign and defence ministers, Israeli officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not supposed to make the information public.