BOAO: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao Saturday announced the establishment of a 10-billion-dollar fund to help promote infrastructure projects in Southeast Asia. Speaking at the opening of the Boao Forum on the tropical island of Hainan in south China, Wen stressed the importance of developing infrastructure in the region in the face of the global financial crisis."We should accelerate the development of regional and sub-regional transport, power and communication infrastructure to gradually achieve interconnectivity and form a network," he said in a speech broadcast live on state television.The annual Boao Forum aims to promote regional economic integration. Wen had planned to announce the new fund at an Asian summit in Thailand last week but it was cancelled due to violent demonstrations.BOAO: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao Saturday announced the establishment of a 10-billion-dollar fund to help promote infrastructure projects in Southeast Asia. Speaking at the opening of the Boao Forum on the tropical island of Hainan in south China, Wen stressed the importance of developing infrastructure in the region in the face of the global financial crisis."We should accelerate the development of regional and sub-regional transport, power and communication infrastructure to gradually achieve interconnectivity and form a network," he said in a speech broadcast live on state television.The annual Boao Forum aims to promote regional economic integration. Wen had planned to announce the new fund at an Asian summit in Thailand last week but it was cancelled due to violent demonstrations.
BEIRUT: Thousands of people converged Saturday on central Beirut to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafiq Hariri.Waving Lebanese flags and carrying pictures of the slain leader, men, women and children gathered under sunny skies in Martyr's Square where members of the parliamentary majority were to address the crowd. The rally comes as final preparations are underway in The Hague for the launch of the international tribunal set up to bring Hariri's killers to justice. It also comes as the country prepares for legislative elections in June that will pit Western-backed political parties against a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran.Hariri died in a massive car bombing on February 14, 2005 that also killed 22 others. The assassination was widely blamed on then Lebanese power-broker Syria, which has denied any involvement. The attack on the Beirut seafront was one of the worst acts of political violence to rock Lebanon since t...
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