LUXEMBOURG: European Union foreign ministers were assessing the implications of a deadly strain of swine flu in Mexico at talks Monday to ease public concerns over the outbreak.European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said from Athens that EU officials and experts were ``following the situation very closely'' and reassured Europeans that the health emergency was still limited to the North American continent.The EU's Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou was to brief the EU's 27 foreign ministers here on what the EU could do to coordinate preventative measures against the flu, which is suspected in more than 100 deaths in Mexico. ``There need to be maximum European coordination,'' said British Foreign Secretary, David Miliband.
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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