SINGAPORE: Oil prices fell in Asian trade Thursday after US crude reserves rose higher than expected, indicating demand remained weak in the recession-hit US economy, dealers said.New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for June delivery, dropped 17 cents to 48.68 dollars a barrel in afternoon trade.Brent North Sea crude for delivery in June eased 31 cents to 49.50 dollars.The US Department of Energy's weekly report, released Wednesday, showed crude the stockpile in the world's biggest energy consumer was at its highest level in almost 20 years."The inventory report coming out of the US is very bearish, showing stock gains across the board for crude oil," said Victor Shum, senior principal at Purvin and Gertz energy consultancy in Singapore.Reserves of gasoline and distilled products, such as diesel and heating fuel, also increased, confounding analyst expectations of declines.
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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