SEOUL: South Korean officials have departed for North Korea to take part in the countries' first government-to-government contact in more than a year.The officials were seen Tuesday entering the border control area dividing the two Koreas to prepare to cross into the communist country. North Korea made a surprise offer to South Korea for talks last week. The two sides plan to discuss a troubled joint economic zone they operate across the border in the North. Tensions between the two Koreas have been high since conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office last year in Seoul vowing to take a tough line on Pyongyang. North Korea has detained a South Korean worker at the Kaesong Industrial Complex amid allegations he denounced the country's political system.
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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