LONDON: US president Barack Obama’s half brother was denied UK visa after being accused of sexually assaulting a group of young girls in Berkshire last November. Samson Obama was headed for Washington via Britain to attend the historic inauguration that saw his brother become the US president in January. But he came under the scanner of immigration officials at East Midlands airport when the hi-tech database revealed Samson had been taken into custody by British cops after trying to sexually attack a group of young girls, including a 13 year-old. He was later fingerprinted and not charged before leaving the country but not without providing his details, which were recorded on the Home Office’s new database of prints and biometric details. A Home Office spokesman confirmed Samson, one of the President’s 11 half brothers and sisters was stopped from entering the country after immigration officers detected a false document with his visa application. Samson was believed to have reached Washington through a connecting flight from East Midlands to the US. |
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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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