KABUL: Afghan president Hamid Karzai has no plan to install former U.S. ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad as "chief executive" of his country, a spokesman said on Tuesday, denying a report in the New York Times.The U.S. newspaper, citing unidentified U.S. and Afghan officials, said Khalilzad, an Afghan-born U.S. citizen who served as former President George W. Bush's ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq and the United Nations, was discussing taking a powerful post under Karzai.Because of his influence, Khalilzad was known by many Afghans as Kabul's "Viceroy" when he served as Washington's top diplomat to Afghanistan.The newspaper described Khalilzad's proposed future role as "chief executive officer of Afghanistan". It quoted a senior U.S. official as saying the post would allow the American diplomat to serve as "a prime minister, except not prime minister because he wouldn't be responsible to a parliamentary system".A spokesman for Karzai said the report was false."We are not aware of this. We cannot confirm this. There is no truth in it," spokesman Siyamak Herawi said.
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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