Tuesday, June 09, 2009 BISHKEK: Kyrgyzstan said Tuesday it was open to talks on keeping a US military presence on its territory, in a possible softening of line over the eviction of a base key for coalition operations in Afghanistan."Kyrgyzstan is prepared to discuss the question of the use of its territory for assisting anti-terrorism coalition forces in Afghanistan with all interested sides," Foreign Minister Kadyrbek Sarbaev told state news agency.The Kyrgyz government had announced it was evicting the US military from the airbase at Manas after Moscow agreed to provide over two billion dollars worth of loans and aid to the impoverished former Soviet republic.Since the closure was announced, Washington has secured transit routes for non-lethal cargo through several other Central Asian states, but the agreements do not address the problem of troop and military material transport.
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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