Friday, June 05, 2009 MANILA: Soldiers killed 13 Muslim rebels and wounded dozens in heavy fighting in the southern Philippines on Friday, an army spokesman said, and thwarted a plot by the guerrillas to attack a farming village.Fighting across oil and gas-rich marshlands and nearby hills on the southern island of Mindanao has escalated in the last six weeks and displaced more than 50,000 families, pushing back prospects for the resumption of peace talks stalled since August 2008. Five soldiers were also wounded when troops clashed for two hours with Muslim guerrillas from rogue factions of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) near Guindulungan town in Maguindanao province.
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...
Comments