Friday, June 05, 2009 TOKYO: A strong 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck Friday off Japan's main northern island of Hokkaido, the meteorological agency said, but there were no immediate reports of any damage or casualties.The quake was registered at 12:30 pm (0330 GMT) at a depth of 20 kilometres (12 miles) in Pacific waters around 70 kilometres off Hokkaido's Tokachi area, the Japanese Meteorological Agency said.The epicentre was 800 kilometres north of Tokyo, it said. The agency warned of small fluctuations in sea levels but no tsunami risk. Around 20 percent of the world's most powerful earthquakes strike Japan.
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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