Friday, June 05, 2009 BEIJING: U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg met with top Chinese diplomats in Beijing on Friday, after reportedly telling South Korea it will impose its own financial sanctions on Pyongyang apart from those being considered by the United Nations.Steinberg met with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on Friday morning and had afternoon meetings scheduled with State Counselor Dai Binguo, a senior diplomatic adviser, and Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, who is China's top North Korean envoy. Winning Chinese support for tough new sanctions is key because Beijing is one of five permanent veto-holding members of the United Nations Security Council, as well as North Korea's most important diplomatic ally and chief source of fuel and food aid.
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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