Monday, September 07, 2009 KOLKATA: An aircraft belonging to the United Arab Emirates Air Force was found carrying a large cache of arms and ammunition and detained along with its nine crew members here last night.The plane, bound for Hanyang in China from Abu Dhabi, landed at the NSC Bose International airport here for refueling last night. Airport sources said that while customary checking of the plane by customs officials it was found that a large cache of arms and ammunition were stockpiled inside the flight. The airport authority of India was informed and as the plane's crew did not inform the authorities here that the aircraft was carrying arms, its return flight order was cancelled and nine crewmembers were detained. Late in the night, a meeting was held with the airport authorities, customs officials, senior Air Force officers and the UAE crew about the entire matter. Finally, permission was granted to the plane to resume its flight this morning, sources 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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