Sunday, October 25, 2009 WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama spoke with his Russian and French counterparts Saturday, rallying support for a deal to end the crisis over Iran's nuclear program, as they urged Tehran to accept the offer. Obama made Saturday-morning calls to Russia's Dmitry Medvedev and France's Nicolas Sarkozy during which all three men "affirmed their full support" for a recently offered deal, the White House said. Under the plan Russia and France would produce enriched uranium for Tehran in exchange for assurances the Islamic Republic will not seek a nuclear weapon. The three leaders also "discussed the importance of all parties accepting the proposal so that implementation can begin as soon as possible," Washington said. The conversations came a day after Iran ignored a Friday deadline to respond to the offer, saying it would make its decision in the next week. Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said Tehran was "examining different dimensions" of the offer "about the provisional supply of fuel for the Tehran research reactor." Uranium enrichment lies at the heart of Western concerns about Iran's nuclear program. The enrichment process produces fuel for civilian reactors, but at higher levels of enrichment can be used to make the fissile core of an atomic bomb. Despite the lack of public details about the plan, and the absence of an Iranian response, elements were already being picked apart. Iran has said it does not want Russia to subcontract part of the enrichment process to France, which has taken a tough line against Tehran's program.
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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