Monday, November 09, 2009 ISTANBUL: Turkish officials say Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir will not attend a summit of Islamic leaders in Istanbul Monday.Turkey said last week that Bashir would be present for the Organization of the Islamic Conference summit, despite the international warrant for his arrest on war crimes charges.However, Turkish government officials now say they have learned President Bashir will not be coming.The European Union had raised objections to the Sudanese president attending the summit. The International Criminal Court has indicted President Bashir on charges of masterminding a campaign of rape, murder, and other crimes in Sudan's Darfur region.Bashir has repeatedly defied the ICC by travelling abroad but only to countries that are not parties to the ICC and can guarantee his safety.
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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