WARSAW: Poland has welcomed NATO's support for Warsaw's plan to host part of a planned U.S. missile defense shield.Defense Minister Bogdan Klich said that Warsaw negotiated its missile defense deal with Washington with the knowledge that “allies in NATO accept our bilateral agreement”.He said Thursday that NATO first backed the plan during a summit in April. NATO foreign ministers reaffirmed their support this week. The U.S. says the system would include 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar base in the Czech Republic to help protect Europe against potential threats from the Middle East. Russia is opposed to the plans and has threatened to deploy short-range missiles to its westernmost region of Kaliningrad, near Poland.
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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