Sunday, June 14, 2009 SAN'A: Yemen accused a Shiite rebel group Sunday of kidnapping nine foreigners in the country's rugged north. The Interior Ministry said the foreigners were kidnapped Friday by a rebel group led by Abdel Malak al-Hawthi while on a picnic in northern Sada province. The ministry did not identify the foreigners, but local Yemenis in Sada said the group included a German doctor, his wife and five children, as well as a Briton and his wife. They spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of government reprisal. A local state news agency said the foreigners worked in a hospital in Sada. Tribesmen in Yemen frequently take foreigners hostage to pressure the government on a range of demands and generally release them unharmed. Tribesmen on Friday freed 24 local and foreign medics working at a Saudi-funded hospital in Sada less than 24 hours after their kidnapping, which was not carried out by the al-Hawthi group. Thousands of people have been killed in Saada since a rebellion erupted there in June 2004. The rebels say the government is corrupt and too closely allied with the West. The government has charged al-Hawthi with sedition, forming an illegal armed group and inciting anti-American sentiment. The group negotiated a fragile cease-fire with the government last year, but serious tension remains.
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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