Friday, September 11, 2009 WASHINGTON: The United States on Sept 24 will host a summit of UN Security Council member states on nuclear non-proliferation, the White House confirmed on Thursday. President Barack Obama is to chair the meeting, which will be held alongside the UN General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York. It will be the first time a US president leads such a summit and just the fifth in UN history that such a summit is being held, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters. 'We did ask for it, and are heading it,' Mr Gibbs said. The summit was first announced by the US ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice last month. Ms Rice said at the time that the session would 'be focused on nuclear nonproliferation and nuclear disarmament broadly and not on any specific countries.' She said Mr Obama would preside over the special meeting a day after he is due to address the UN General Assembly session.
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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