Wednesday, October 14, 2009 MOSCOW: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said the time to slap sanctions on Iran over its atomic programme has not yet come. Earlier, America’s top diplomat met President Dmitry Medvedev during a two-day mission to Moscow to reset US relations with Russia. At a media conference with Russian Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov Clinton praised Russia’s help in tackling the issue. “We are aware that we might not be as successful as we need to be so we have always looked at the potential of sanctions in the event that we are not successful, that we cannot assure ourselves and others that Iran has decided not to pursue nuclear weapons,” Clinton said. The signing of a new arms reduction treaty also topped the agenda and Lavrov indicated significant progress had been made with the US.
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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