LONDON: British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton say Pakistan faces a serious threat from terrorism, but the country's nuclear arsenal is not at risk. Taliban militants have launched a series of increasingly audacious attacks on military and political targets on Pakistan. On Saturday militants attacked the army headquarters, taking dozens of hostages. At a news conference Sunday, Miliband said Pakistan faced a ``mortal threat,'' but there was not a risk of Pakistan's nuclear weapons falling into terrorist hands. Clinton said the U.S. had confidence in Pakistani authorities. She said terrorists were ``increasingly threatening the authority of the state, but we see no evidence they are going to take over the state.''
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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