Wednesday, November 25, 2009 JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that a temporary ease on Israeli settlement building approved by the security cabinet on Wednesday did not include Jerusalem. "We do not put any restrictions on building in our sovereign capital," Netanyahu told a news conference, referring to the Holy City. A settlement freeze also in annexed east Jerusalem is a key Palestinian demand to resume peace negotiations that were suspended during the Gaza war at the turn of the year.
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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