Thursday, December 24, 2009 CAIRO: Arab League chief and former Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa has ruled out running for president of Egypt in elections due to be held in late 2011.Moussa, who had been tipped as a possible candidate, said in an interview published in a newspaper on Wednesday it was not possible to mount a challenge."The question is, is it possible? And the answer is, the road is closed," he said.Speculation has mounted over who will succeed 81-year-old President Hosni Mubarak, who is expected to seek another term in 2011, health permitting. Mubarak's 45-year son Gamal has been tipped as a possible successor.Moussa, aged 73 and praised by many Egyptians and Arabs for criticism of both Israel and past U.S. Middle East policies, was quoted in October as not ruling out such a bid.Analysts say constitutional rules make an independent nomination almost impossible.
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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