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BEIRUT: An Arab League delegation was due in Beirut
on Wednesday to meet with rival leaders in a bid to mediate a
settlement to deadly sectarian gun battles that have driven Lebanon
close to civil war. The team, headed by Qatari Prime Minister and
Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani, was to meet
members of the US-backed government and the Hezbollah-led opposition
who have been locked in a bitter political feud for 18 months.
--AFP
CHENGDU: A total of 18 foreign
tourists were still out of reach in Sichuan on Wednesday after
Monday’s massive quake, an official said. “We have been waiting
for information about them, but so far there are no reports,” said
Tang Tao, an official with the Sichuan provincial foreign affairs
office. The foreign tourists included 15 Britons, two
Chinese-Americans and one Thai.
--XINHUA
JAIPUR, India: Indian police were
Wednesday interrogating a dozen men detained after eight
near-simultaneous bombings killed about 80 people in crowded markets
in the tourist city of Jaipur. “We are trying our best to unravel
the conspiracy behind this dastardly attack,” Rajasthan state home
minister Gulab Chand Kataria told Agence France-Presse.
--AFP
DENPASAR, Indonesia: Three men
sentenced to death for their role in the 2002 Bali bombings have
filed a third appeal for a review of their case, an Indonesian judge
said Wednesday. Denpasar District Court Chief Judge I Nyoman Gede
Wirya said another appeal had been filed late Tuesday against the
2003 convictions for the attack against tourist nightspots on the
popular resort island, which killed 202 people.
--AFP
JERUSALEM: US President George W.
Bush on Wednesday kicked off his Middle East trip in Israel where he
hopes to push ahead with peace efforts while marking the 60th
anniversary of the Jewish state. “We have built an enduring
alliance to confront terrorists and tyrants,” Bush said in a brief
address after his arrival at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv. “
--AFP
TOKYO: A Japanese city has been
forced to destroy thousands of flowers grown for a local festival
after a police officer noticed they were illegal opium poppies, an
official said Wednesday. About 100 officials were mobilized in
Shimotsuma City north of Tokyo to pluck and burn the one-hectare
(2.47-acre) field of lilac-colored papaver setigerum poppies,
according to the city official. “The flowers were grown by
volunteers using seeds imported from abroad,” she said.
--AFP
WASHINGTON: NASA’s Phoenix Mars
Lander is preparing to end its long journey and begin a three-month
mission to taste and sniff fistfuls of Martian soil and buried ice,
mission updates released Tuesday revealed. Phoenix will enter the
top of the Martian atmosphere at almost 13,000mph (about 20,000km
per hour).
--XINHUA
PYONGYANG: Settling the food
problem and feeding the people are the most pressing tasks facing
the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) at present, said
Kim Jong Il, the DPRK’s top leader. Kim made the remarks when
inspecting a farm and fishery enterprise in the northeast province
of North Hamgyong, the official Rodong Sinmun daily reported
Wednesday.
--XINHUA
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