The US and Syria sparred over Lebanon, warning each other not to interfere in the country's upcoming presidential election.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had a rare meeting on Saturday with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, on the sidelines of a conference on Iraq in Istanbul, Turkey. She repeated US demands that Syria steer clear of Lebanon's internal politics.
``I made quite clear that ... it was expected that Syria was going to adhere to its international obligations not to interfere, to allow Lebanon to have a constitutional process for the ... election of a president, and that it was also the expectation of everyone that there would be no intimidation,'' Rice told reporters after leaving the conference.
In response, al-Moallem said Syria supported Lebanese attempts to elect a new president without foreign interference, according to the official news agency SANA.
Despite marathon discussions between pro-government and opposition leaders in the parliament, the two groups have made no headway in electing a new president to prevent a power vacuum or the formation of two rival administrations.
With time running out, the election has become a showdown between Iran and Syria, who back the opposition, and the US and its European allies, who support the parliamentary majority and Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora's government. The US accuses Syria and Iran of interfering in Lebanese affairs and backing attempts to topple Siniora.
Syria dominated its smaller neighbor for nearly 30 years before it was forced by international pressure to withdraw its troops from Lebanon in 2005.
Parliament is scheduled to make another attempt to elect a president next Monday, but as with the two previous attempts in September and last month, the government and the opposition have been unable to reach a compromise ahead of the session.
Failure to pick a leader to replace pro-Syrian Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, whose term expires on Nov. 24, could throw the country into further political chaos.
SANA quoted al-Moallem as saying that "any attempt to tailor make the new president will be considered an interference in the domestic affairs of Lebanon," an apparent reference to comments Rice made on Thursday outlining US and European requirements for the next Lebanese leader.
BLOODSHED: North Koreans take extreme measures to avoid being taken prisoner and sometimes execute their own forces, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Saturday said that Russian and North Korean forces sustained heavy losses in fighting in Russia’s southern Kursk region. Ukrainian and Western assessments say that about 11,000 North Korean troops are deployed in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces occupy swathes of territory after staging a mass cross-border incursion in August last year. In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy quoted a report from Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi as saying that the battles had taken place near the village of Makhnovka, not far from the Ukrainian border. “In battles yesterday and today near just one village, Makhnovka,
HOLLYWOOD IN TURMOIL: Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton and Cary Elwes lost properties to the flames, while awards events planned for this week have been delayed Fires burning in and around Los Angeles have claimed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore and Paris Hilton, and led to sweeping disruptions of entertainment events, while at least five people have died. Three awards ceremonies planned for this weekend have been postponed. Next week’s Oscar nominations have been delayed, while tens of thousands of city residents had been displaced and were awaiting word on whether their homes survived the flames — some of them the city’s most famous denizens. More than 1,900 structures had been destroyed and the number was expected to increase. More than 130,000 people
Some things might go without saying, but just in case... Belgium’s food agency issued a public health warning as the festive season wrapped up on Tuesday: Do not eat your Christmas tree. The unusual message came after the city of Ghent, an environmentalist stronghold in the country’s East Flanders region, raised eyebrows by posting tips for recycling the conifers on the dinner table. Pointing with enthusiasm to examples from Scandinavia, the town Web site suggested needles could be stripped, blanched and dried — for use in making flavored butter, for instance. Asked what they thought of the idea, the reply
US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen on Monday met virtually with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) and raised concerns about “malicious cyber activity” carried out by Chinese state-sponsored actors, the US Department of the Treasury said in a statement. The department last month reported that an unspecified number of its computers had been compromised by Chinese hackers in what it called a “major incident” following a breach at contractor BeyondTrust, which provides cybersecurity services. US Congressional aides said no date had been set yet for a requested briefing on the breach, the latest in a serious of cyberattacks
RSS