Lebanon's squabbling political leaders gathered in Qatar on Friday for Arab-brokered talks aimed at ending a long-running feud that drove their country to the brink of a new civil war.
After 65 people were killed in nearly a week of fighting, the Beirut government and the Hezbollah-led opposition agreed to a national dialogue aimed at electing a president and forming a unity government.
In Doha on Friday they gathered in a luxury hotel for an opening session chaired by Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, who then adjourned the meeting until the first round of talks proper yesterday.
As US President George W. Bush visited Saudi Arabia, Washington expressed its support for the Doha talks and vowed not to interfere.
“We are pleased that there is now a process, that the fighting in the streets have [sic] stopped,” a senior US State Department official said, requesting anonymity.
“What we are doing is making it clear first of all that we do support this process because there are a lot of people who would like to say that we don’t,” he said.
“We are in touch with Lebanese from across the political spectrum … to note that we are supporting this process, that we will be helpful but not interfering with this process,” the official said.
In an address to the politicians, the emir stressed the need to preserve unity and said he hoped the rivals would reach an agreement.
The two sides in the political conflict met after Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora and parliament majority leader Saad Hariri flew into Qatar on a private plane.
Christian leader Samir Geagea, former president Amin Gemayel and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt of the ruling coalition arrived separately on a Qatari aircraft that also brought opposition member and parliament speaker Nabih Berri and his ally Christian leader Michel Aoun.
The head of the militant Shiite Hezbollah movement, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, did not travel to Qatar, apparently for security reasons and was represented by Hezbollah member of parliament Mohammed Raad instead.
“These are early days. It’s just the first meeting,” Geagea told reporters after the adjournment.
The feuding politicians agreed on Thursday to launch a dialogue as part of a six-point plan, following Arab League mediation led by Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani.
Under the deal the rivals undertook “to shore up the authority of the Lebanese state throughout the country,” to refrain from using weapons to further political aims and to remove militants from the streets.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of