The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Beirut - Hundreds of thousands of pro-Syria demonstrators rallied in a square in Beirut on Tuesday, answering a call from the militant Islamic group Hezbollah to show their support for a continuing Syrian presence in Lebanon. The crowds waved flags, held up pictures of Syrian President Bashar Assad and hoisted signs proclaiming Lebanon's brotherhood with Syria. There are reports that Syria bused people into Lebanon and pressured people to turn out. Beijing - China has introduced details of a proposed anti-secession law that would give Beijing the power to take military action to stop Taiwan's efforts to achieve formal independence. Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, which handles the island's relations with China, said the law amounts to a "blank cheque" to invade. Vienna - U.S. and Austrian lawyers have filed a lawsuit demanding Thailand, U.S. forecasters and the French Accor group answer accusations they failed in a duty to warn populations hit by December's Tsunami disaster, a lawyer said Monday. The disaster left about 300,000 people dead or missing. Among the charges leveled against Accor, the owner of the Sofitel hotel chain, was failure to equip its luxury resort and spa in Khao Lak, Thailand with state-of-the-art seismic detection and warning systems, despite its location "in an earthquake and tsunami fault zone."
