Around the World

Hariri waits nod to return to premiership

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's chances of regaining his old job rose with his landslide re-election to parliament, but neighboring Syria may have final say over whether he takes back the post.

Hariri, a billionaire who made his fortune in construction in Saudi Arabia, said yesterday he has not made up his mind whether he wants to be prime minister again.

"It's premature to talk about it now. It is a big mistake to say that I am running for the post of the prime minister," he told reporters.

Syria, which dominates Lebanon militarily and politically, has not made its position clear.

Hariri is a friend of Syrian President Bashar Assad and has economic investments in Syria.

But Syria also firmly supports Emile Lahoud, Lebanon's president and Hariri's rival.

Under the 1989 Arab-brokered peace plan that ended Lebanon's1975-90 civil war, the president must name a prime minister after polling the legislators.

Since the two rounds of parliamentary elections for the 128-member legislature ended Sunday, more than 50 lawmakers were reported to have voiced support for Hariri.

Lahoud's choice, current Prime Minister Salim Hoss, failed to win a seat in parliament after a divisive campaign.

Hariri extended an olive branch to Lahoud at his news conference yesterday. "My hand will be extended to cooperate with political and national leaders in the country and all legislators to reassert Lebanon's presence on the Arab, regional and international map," he said.

Russia and Japan work toward treaty

TOKYO - The leaders of Russia and Japan pledged yesterday to press on toward a peace treaty, despite failing to resolve a territorial dispute that has blocked a pact for more than five decades.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori ended two days of talks without progress over claims to four islands off northern Japan that Russia seized at the end of World War II.

"It was all they could do to agree to continue peace treaty talks, giving us a glimpse of how far apart they are in their views," the national Yomiuri newspaper said yesterday.

Despite hopes for signing a peace treaty this year, Putin backed off, saying: "The important thing is not setting up a deadline, but that both countries have good faith."

Mori said: "We confirmed that we will continue negotiations for a peace treaty by resolving the issue the sovereignty over the four islands, based on all the negotiations in the past."

The islands - known as the Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan - have stood in the way of a peace treaty that would formally end more than 50 years of hostility.

Moscow has not accepted Tokyo's suggestion of putting the islands under Japanese sovereignty while letting Russia continue to administer them.

Tokyo stands firm against Moscow's earlier suggestion that they formally end their hostilities without resolving the island dispute.