Abdullah and others at Asia-Europe summit observe silence for victims of 9/11 attack
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdulah Ahma Badawi and other leaders at a 38-nation Asia-Europe summit stood in silence Monday, remembering those killed in the Sept. 11 terror attacks five years ago in the United States.
The heads of state - including those from the 25-nation European Union, China, Japan and South Korea - also vowed at the Asia-Europe Meeting in Helsinki, Finland, to stay the course in combatting terrorism.
The leaders rose from their seats and stood silent in a circle for about a minute in a large, red-carpeted meeting room in a huge Helsinki conference center.
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao bowed their heads and kept their arms at their sides. The others generally looked forward and appeared solemn.
"These horrific attacks clearly demonstrated that terrorism is a threat to all states and to all peoples,'' the European Union said in a statement issued by Finland, which now holds the rotating EU presidency.
"It poses a serious threat to our security, to the values of our democratic societies and to the rights and freedoms of people, especially through the indiscriminate targeting of innocent people. No cause, no grievance, can justify acts of terrorism,'' the statement said.
Koizumi was cited by a Japanese official as saying that terrorism "continued to be as much of a threat as ever to mankind,'' and proposed hosting a conference of senior officials and experts on terrorism in 2007, Kyodo News agency reported.
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said he feared the recent Israeli-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon could lead to a growth in terrorism.
"I fear, in particular, that the recent excesses that have been committed during the attacks on Lebanon have added fuel which may increase the intensity of international terrorism and cause (it) to spread to countries and areas where they there are now no terrorist activities,'' he told the Finnish news agency STT.
"We must realise that Muslims all over the world empathise with the sufferings of their fellow Muslims in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine,'' Abdullah was quoted as saying.
"They see the sufferings of these countries as resulting from the aggression against Muslim countries and as a persecution of Muslims.''
The two-day Helsinki summit opened Sunday amid pledges to step up counterterrorism strategies that include countering radicalism, preventing the financing of terrorist networks and promoting interfaith dialogue. - AP
The heads of state - including those from the 25-nation European Union, China, Japan and South Korea - also vowed at the Asia-Europe Meeting in Helsinki, Finland, to stay the course in combatting terrorism.
The leaders rose from their seats and stood silent in a circle for about a minute in a large, red-carpeted meeting room in a huge Helsinki conference center.
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao bowed their heads and kept their arms at their sides. The others generally looked forward and appeared solemn.
"These horrific attacks clearly demonstrated that terrorism is a threat to all states and to all peoples,'' the European Union said in a statement issued by Finland, which now holds the rotating EU presidency.
"It poses a serious threat to our security, to the values of our democratic societies and to the rights and freedoms of people, especially through the indiscriminate targeting of innocent people. No cause, no grievance, can justify acts of terrorism,'' the statement said.
Koizumi was cited by a Japanese official as saying that terrorism "continued to be as much of a threat as ever to mankind,'' and proposed hosting a conference of senior officials and experts on terrorism in 2007, Kyodo News agency reported.
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said he feared the recent Israeli-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon could lead to a growth in terrorism.
"I fear, in particular, that the recent excesses that have been committed during the attacks on Lebanon have added fuel which may increase the intensity of international terrorism and cause (it) to spread to countries and areas where they there are now no terrorist activities,'' he told the Finnish news agency STT.
"We must realise that Muslims all over the world empathise with the sufferings of their fellow Muslims in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine,'' Abdullah was quoted as saying.
"They see the sufferings of these countries as resulting from the aggression against Muslim countries and as a persecution of Muslims.''
The two-day Helsinki summit opened Sunday amid pledges to step up counterterrorism strategies that include countering radicalism, preventing the financing of terrorist networks and promoting interfaith dialogue. - AP
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