LUCKNOW: Sixty people were burnt alive when a bus packed with Hindu pilgrims caught fire in northern India, police said on Wednesday.The bus was travelling on Tuesday evening on a national highway near Agra, the city of the Taj Mahal. The victims, including 17 children, were returning from a Hindu pilgrimage in the town of Mathura."The bus was carrying more than 90 passengers of which 61 were inside," Agra deputy inspector general of police N.P.Srivastava said while talking to a news agency by telephone."The rest had perched themselves on the roof-top , when the bus suddenly went ablaze. While the ones on the rooftop managed to jump off and save their lives, those inside lost their lives." Police said the fire was caused by a mechanical fault.
BEIRUT: Thousands of people converged Saturday on central Beirut to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafiq Hariri.Waving Lebanese flags and carrying pictures of the slain leader, men, women and children gathered under sunny skies in Martyr's Square where members of the parliamentary majority were to address the crowd. The rally comes as final preparations are underway in The Hague for the launch of the international tribunal set up to bring Hariri's killers to justice. It also comes as the country prepares for legislative elections in June that will pit Western-backed political parties against a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran.Hariri died in a massive car bombing on February 14, 2005 that also killed 22 others. The assassination was widely blamed on then Lebanese power-broker Syria, which has denied any involvement. The attack on the Beirut seafront was one of the worst acts of political violence to rock Lebanon since t...
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