BEIJING: Eighteen people were killed and three injured in an explosion at a mine in central China, an official said Saturday, in the latest deadly accident to hit the nation's coal industry. The tragedy struck Friday afternoon at a mine in Chenzhou city in Hunan province when a detonator and explosives warehouse blew up, an employee at the city's coal industry bureau, who would only give his surname Li, told. "Up to this morning we have confirmed there are 18 dead and three injured," he said. Li said the victims were in dormitories next to the warehouse at the time of the explosion.According to the official Xinhua news agency, a further two people were missing, and police have said the detonators and explosives might have been illegally bought and stored. China's coalmines are notoriously dangerous. Official figures show that more than 3,200 workers died in collieries last year, but independent observers say the actual figure could be much higher, as many accidents are covered up.
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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