SAO PAULO: Authorities said heavy rains have caused a dam to rupture in northeastern Brazil, stranding nearly 3,000 people in a region where floods have killed 53 people and displaced more than 415,000.Officials say they launched an overnight rescue operation using five helicopters to aid nearly 600 families stranded by Wednesday's dam break in Piaui state.Piaui civil defense department spokeswoman Vanize Lemos said Thursday that 150 families have been rescued. She said some residents climbed trees and rooftops after a river rose 16 feet (5 meters).Heavy rains have battered northern and northeastern Brazil since April, causing floods and mudslides in a region extending from the Amazon rain forest to the Atlantic Ocean.
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...
Comments