MANILA: Twelve people were killed and 57 rescued after a ferry sank in waters south of the Philippine capital on Saturday, the coast guard said.The boat, the MV Commander 6, was carrying people from Batangas to a resort beach on the island of Mindoro when it was hit by large waves, which cracked its hull, causing the vessel to sink, the coast guard report said.Coast guard rescue vessels and private boats rushed to the scene to rescue the people. There were no immediate reports on whether any of the people onboard were still missing. The boat had only 42 people on its manifest, indicating that many people had boarded without being listed, coast guard officials said. Small, poorly-maintained ferries are the backbone of inter-island travel in this archipelagic country and many ferry owners resort to overloading their vessels, leading to frequent maritime mishaps.
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