Friday, September 04, 2009 NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, party General Secretary Rahul Gandhi led the mourners from across the nation to pay their last respects to Andhra Praadesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, who was killed in a helicopter crash on September 2.The three leaders flew in from New Delhi and reached the Chief Minister's residence in camp office at Begumpet where the casket with YSR's body has been kept since last evening after it was brought from Kurnool following the post-mortem.They placed floral wreaths on the casket and an emotion filled Ms Gandhi signed the condolence book. The Prime Minister and Mr Gandhi also signed the condolence book kept near the casket and were there for more than 40 minutes before driving to Begumpet Airport to return to Delhi.Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, who also arrived in the morning, joined Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily, Minister of State in PMO Prithiviraj Chavan, Minister of State for Human Resources Development Daggubati Purandeshwari, Minister of State for Defence M Pallam Raju in paying their last respects to the departed leader.Andhra Pradesh Governor N D Tiwari, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, and several state Ministers also paid floral tributes to YSR.The last journey began at 0945 hrs. Immediately after the departure of the Prime Minister, Ms Gandhi and Mr Gandhi, the casket was placed on a floral-decked gun carriage draped in the tri-colour.
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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