CARACAS: Sixteen Venezuelan soldiers and a civilian were killed when a military helicopter crashed Sunday near the Colombian border, the state news agency reported. A brigadier general was among those killed.President Hugo Chavez said the soldiers were patrolling the 1,400-mile (2,300-kilometer) border separating Venezuela and Colombia when the local military base lost contact with their Mi-17 helicopter shortly after midday. The helicopter crashed in a mountainous area called ElCapote, the state-run Bolivarian News Agency reported.Two pilots and the entire crew were killed. Army Brig.Gen. Domingo Alberto Feneite and Cristian Velazquez, a civilian, were among the victims, according to the state news agency.Chavez sent condolences to the families of the victims during his weekly television and radio program. “They died while they were on duty and serving the fatherland," he said.Neither Chavez nor the Venezuelan military mentioned the cause of the crash.
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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