Thursday, November 26, 2009 JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia's civil defence said Thursday that 77 people were killed in intense flooding in Jeddah and nearby areas, and that scores could still be missing. Jeddah civil defence spokesman Abduallah al-Omary said most of the deaths occurred in vulnerable areas in the city's eastern and southern districts after a downpour on Wednesday. Many of the dead were in automobiles and buses caught up in the rising waters, according to witnesses. Based on calls from worried locals, 351 people were missing, Omary said. In some areas roads were still under more than one metre (three feet) of water on Thursday. "The water has gone down and things are getting better today compared to yesterday. We are doing our best to make things easier for the people still stuck," he said. A 90-millimetre (3.5-inch) downpour hit the Red Sea city and its surroundings, flooding roads and tunnels and collapsing some older buildings and homes. At least four of the dead were in the neighbouring province of Mecca, where some 2.5 million pilgrims are undertaking the annual hajj. However, no hajj participants were killed in the floods, a health ministry official said.
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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