Italy held a state funeral for 37 victims of the last week’s 6.2-magnitude earthquake.
The ceremony has been held in the town of Amatrice, which bore the brunt of the disaster.
Coffins of the victims, including those of two children, were laid out in a marquee on the edge of the town.
The venue was chosen at the last minute after relatives rejected a plan for the funeral to be held in a hangar in Rieti, about 40 miles away.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and President Sergio Mattarella were among the mourners.
Photo AP
Of the 292 people known to have died in the earthquake, 242 were from Amatrice or nearby Accumoli.
Today’s funeral Mass in Amatrice began with the names of the victims being read out. Many families were overcome with grief during the ceremony.
In an address, Bishop of Rieti Domenico Pompili urging leaders present not to allow “political quarrels” to delay reconstruction.
“If we abandon these villages, we will kill them for a second time,” he said.
Most victims were Italian, but several foreigners were among those killed.
Romania’s PM Dacian Ciolos attended the funeral to honor the 11 Romanians who died in the earthquake, most of them in Amatrice.
Teams of workers are still searching the rubble in the town for up to 10 people still missing, presumed dead.
It was the second state funeral held for earthquake victims. Another was held on August 27 for 50 people killed in the neighboring Le Marche region.
Italy is to build wooden chalet-style huts within three months for the 2,500 people displaced by the earthquake, Italian media reported.
Authorities want to get survivors into safe, warm accommodation before winter arrives in the mountainous central region.
PM Matteo Renzi discussed reconstruction plans on August 28 with Renzo Piano, one of Italy’s most renowned architects.
There has been criticism in the Italian press over building standards in high-risk areas. Some of the buildings that collapsed had recently been renovated.
Former British PM Margaret Thatcher will be given a ceremonial funeral with full military honors at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.
Margaret Thatcher’s funeral service is expected to take place next week, and will be similar in status to those accorded to the Queen Mother and Princess Diana.
Many members of Parliament have called for Iron Lady to be given a state funeral, as was given to former Prime Minister Winston Churchill, but that was against her own wishes.
Margaret Thatcher’s spokesman and friend, Lord Bell, has said that Britain’s first female PM “specially did not want state funeral, and nor did her family”.
Margaret Thatcher’s funeral service is expected to take place next week, and will be similar in status to those accorded to the Queen Mother and Princess Diana
“She particularly did not wish to lie in state as she thought that was not appropriate,” Lord Bell said.
“And she did not want a fly-past as she thought that was a waste of money – somewhat in character you might think.”
Details of the ceremonial funeral with military honors are understood to have been mapped out in talks between government officials and Baroness Thatcher more than five years ago.
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and Nancy Reagan, wife of her closest ally US President Ronald Reagan, are expected to lead a list of international mourners.
Margaret Thatcher did request a central role for The Chelsea Pensioners at her funeral. The Army veterans will not only welcome her coffin when it arrives at St Paul’s, but will also benefit from donations made in her memory – her family have requested that, instead of flowers.
Margaret Thatcher funeral cortege route and procession details
The day before the funeral takes place, Margaret Thatcher’s coffin will be moved to the chapel of St Mary Undercroft in the Palace of Westminster. There will be a short service following its arrival and the coffin will rest there overnight.
The following day, the streets will be cleared before the coffin travels by hearse to the Church of St Clement Danes, the central church for the RAF, on the Strand. There it will be transferred to a gun carriage drawn by horses of the King’s Troop of the Royal Artillery, the Queen’s ceremonial Saluting Battery.
Lady Thatcher’s funeral cortege will pass through Whitehall, Trafalgar Square and along the Strand, round Aldwych and then up Ludgate Hill to St Paul’s. Serving members of all three Armed Forces will line the route, alongside an expected crowd of tens of thousands of people.
At the steps of St Paul’s, the coffin will be met by another Guard of Honour and the Chelsea Pensioners. Members of the three services will then bear the coffin into St Paul’s for the funeral service.
As well as friends and family of Margaret Thatcher, politicians who served in her cabinet are expected to attend the service alongside current cabinet members. It is not yet known whether the Queen will be attending.
After the service, there will be a private cremation service in Mortlake, south-west London. It is understood that Margaret Thatcher wished to be laid to rest alongside her husband, Denis, who died in 2003, in the cemetery of the Royal Hospital Chelsea.
Leaders from Latin America and beyond are gathering in Caracas for the state funeral of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez.
After the funeral, Hugo Chavez’s body will be taken to a military museum to lie in state for another seven days.
More than two million mourners have already filed past his body at a military academy.
Hugo Chavez’s body is to be embalmed and placed on permanent display, Vice-President Nicolas Maduro says.
Later on Friday, Nicolas Maduro is due to be sworn in as acting president. As such, he must call elections within 30 days.
Hugo Chavez, who led Venezuela for 14 years, died on Tuesday aged 58 after a long battle with cancer.
More than 30 heads of state are expected to attend Friday’s funeral including Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Cuban President Raul Castro and Belarussian leader Alexander Lukashenko.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has praised Hugo Chavez as a “martyr” and a “wise and revolutionary leader”.
Leaders from Latin America and beyond are gathering in Caracas for the state funeral of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez
Meanwhile, President Sebastian Pinera of Chile arrived at Simon Bolivar airport in Caracas early on Friday, telling reporters that the thoughts of Chile were with Venezuela at a difficult time.
US Congressman Gregory Meeks and former Congressman William Delahunt will represent the United States at the funeral of Hugo Chavez, a fierce critic of Washington.
Nicolas Maduro said that Hugo Chavez’s body would be embalmed “like Lenin and Mao Zedong”, and put on display for at least another seven days.
The body will be moved to the Caracas military museum where in 1992 Hugo Chavez – as an army officer – was captured after leading a failed coup.
Nicolas Maduro said the building would be converted into a new “museum of the revolution”.
Hugo Chavez’s supporters want him eventually interred in Venezuela’s national Pantheon alongside Simon Bolivar, the 19th Century independence leader the late president claimed as his political inspiration.
However, Venezuela’s constitution says people can only be admitted to the Pantheon 25 years after their death.
Hugo Chavez named Nicolas Maduro as his preferred successor following the recurrence of his cancer.
Hugo Chavez’s body is to be embalmed and put on display after his funeral, Venezuela’s Vice-President Nicolas Maduro says.
The decision reflects the huge crowds queuing to pay their respects in Caracas, where he is lying in state.
Hugo Chavez’s body will be moved to a military museum after the state funeral on Friday, Nicolas Maduro said.
Hugo Chavez, who led Venezuela for 14 years, died on Tuesday after a long battle with cancer.
More than two million mourners have already filed past his body at the military academy in Caracas, queuing for hours to see him lying in state.
Leaders from Latin America and beyond are gathering in Caracas for his funeral on Friday, and Nicolas Maduro said the ceremony would go ahead as planned.
His body would be embalmed “like Lenin and Mao Zedong”, and put on display for at least another seven days, Nicolas Maduro added.
The body will be moved to the Caracas military museum, where Hugo Chavez – then an army officer – was captured in 1992 after leading the failed coup attempt that first brought him onto Venezuela’s political stage.
The building will be converted into a new “museum of the revolution”, Nicolas Maduro said.
Hugo Chavez’s body is to be embalmed and put on display after his funeral
Hugo Chavez’s supporters want him eventually interred in Venezuela’s national Pantheon alongside Simon Bolivar, the 19th Century independence leader the late president claimed as his political inspiration.
But Venezuela’s constitution says people can only be admitted to the Pantheon 25 years after their death.
The Venezuelan government says more than 30 world leaders – mostly from Latin America and the Caribbean – will attend the funeral on Friday morning.
Among them will be President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran.
Hugo Chavez died on Tuesday after a two-year battle with cancer that saw him have four operations in Cuba.
Thousands of Ethiopians are attending the state funeral in Addis Ababa of country’s long-serving Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who died last month.
Meles Zenawi’s flag-draped coffin was carried in a procession from his palace to the city’s Meskel Square, where a solemn religious ceremony began.
Dozens of foreign leaders and dignitaries, including at least 20 African presidents, were present.
Meles Zenawi died at the age of 57 in Brussels, following a long illness.
He came to power in 1991 and was credited for bringing development and growth to Ethiopia.
But critics say this was achieved at the cost of respect for human rights.
Thousands of Ethiopians are attending the state funeral in Addis Ababa of country's long-serving Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who died last month
The state funeral – Ethiopia’s first in more than 80 years – began in Meskel Square after a journey of about an hour-and-a-half from Meles Zenawi’s official residence, the Grand National Palace.
The coffin was accompanied by hundreds of mourners, including Meles Zenawi’s widow Azeb Mesfin, who was seen being comforted by officials.
The coffin will later be taken for burial at the city’s Holy Trinity Cathedral.
The prime minister was a former Marxist rebel and not publicly religious, but was brought up as an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian.
In contrast to the secrecy traditionally surrounding the deaths of Ethiopian leaders, the ceremony is being broadcast live, and huge screens have been erected in cities and villages around the country.
The last Ethiopian leader to be honored with a state funeral was the Empress Zauditu in 1930.
African presidents such as South Africa’s Jacob Zuma and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame are attending the funeral, as well as several prominent international figures including Microsoft chairman Bill Gates.
Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete laid a wreath next to Meles Zenawi’s coffin on Saturday.
He paid tribute to Meles Zenawi’s “charm, his intellect, his passion for Africa’s development”, adding that he was “a kind of leader that you can trust”.
Paul Kagame honored Meles Zenawi as “a gallant fighter for freedom not only for Ethiopia and Ethiopian people, but also Africa”.
Also attending is Sudan’s President, Omar al-Bashir, who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court on several counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in the Darfur conflict.
Meles zenawi became a dominant figure in the region after toppling toppling dictator Mengistu Hailemariam 21 years ago.
He ordered Ethiopian troops to intervene against al-Qaeda-linked militants in Somalia, mediated in the conflict in Sudan and South Sudan, and took a leading position in the African Union, which is headquartered in Addis Ababa.
Meles Zenawi will be succeeded by his deputy, Hailemariam Desalegn, 47, a relatively little-known politician from the south of Ethiopia.
Hailemariam Desalegn will formally take over as prime minister after Meles Zenawi’s funeral, and will serve until elections in 2015.
Some observers have voiced fears about the political transition.
The Brussels-based think tank, the Crisis Group, has warned that Hailemariam Desalegn will lead a weaker government that will face mounting grievances along ethnic and religious lines.
Meles Zenawi died suddenly from an infection on 20 August while being treated in hospital in Brussels.
He had not been seen in public for weeks before his death was announced, and there had been increasingly intense speculation about his health.
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