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WORLD NEWS


The Sun /Saturday, December 28, 2013


Car bombing kills pro-Western


 Lebanese politician


 BEIRUT (AP) -A
powerful car bomb killed
a prominent Lebanese
politician critical of Syria
and its ally Hezbollah,
hitting his SUV Friday as it
drove through a ritzy busi-
ness district near Beirut's
waterfront, shredding
trees and scattering glass
and twisted scraps of met-
al across the pavement.
 Allies of the slain
politician, former finance
minister Mohammed
Chatah, indirectly blamed
the Shiite Hezbollah
group for the bombing,
raising tensions between
Lebanon's two main politi-
cal camps at a time when
the country's factions
are already deeply at
odds over the civil war in
neighboring Syria.
 The morning explosion
echoed across Beirut and
threw a pillar of black
smoke above the city's
skyline. The force of the
blast punched a nearly
2-yard wide crater in the
street, set at least three
cars on fire and shat-
tered windows in office
buildings and apartment
towers up to a block away.
 The 62-year-old
Chatah, who was also a
former Lebanese am-
bassador to the United
States and a senior aide
to ex-Prime Minister


 AP PHOTO
Lebanese security forces and firefighters gather next to destroyed vehicles at the scene of an
explosion in central Beirut, Lebanon, Friday. The state news agency said a bombing in central
Beirut has killed several people, including Mohammed Chatah, a senior aide to former Leba-
nese Prime Minister Saad Hariri.


Saad Hariri, was killed
along with his driver and
four others, the National
News Agency reported.
The Health Ministry said
at least 70 people were
wounded.
 In a statement, the 15
members of the U.N.
Security Council strongly
condemned the attack
and "reiterated their un-
equivocal condemnation
of any attempt to desta-
bilize Lebanon through
political assassinations."


 The bombing deep-
ened the sense of malaise
in Lebanon, which is
struggling to cope with
the fallout from the civil
war in Syria, including
the influx of more than
1 million Syrians who
have sought refuge from
the violence in their
homeland.
 Lebanon also has had
only a weak and ineffec-
tual caretaker govern-
ment since April, with
the two main political


blocs unable or unwilling
to reach a compromise to
form a new Cabinet.
 Hariri, a Sunni poli-
tician, heads the main,
Western-backed coalition
in Lebanon, known as
the March 14 alliance.
Hezbollah, which enjoys
the support of Syria and
Iran and commands a
militia stronger than the
national military, leads
those on the other side
of Lebanon's political
divide.


Officials: Iran talks hit bump: Enrichment


 VIENNA (AP) Iran
is taking steps to im-
prove its ability to speed
up uranium enrichment
that could delay imple-
mentation of a nuclear
deal with six world
powers because Tehran's
moves are opposed by
the United States and its
allies.
 Iran's nuclear chief, Ali
Akbar Salehi, said late
Thursday that his coun-
try is building a new
generation of centrifuges
for uranium enrichment
but they need further
tests before they can
be mass produced. His
comments appeared
aimed at countering
criticism from Iranian
hardliners by showing
their country's nuclear
program is moving
ahead and has not been
halted by the accord.
 But two officials
familiar with Iran's
nuclear activities said
Tehran has gone even
further by interpreting a
provision of the interim
Geneva nuclear deal in a
way rejected by many, if
not all, of the six powers


that sealed the Geneva
deal with Iran.
 They told The
Associated Press Friday
that Iranian technical
experts told counter-
parts from the six pow-
ers last week that some
of the cutting-edge
machines have been
installed at a research
tract of one of Iran's
enriching sites. They
gave no numbers.
 Iran argued that it had
a right to do so under
the research and devel-
opment provisions of
the Nov. 24 Geneva ac-
cord, said the officials,
who represent countries
that are members of
the Vienna-based U.N.
nuclear agency moni-
toring Tehran's atomic
activities. They spoke on
condition of anonymity
because they are not
authorized to discuss
the closed meetings.
 Iran's approach is
being hotly disputed by
the United States and
other representatives
of the six powers the
United States, Russia,
China, Britain, France


and Germany said the
officials. They said they
have argued that install-
ing any centrifuge that
increases overall num-
bers, particularly a new
model, violates Tehran's
commitment to freeze
the amount and type of
enriching machines at
Nov. 24 levels.
 In commitments
under the Geneva
accord, Iran agreed to
freeze the number of
centrifuges enriching
uranium for six months
and only to produce
models now installed or
in operation, so it can
exchange them piece
by piece for any dam-
aged ones. At the same
time, the interim deal
allows Iran to continue
centrifuge research and
development.
 The disagreement
contributed to the deci-
sion to adjourn the talks
in Geneva last Sunday,
the officials said.
 On Friday night, no
one was answering
telephone calls for com-
ment at Iran's mission


Atomic Energy Agency,
the U.N. nuclear organi-
zation. Calls to officials
in Tehran were not
immediately returned
on Friday, a weekend
day in Iran.
 Two technical meet-
ings about Iran's nuclear
program since the
November agreement
have dragged on for sev-
eral days, but a session
planned in Geneva on
Monday is scheduled to
last only a day. That sug-
gests that both sides are
anticipating the need to
return to their capitals
for more consultations
on the issue.
 The development
regarding uranium
enrichment reflects the
difficulties expected
in implementing the
Nov. 24 deal as the
two sides argue over
interpretations of the
document outlining
both Iran's obligations
and moves by the
international commu-
nity to ease economic
sanctions in return
for Tehran's nuclear


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I WORLD


 S. Sudan agrees
 to end hostilities
 JUBA, South Sudan (AP)
- South Sudan's govern-
ment agreed Friday at a
meeting of East African
leaders to end hostilities
against rebels accused of
trying to overthrow the
young country, but the
cease-fire was quickly
thrown into doubt
because the head of the
rebellion was not invited.
 An army spokesman
suggested the fighting
could go on despite
the announcement by
politicians in a faraway
capital.
 At the meeting in
Kenya, South Sudan
agreed not to carry out
a planned offensive to
recapture Bentiu, the cap-
ital of oil-producing Unity
state, which is controlled
by troops loyal to Riek
Machar, the former vice
president vilified by the
government as a corrupt
coup plotter.

Opponents to fight
 new US military
 base on Okinawa
 TOKYO (AP)-
Threatening lawsuits
and protests, opponents
are gearing up to fight
a decision by Okinawa's
governor that could
pave the way for a new
U.S. military base on the
southern Japanese island.
 U.S. Defense Secretary
Chuck Hagel welcomed
Friday's decision, calling
it "the most significant
milestone" so far in a
long-running battle to
realign U.S. forces in
Okinawa.
 The new base is
designed to reduce the
impact of the heavy
U.S. military presence
in Okinawa by replacing
another base in a more
congested area, but
opponents want the oper-
ations moved off Okinawa
completely.

 UN condemns
 attack on Iranian
 dissident group
 BAGHDAD (AP) -The
United Nations on Friday
condemned a rocket
attack on a camp housing
an Iranian exile group
near Baghdad, calling
on Iraqi government to
protect the camp and
investigate the incident.
 On Thursday night,
barrage of rockets were
fired on Camp Liberty,
home to members of the
Mujahedeen-e-Khalq,
the militant wing of
the National Council
of Resistance of Iran, a
Paris-based group op-
posed to Iran's cleric-led
government. The group
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 "There were some
people that the fish liter-
ally had torn bits of flesh
from," a medical official
at the scene, Gustavo
Centurion, was quoted as
saying by the Latin Times
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 Local lifeguards direc-
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 The incident occurred
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 Piranhas, a freshwater
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attacks on humans have
been reported in recent
years, mostly in the
Amazon River basin.

India police charge
 6 in gang rape of
 young woman

 NEW DELHI (AP)-
Police arrested 10 people
and charged six of them
with raping a 21-year-
old woman in southern
India, an officer said
Friday, a year after a fatal
gang rape in New Delhi
spurred debate on sexual
violence in the country.
 Officer Monika
Bharadwaj said the
arrests were made
Thursday after the wom-
an complained that she
was abducted and raped
while visiting a friend in
Karaikal, a port city in
Pondicherry state.
 Bhardwaj said that the
woman has been hospi-
talized but that she did
not suffer serious injuries.
 Police have also de-
tained a juvenile male for
not informing the police
about the crime.
 Bhardwaj said the
woman was first kid-
napped by three of the
accused around midnight
Tuesday and released
after nearly three hours of
captivity.
 As she called her friend
to pick her up after she
was freed, another group
of seven people came in
a vehicle and took her
away, Bhardwaj said.
 Police were question-
ing the accused to find
out whether they knew
each other or belonged
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