beetroot recipes: Morning Brief: Blast Kills Ex-Minister Chatah in Lebanon

Friday, December 27, 2013

Blast Kills Ex-Minister Chatah in Lebanon

Top News: Former Lebanese minister and opposition figure Mohamad Chatah has been killed by a car bomb in central Beirut. The explosion killed at least six people and injured 70.

Mr. Chattah, a Sunni Muslim, was a critic Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement that supports him.

The attack reflects worsening sectarian tensions in Lebanon linked to Syria's civil war. Last month, suicide bombers targeted Iran's embassy in Beirut, and clashes between Sunni and Alawite factions in Tripoli have become increasingly violent.

Japan: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Thursday visit to a controversial Tokyo shrine inflamed tensions with China and South Korea, Foreign Policy reports. The Yasukuni Shrine honors Japanese war dead and includes some implicated in war crimes.

Asia

Japan approved the relocation of a US airbase on its southern island of Okinawa. The agreement comes after years of deadlock on the proposed location of the base.
Four Chinese security personnel were jailed after being convicted for their role in a clash that left a fruit seller dead in July.
Thai officials said the government would ask the army to provide security for the February elections. The announcement came amid increasing violent anti-government protests.

Middle East

One person was killed in clashes between student supporters of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and local residents. The clash comes amid a broader crackdown by the military-backed government on the Brotherhood.
The U.S. delivered a significant arms shipment to Iraq in an effort to combat Al Qaeda.
On Thursday the Israeli Air Force struck Gaza in response to rocket fire earlier in the day.

Africa

At least 11 people have been killed after a bomb exploded in the Somali capital Mogadishu. The cause of the attack remains uncertain.
East African leaders are meeting in Kenya to discuss ways to quell the growing ethnic violence in South Sudan. The fighting has already displaced 100,000 Sudanese, according to UN officials.
Security forces in the Central African Republic beat back insurgents thought to be connected to a Christian militia after an attack on the presidential palace on Thursday.

Europe

Turkey's military has said it does not want to get involved in politics, amid a major corruption scandal that has already forced three ministers from office.
Six Greenpeace activists left Russia after being granted an amnesty from charges of hooliganism.
Ukrainian police arrested three suspects in the beating of anti-government activist and journalist Tetyana Chornovol.

Americas

Eighteen migrants died after their boat capsized off the Turks and Caicos Islands. Local media reported that the dead were from Haiti.
Uruguayan senator and presidential candidate Jorge Saravia was injured in a home robbery.
At least eight people died due to heavy rain in the in the Caribbean islands of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

-By Jake Scobey-Thal

AFP/Getty Images

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