IN BRIEF (Page 8)

Lebanon

5 killed, 75 injured in Beirut blast

Former Lebanese finance minister Mohamad Chatah, who was an adviser to former prime minister Saad al-Hariri, and four other people were killed in a massive bomb blast that targeted his car in Beirut on Friday, security sources said. Another 75 were injured in the attack. Chatah, 62, a Sunni Muslim, was a critic of Lebanon's Shiite-Hezbollah movement.

Egypt

Protester killed in Cairo clashes

Police said on Friday a man died in clashes as tensions soared in Cairo following a bus bombing and further arrests of members of the Muslim Brotherhood after its listing as a terrorist group. Defiant student supporters of the Brotherhood protested on Thursday night, clashing with opponents of deposed president Mohammed Morsi, the interior ministry said.

Thailand

Govt seeks to secure election

The Thai government appealed to the military on Friday to provide security for February elections after violent clashes between police and opposition protesters left two people dead and more than 150 wounded. With tensions running high in the capital, the army chief refused to rule out a coup, saying "anything can happen".

Japan

Okinawa OKsUS airbase move

Okinawa approved the long-stalled relocation of a controversial US military base on Friday, the defense ministry said, a breakthrough that looks set to remove a decades-long source of friction between Tokyo and Washington. Local officials signed a document that gives the governor a green light to a landfill, paving the way for the construction of a new base on the coast.

Iran

Teheran develops new centrifuges

Iran's nuclear chief Ali-Akbar Salehi said the country is building a new generation of centrifuges for uranium enrichment but that they need further tests before they can be mass produced. Under a landmark nuclear deal reached last month in Geneva, Iran promised not to bring new centrifuges into operation for six months. But the deal does not stop it from developing centrifuges.

Palestine

US urged to block settlement plan

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has appealed to the United States to block a new Israeli plan to build hundreds of additional homes in Jewish settlements, a top negotiator said on Friday, warning the move could put US-led peace efforts in peril.

Reuters-AFP-AP

(China Daily 12/28/2013 page8)