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Syrian leader under fire over Beirut bombing - CNN

Posted: 20 Oct 2012 08:30 AM PDT

Lebanese men block a road leading to the airport in Beirut to protest against the assassination of top intelligence official Wissam al-Hassan in a blast on Friday, October 19. A car bomb blast in central Beirut killed the top security official linked to the anti-Damascus camp in Lebanon, where leaders pointed a finger of blame at Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Lebanese people take part in a candlelight vigil near the site of the car bomb blast.

A Lebanese firefighter douses cars at the site of an explosion in Beirut's Christian neighbourhood of Ashrafieh.

A car burns after an explosion in Beirut. The blast hit the Ashrafiyeh district in East Beirut, a predominantly Christian area.

Lebanese firefighters douse burning vehicles.

Lebanese Red Cross aid workers help a wounded man. Dozens were injured, some seriously, and others were slightly hurt, a senior hospital official said.

Lebanese security forces and rescue workers gather at the site of the explosion.

Lebanese men evacuate a wounded woman from the scene of the car bomb.

Lebanese police stand by a crater as they secure the site.

Civil defense members help a wounded man in the immediate aftermath.

A wounded woman is carried from the area. The attack did not target any political figure, the Lebanese National News Agency says.

A civil defense member helps a wounded man.

A wounded woman gets assistance.

Lebanese soldiers secure the area around the mangled wreckage of the blast.

A woman is helped by a Lebanese soldier after the explosion.

Relatives comfort a wounded woman at the site.

A Lebanese soldier secures the area as a civil defense member helps an injured woman.

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Car bomb in Beirut

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

NEW: At least another 80 people were killed amid fighting in Syria, opposition groups say
Lebanese PM Mikati is staying in power, despite his offer to resign
Mikati is backed by Hezbollah
Blame over Lebanese intel chief's death is largely aimed at Syrian regime

Beirut (CNN) -- A day after the most high-profile assassination in Lebanon in more than seven years, accusations over who's responsible homed in on the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati, a billionaire supported by Hezbollah, announced Saturday that he plans to stay in power, despite having offered his resignation to appease those who claimed al-Assad was behind Friday's car bombing that killed Lebanon's intelligence chief, Brig. Gen Wissam al-Hassan.

"To hold me personally responsible for the assassination is unfair," he told reporters. "I have always respected and admired al-Hassan, who has done great things for Lebanon."

Mikati's decision to stay heads off a power vacuum in Lebanon's government, as sectarian tensions flare particularly as the effects of Syria's 19-month civil war spill across borders and threaten the region.

The senior Lebanese security official and at least nine others died in the explosion in the typically peaceful and cosmopolitan Ashrafiyeh district of East Beirut.

Lebanon on edge after attack

The attack -- in broad daylight, at one of the capital's busiest intersections -- left a crater more than a meter deep and was just the kind of thing al-Hassan had worked to prevent.

But beyond its potential impact on Lebanon's security, al-Hassan's life and death illustrates the deep political and religious fissures within Lebanese society, believed to be exacerbated by its neighbor's unrelentingly internal conflict, where at least another 80 people were killed on Saturday amid fighting that has left tens of thousands dead.

Saad Hariri, a Lebanese opposition leader and former prime minister, told CNN that he had no doubt that the Syrian leader was responsible for Friday's deadly strike.

Hariri accused al-Assad of "killing his own people" and said "he will not think twice" about killing Lebanese in order to protect himself.

"The message from Damascus today is anywhere you are, if you are against the regime from Lebanon, we will come and get you ... No matter what you try to do, we will keep on assassinating the Lebanese," said Hariri, who blames the 2005 assassination of his father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, on the Assad government.

Those accusations were echoed by Walid Jumblatt, a Druze politician and influential power broker in Lebanon's rough-and-tumble political landscape.

Jumblatt told CNN he blames Friday's murder on the Assad government and has expressed concerns over his own safety.

Syrian forces loyal to Assad "can hit you any place anywhere," he said.

"I don't feel safe," he added, talking to CNN in his hillside home outside the capital.

When asked if he thought al-Hassan's killers would be captured, Jumblatt replied: "Sometimes you have justice -- I mean procedural justice according to the rules, and sometimes you have natural justice when one day the killer will be killed. One day the killer will die. You just have to be patient and one day you will see your enemy floating in front of you in the river."

Under Assad, Syria has continued to influence the politics of its smaller neighbor despite withdrawing troops from Lebanon in 2005 following Rafik Hariri's assassination.

Last year, Damascus maneuvered to topple Hariri's son Saad as prime minister by persuading Jumblatt to abandon parliament, which left Hezbollah to play kingmaker in protracted negotiations to form a new government.

Tensions have since boiled over in Lebanon following Friday's attack as enraged citizens blocked road ways and clashes erupted in the port city of Tripoli between supporters and foes of Syria's government.

The Lebanese president declared Saturday a day of national mourning in decrying the "abominable crime" in a statement.

But the prime minister's failure to appear publicly after the explosion elicited criticism, including from one protester in Beirut who said, "This government is killing us by not doing anything. It is not acting like a government. It is like a ghost government."

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Midwest Jobless Rates Shape Electoral Map - Wall Street Journal

Posted: 20 Oct 2012 07:48 AM PDT

BY JOSH MITCHELL

New state employment figures help explain the shape of the race in two Midwestern battlegrounds now at the heart of the presidential contest: Ohio, where Mitt Romney has gained some ground, and Wisconsin, where President Barack Obama maintains his small lead.

Unemployment has fallen over the past year in eight of nine battleground states—those expected to be the most closely contested in November—according to Labor Department data released Friday. Although the state declines vary in size, they generally follow the national trend, in which joblessness has fallen to 7.8% in September from 9.0% a year earlier.

But Ohio and Wisconsin ...

Kredit: www.nst.com.my

Sabtu, 20 Oktober 2012