Beirut, November 19
Two suicide bombings struck today near the Iranian Embassy in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, killing 23 people, including the Iranian cultural attache. The mid-morning blasts hit Beirut's upscale neighbourhood of Janah, a stronghold of the Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim Hezbollah group.

One explosion blew out the large black main gate of the Iranian mission, damaging the three-story facility. It was not immediately clear if the attack was related to the conflict next door in Syria, but attacks have targeted Hezbollah strongholds in recent months in what many see as retaliation by Sunni extremists for the militant Shiite group's role in the Syrian civil war.

Hezbollah fighters have been fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces against largely Sunni rebels seeking to topple his government. Iranian Ambassador Ghazanfar Roknabadi identified the dead diplomat as Sheikh Ibrahim Ansari.

Speaking to Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV, he said Ansari took his post in Lebanon a month ago and was overseeing all regional cultural activities. Lebanese Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil said 23 people were killed and 146 wounded in the blasts. Debris was scattered on the street and cars were on fire as people ran away from the chaotic scene.

The second blast was meters (yards) away from the embassy building. AP video showed firefighters extinguishing flames from vehicles, blood-spattered streets and bodies covered with sheets on the ground.

A charred motorcycle stood outside the embassy gate. An armed guard at the embassy told AP that the first blast was believed to have been carried out by a suicide attacker who rode a motorcycle and blew himself up outside the gate.

The guard, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to media, said the other explosion, which caused much more damage, was likely a car bomb.

Lebanese security officials confirmed the two bombings were both suicide attacks. They spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. — AP 

Washington, November 19
The 2008 Mumbai terror attack by the LeT was aimed to "dramatically" change the future of South Asia and perhaps provoke a war between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, a top US counter-terrorism expert has said.

“Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) had carefully chosen the targets and meticulously researched them over several years. They received considerable assistance in doing so from two sources, the Pakistani intelligence service, called the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate or ISI and al-Qaeda," Bruce Riedel, director the Intelligence Project at the Brookings Institute, wrote in an article in an American daily. “The attack was intended to change dramatically the future of South Asia, perhaps even by provoking a war between the two nuclear powers rising in the subcontinent," Riedel wrote.

“Each had its own agenda for the operation," the former CIA official wrote in the The Daily Beast. Riedel termed the Mumbai attack as the most important terror attack since 9/11.

“The targets were the same, Indians, Americans, and Jews, the targets of the global jihad started by al-Qaeda in the late 1990s. I pointed this out to President-elect Barack Obama and his transition team at the time in several briefings in my role as South Asia transition director after his election," he said. — PTI

Kathmandu, November 19
Nearly 70 per cent of Nepal's electorate voted today to choose an assembly that will draft a new constitution to end years of turmoil and political uncertainty though balloting was hit by sporadic violence, including vandalism and explosions that injured a dozen.

The turnout for the crucial Constituent Assembly polls was higher than that of the last polls in 2008 despite a boycott called by an alliance of fringe parties led by the CPN-Maoist. "As per preliminary estimates, nearly 70 per cent of the total 12.147 million voters cast their votes," said Election Commissioner Awadhi Prasad Yadav.

This was more than the 61.7 per cent votes cast in the previous Constituent Assembly election five years ago. In the capital, the turnout was 75 per cent, officials said.

People voted amidst tight security, with 200,000 security personnel, including 60,000 soldiers, deployed across the country. The voting began at 7 am in almost all the 18,438 polling centres and concluded at 5 pm. EC spokesman Bir Bahadur Rai said polls passed off peacefully in most areas barring a few incidents of vandalism, explosions, booth capturing and clashes.

About a dozen people were injured in these incidents, including three children wounded by a blast near a polling booth in Bhotebahal area of Kathmandu. Unified CPN-Maoist cadres captured polling booths in Gorkha district and polls were disrupted briefly by clashes in Jumla and Dailekh districts. A home ministry spokesman said 37 people were arrested for trying to foil the balloting. — PTI 

Melbourne, November 19
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott today defended as “reasonable” his country’s spying activities as he rejected Indonesia's demand for an apology over the alleged snooping on its President that has triggered diplomatic tension between the two nations.

Speaking in Parliament, Abbott said, Australia should not be expected to apologise for the “steps we take to protect our country.” Describing the surveillance as “reasonable,” he said, “I don’t believe that Australia should be expected to apologise for reasonable intelligence gathering operations, just as I don't expect other countries or other Governments to apologise for their reasonable intelligence gathering operations.”

He also asked for “cool heads” to prevail in the latest diplomatic feud with Indonesia giving a deadline of two days to respond to wire tapping charges.

According to documents leaked by US whistleblower Edward Snowden, Australian intelligence agencies have reportedly spied on Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, his wife and his close aides, prompting an angry Jakarta to recall its Ambassador and order a review of bilateral ties. — PTI

Washington, November 19
US President Barack Obama has nominated popular Indian-American actor and former White House staffer Kal Penn for a key administration post of member of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.

The announcement came yesterday for The Namesake fame actor, who served in the White House during the Obama's first term and played a key role in his re-election campaign last year, in particular attracting the youth in the run-up to the polls. Born in New Jersey as as Kalpen Suresh Modi, Penn is an actor, writer and producer, who shot to fame with the Harold and Kumar film series.

From 2009 to 2011 he was an Associate Director of the Office of Public Engagement with the Obama Administration, serving as liaison to Young Americans, the Arts, and Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.

Before joining the White House, he worked as an artist an actor in Los Angeles and New York, and was also an Adjunct Lecturer in Asian American Studies, Film Studies, and Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania.

He served as a member of the Obama for America National Arts Policy Committee in 2008 and as a National Campaign Co-Chair in 2012.

Penn received his Bachelors in Arts from the University of California, Los Angeles. "These fine public servants bring both a depth of experience and tremendous dedication to their new roles.

Our nation will be well-served by these men and women, and I look forward to working with them in the months and years to come," Obama said as he announced seven key administration posts. — PTI

Lahore, November 19
A Pakistani court today imposed restrictions on the screening of Indian films across the country and laid down certain conditions for their release. Justice Khalid Mahmood of the Lahore High Court issued the interim order in response to a petition filed by controversial TV talk show host Mubshir Lucman, a former film producer known for his anti-India stance.

Lucman claimed that under Pakistani rules, Indian movies that are shot completely in India and are sponsored by an Indian cannot be screened in the country.

He alleged "fake papers" were being used to change the identity of sponsors to screen Indian films in Pakistan. He also produced a court order to back up his arguments.

The court directed authorities not to allow the screening of films that are imported using "fake" documents and are not sponsored by a Pakistani or foreign national. — PTI