BEIRUT - Calm returned to the streets of Lebanon's capital, a day after troops launched a major security operation to quell fighting touched off by the assassination of a top anti-Syrian intelligence chief. The country's police chief released details of the investigation into the killing of Brigadier General Wissam al-Hassan, describing a carefully planned car bombing. Many in Lebanon blame Syria for the killing. Hassan challenged Syria and its powerful Lebanese ally, the Shiite militant group Hezbollah. Seven people have died in clashes between pro- and anti-Syria factions since Friday. AP
ROME - The head of Italy's top disaster body quit in protest after seven of its members were sentenced to six years in jail for manslaughter for underestimating the risks of a deadly 2009 earthquake that killed 309 people. Luciano Maiami told the ANSA news agency he had resigned as head of the Major Risks Committee because "there aren't the conditions to work serenely," a day after the watershed ruling that sent shockwaves through the international scientific community. The seven defendants are appealing the ruling by the court in the town of L'Aquila. Reuters