News in Brief

India downgrades privileges of US diplomats
Pti, New Delhi
India yesterday reacted strongly to the arrest of its Deputy Consul-General in New York by initiating series of steps to strip U.S. diplomats and their families of privileges including withdrawing all airport passes and stopping import clearances for the embassy.
Asking all consulate personnel and their families to turn in their ID cards immediately, the government has also sought key information such as salaries paid to all Indian staff employed at the consulates and by consulate officers and families including as domestic helps.

Air raids kill 13 in Syria's Aleppo
Afp, Beirut
Two children were among at least 13 people killed in new air strikes on a rebel-held district of Syria's main northern city of Aleppo yesterday, a watchdog said.
The new raids came after air strikes on rebel-held areas of Aleppo on Sunday killed 76 people, among them 28 children. Strikes on Monday killed a further 10 civilians, among them four children.

Lebanon car bomb targets Hezbollah
The Guardian Online
A car bomb went off near a Hezbollah base in eastern Lebanon early yesterday, officials said, the latest in a wave of deadly attacks that have targeted the Shia militant group's interests in Lebanon.
The Lebanese National News Agency said a suicide bomber detonated his vehicle in the remote area of eastern Bekaa Valley near the village of Sbouba in the Baalbek region, about a mile from a base belonging to the Iranian-backed group.

UN supplies Philippine farmers seeds
Afp, Rome
The UN food agency yesterday said it had begun supplying farmers in the Philippines with emergency seed supplies after a devastating typhoon that struck just at the beginning of the planting season.
The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said it was delivering rice and corn seed to rural communities in the Visayan island group that will allow farmers to collect a harvest in March and April.

Battles rage in Juba
Afp, Juba
Fierce battles raged yesterday in South Sudan's capital Juba, witnesses said, as troops loyal to the president fought rival soldiers accused of staging a coup in the world's youngest nation.
The continued gunfire resumed in the early hours yesterday.