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Another critic of Syria dies in Beirut car bomb

BEIRUT, Lebanon - A chillingly precise car bomb on Tuesday morning killed another sharp critic of Syria, the second in three weeks, only hours after a new Parliament with an anti-Syrian majority formally took office.

George Hawi, the former head of the Communist Party who had been campaigning for opposition candidates in the final round of elections on Sunday, died when his car was bombed. Only about a pound of explosives was used, the police said, placed beneath the passenger seat of his black Mercedes and detonating as it drove through a working-class, largely Sunni Muslim neighborhood.

The blast appeared to be identical to the one that killed a prominent journalist, Samir Kassir, on June 2 as he started his sports car in East Beirut.

Both bombs were so skillfully constructed that they struck only the intended victim, causing little other damage.

Suspicion immediately focused on Syrian intelligence agents, who were in control here until Syria withdrew its troops in April, and the Lebanese security apparatus with which they remain intertwined after 15 years of occupation.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice condemned the latest killing and blamed Syria for creating an atmosphere of instability in which such an incident could occur. "They need to knock it off," she said.

MANILA, Philippines - Cardinal Jaime Sin, an outspoken advocate of democracy who played a key role in the "people power" revolts that ousted two Philippine presidents, died Tuesday. He was 76.

Sin had been ill with kidney problems and diabetes for years and was unable to attend the Vatican conclave that chose a new pope in April, although colleagues said he desperately wanted to go.

Known for his dedication, engaging personality and humor - he often referred to his home as "the house of Sin" - the cardinal was one of Asia's most prominent religious leaders.

Pope Benedict XVI praised Sin's "unfailing commitment to the spread of the Gospel and to the promotion of the dignity, common good and national unity of the Philippine people."