QUOTE OF THE DAY “This is a time when this plaza would be crowded, full of hope and colors, and now it’s black with this criminal act.” Elie Ward, manager of the Sultan Ibrahim restaurant in Beirut, after a bomb exploded in the city’s downtown area, killing at least six people and injuring dozens Article, this page Bombing kills 3 coalition troops in Kabul

KABUL, Afghanistan - A suicide car bomber attacked a convoy of international troops in an eastern district of the Afghan capital of Kabul on Friday, killing three service members and wounding six Afghans, officials said.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the insurgent group was behind the attack.

The International Security Assistance Force didn’t provide details on the identities or nationalities of the three service members killed.

Twelve coalition troops have died in Afghanistan this month, including six U.S. soldiers who were killed in a helicopter crash Dec. 17.

This year, 151 coalition troops have been killed in Afghanistan, according to a tally kept by The Associated Press.

Building new centrifuges, Iranian says

VIENNA - Iran is taking steps to improve its ability to speed up uranium enrichment, its nuclear chief said late Thursday.

Ali Akbar Salehi said his country is building a new generation of centrifuges for uranium enrichment but they need further tests before they can be mass-produced. His comments appeared aimed at countering criticism from Iranian hard-liners by showing their country’s nuclear program is moving ahead and has not been halted by the accord.

But two officials familiar with Iran’s nuclear activities said Tehran has gone even further by interpreting a provision of the interim Geneva nuclear deal in a way rejected by many, if not all, of the six powers that sealed the deal with Iran.

Under the Geneva accord, Iran agreed to freeze the number of centrifuges enriching uranium for six months and only to produce models now installed or in operation. The interim deal allows Iran to continue centrifuge research and development.

Mexican cartel tied to Filipino meth haul

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine government is investigating how a Mexican drug cartel entered the country, after police seized a large cache of high-grade crystal methamphetamine intended for the local market, officials said Friday.

“Good information sharing” among Filipino authorities led to the Wednesday raid on a purported drug warehouse inside a ranch in Lipa City south of Manila, said Abigal Valte, a spokesman for President Benigno Aquino III.

Police seized 185 pounds of crystal methamphetamine.

National Police Chief Alan Purisima said a Chinese-Filipino who was among three people arrested at the ranch has purported links to Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel. The two others who were arrested were a Filipino man and his wife, identified as caretakers. The ranch where the drugs were found was leased by an American citizen, also with purported cartel links.

The American, who is a native of the Philippines, was believed to have returned to the United States, Purisima said.

Two other suspects, both Mexicans, are at large. Purisima said the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration helped identify the suspects.

U.N. OKs staff cut to rein in spending

The United Nations on Friday authorized a staff cut for the first time since the international body was created in 1945, yielding to pressures from member states to reduce spending as governments suffer from financial strains.

The General Assembly approved a net reduction of 219 positions, or 2 percent of all U.N. posts. It also approved a one-year freeze in compensation and a two-year freeze on benefits allowance.

Major contributors to the U.N. budget in 2010 began pressuring the New York-based body to reduce its spending as they endured austerity measures to recover from the global financial crisis. Negotiations pitted major developed countries, such as the U.S., that pay most of the bills against developing nations that seek to increase U.N.

development spending.

The staff cut is part of the 2014-15 U.N. budget and a settling of accounts for this year’s extra budgetary spending. The U.N.’s 193 member states approved $5.53 billion for the next two years, a 1 percent decrease from the previous two-year period.

Front Section, Pages 6 on 12/28/2013