QUOTE OF THE DAY

“We have lost a lot of relatives and friends and family members in the fighting, and we’ve lost Syria. We are not looking for reconciliation with Bashar Assad.”

Ibraheem Qaddah, a former Syrian rebel fighter, ahead of a peace conference that aims to end the fighting between rebel groups and President Bashar Assad Article, this page

Car bomb kills 4, wounds 35 in Lebanon

BEIRUT - A car bomb ripped through a Shiite neighborhood in south Beirut on Tuesday, killing four people and sending plumes of smoke over the area in the latest attack to target supporters of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group.

It was the second bombing in the neighborhood of Haret Hreik this month.

Tuesday’s explosion shattered shop windows and set cars ablaze on a crowded commercial street. The Lebanese Red Cross, in a statement to the state-run National News Agency, said 35 people also were wounded in the explosion.

A group known as the Nusra Front in Lebanon claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was in retaliation for Hezbollah’s military support of President Bashar Assad’s forces in Syria. The claim, which could not be independently verified, was posted on the group’s Twitter account. Its name suggested ties to the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front in Syria.

Lawyer: NSA leaker’s life threatened

MOSCOW - Edward Snowden, the fugitive former U.S. contractor residing in Russia under temporary asylum, is appealing to the local government for protection after receiving threats against his life, his lawyer in Moscow said.

“He has no other option but to seek protection and ask for the situation to be cleared up,” Anatoly Kucherena said. “There are worries and alarm about statements and actions on the part of some officials.”

Kucherena, who has represented Snowden’s interests in Russia since he sought refuge in July after leaking classified National Security Agency documents, pointed to online reports on buzzfeed.com this month that contained threats made by unidentified U.S. officials. In a TV interview that aired Sunday, Rep. Mike Rogers, a Michigan Republican and the House Intelligence Committee chairman, described the 30-year-old American as “a thief” who had possible Russian assistance and has “incredibly harmed” the U.S. military.

Snowden later denied those accusations. In an interview with The New Yorker, published Tuesday evening on the magazine’s website, Snowden said claims that he may have been working for the Russians as a spy were “absurd” and said he “clearly and unambiguously acted alone.”

Rapist with sex-slave dungeon executed

BEIJING - China executed a man Tuesday who kept six women in a dungeon as sex slaves for periods of up to 21 months, during which he coerced three of them to kill two of their fellow captives, a court official said.

Li Hao, 36, had dug a dungeon underneath a basement he bought in August 2009 and tricked women who worked at hair salons, karaoke bars and a massage parlor into going there with him, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Li repeatedly raped the women, who were held there between two and 21 months, it said. Police said he wanted to make money by forcing the women into prostitution and into appearing in obscene webcasts. The dungeon was finally discovered after one of the women escaped and went to police.

Two of the women were killed by three of the others on Li’s instructions. Those women also were found guilty of murder, according to Xinhua. One of the women, whose surname was given as Duan, was found to have killed both women and sentenced to three years in prison, while the other two were put on probation, Xinhua said.

Thailand declares state of emergency

BANGKOK - Thailand’s government Tuesday declared a state of emergency in Bangkok and surrounding areas to cope with protests that have stirred up violent attacks.

Labor Minister Chalerm Yubumrung said that the measure will continue for 60 days beginning today, but did not announce any specific actions.

The decree greatly expands the power of security forces to issue orders and to search, arrest and detain people, with limited judicial and parliamentary oversight. The areas covered had already been placed under tougher-than-normal security under the country’s Internal Security Act.

The state of emergency comes after increasing attacks at protest sites, for which the government and the protesters blame each other. These include grenades thrown in daylight and drive-by shootings.

Front Section, Pages 5 on 01/22/2014