World Digest: Plane Bound for Comoros Reportedly Crashes in Indian Ocean

YEMEN

Comoros-Bound Jet Reportedly Crashes

A Yemenia Air plane going from the Arabian Peninsula country of Yemen to the island nation of Comoros has crashed in the Indian Ocean, a Yemen airport official said Tuesday.

The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said the plane was going from the Yemeni capital of Sanaa to Moroni, on the main island of Grande Comore.

The official said most of the passengers on the Airbus 310 were thought to be Comoros residents returning from Paris.

Neither the number of passengers, nor the status of the passengers and crew members was known. [Reuters quoted an airline official as saying that 153 people were on the plane.]

-- Associated Press

LEBANON

Sectarian Tension Lingers in Beirut

Relatives angry over the fatal shooting of a Lebanese woman in a clash between rival Sunnis and Shiites in a Beirut neighborhood Sunday burned tires and briefly blocked a road Monday, in a sign of the country's lingering tensions as it struggles to form a unity government.

The brief protest came despite heavy deployment of troops in mixed Sunni-Shiite districts of the capital to prevent a renewal of Sunday's outburst, the first sectarian violence since the pro-Western coalition beat the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and its allies in elections June 7.

On Monday, Western-backed billionaire Saad Hariri, nominated to be the next prime minister, met with heads of parliamentary blocs as part of ongoing efforts to set up a government.

-- Associated Press

SOMALIA