In brief: Street battles erupt in Lebanese capital

BEIRUT – Gunmen fired rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns early today in intense street battles in the Lebanese capital, wounding six people as fears mounted that the conflict in neighboring Syria was bleeding across the border.

The fighting appeared to be among the worst clashes in Beirut since 2008. The clashes erupted hours after an anti-Syrian cleric and his bodyguard were shot dead in northern Lebanon.

Sunday’s fighting in Beirut pitted pro- and anti-Syrian Sunni groups, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene in the Mazraa district. Gunmen were roaming the streets and several roads were blocked.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said gunmen were using “bombs and machine guns” and that six people were wounded.

The apparent trigger for the fighting was the shooting death of Sunni cleric Sheik Ahmed Abdul-Wahid and his bodyguard in northern Lebanon. The circumstances surrounding their deaths remain unclear but the NNA said they appeared to have been killed by soldiers after their convoy failed to stop at an army checkpoint.

In Syria on Sunday, a roadside bomb exploded in a restive suburb of Damascus as senior U.N. officials toured the area, the latest incident in which the unarmed observer mission has nearly been caught up in the country’s bloodshed.

No casualties were reported in the blast, which detonated about 500 feet away from visiting U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous and Maj. Gen. Robert Mood, the chief of U.N. observers in Syria.

U.N. nuclear agency chief heads to Iran

VIENNA – The head of the U.N. nuclear agency flew to Tehran on Sunday on a delicate mission that – if successful – could finally lift the veil on whether Iran is seeking atomic arms while strengthening the Islamic republic’s negotiating hand in crucial nuclear talks with six world powers later in the week.

The trip by International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano is focused on getting agreement from Iran to terms that will allow the agency to resume probing whether Tehran secretly worked on nuclear arms.

Even if that happens, Western diplomats have expressed skepticism that Iran will honor a deal. But with both Iran and the IAEA reporting progress in a previous round last week, anticipation was high as Amano prepared to board his flight to Tehran.

Opposition leader wins Serbian presidency

BELGRADE, Serbia – Serbian opposition leader Tomislav Nikolic won the presidential election runoff Sunday, defeating the incumbent, Boris Tadic.

According to incomplete and unofficial results from the Serbian election commission, Nikolic won 50.2 percent of the votes to Tadic’s 46.7 percent.

Nikolic declared victory 90 minutes after the polling stations closed. He said he would step down as the head of his Serbian Progressive Party, as required by law.

Nikolic, a former far-right nationalist who steered toward the political center in recent years and backed Serbia’s bid to join the European Union, said the country must “continue seeking friends.”