Wednesday briefing: Beirut explosion kills senior Hamas leader

An explosion in Beirut killed a senior Hamas leader

Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri and two leaders of its armed wing were killed in an explosion in Lebanon yesterday, the group said on its official Telegram channel.

The three were killed in what Hamas described as a “Zionist raid” on a suburb of Beirut, Lebanon’s capital. Videos from the scene, verified by The New York Times, showed at least one car bursting into flames in front of a high-rise building as dozens of people gathered in the area. Two US officials said Israel was responsible for the attack.

Here’s the latest.

Lebanon’s interim Prime Minister Najib Mikati blamed Israel for the attack and condemned what he called an attempt to drag Lebanon into a “new phase” of the conflict, which had so far been limited only to the southern border area .

Background: Al-Arouri, who was accused of masterminding attacks on Israel, was one of the founders of Hamas’s military wing, the Qassam Brigades, and had helped build a closer relationship between Hamas and Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia in Lebanon, to usher in.

A ‘miracle’ in Japan after a plane went up in flames

A Japan Airlines plane collided with a Japanese Coast Guard plane while landing at Haneda Airport in Tokyo yesterday, causing the passenger plane to catch fire. Five Coast Guard members were killed.

However, the airline said all 367 passengers and 12 crew members on the plane had been evacuated safely, the country’s public broadcaster said. “It was a miracle that all the passengers got off,” said an aviation expert.

Coast Guard members were on their way to deliver supplies to the region hit by the powerful earthquake that struck western Japan on Monday, an official said. The death toll from the earthquake rose to at least 55 yesterday, authorities said.

Long-term investments are lagging behind in India

The Indian economy is booming. Stock prices are soaring, and government investments in airports, bridges, roads and clean energy infrastructure are visible almost everywhere. India’s gross domestic product is expected to rise 6 percent this year – faster than that of the US or China.

But there is a problem: Indian companies’ investments are not keeping pace. The money companies are pouring into the future of their businesses – on things like new machines and factories – is stagnating, and the lull in long-term investment is hampering India’s growth.

What’s next? The government will soon have to cut back on extraordinary spending, which could weigh on the economy if money growth in the private sector does not pick up.

With climates ranging from the snowy Japanese island of Hokkaido to the tropical forests of Malaysia, Asia offers a wide variety of winter delights. We’ve rounded up five great festivals happening this season. They include the opportunity to catch a trout on a frozen South Korean river, witness a fiery ritual of pain and hope in Taiwan or find cold-weather bliss in a Japanese snow maze.

Lives lived: Peter Magubane, who documented the atrocities of white South African rule, has died at the age of 91.

Anime is going digital and fans are worried

Hayao Miyazaki, founder of animation house Studio Ghibli, is one of the last practitioners of hand-drawn animation. Although much of his recent release, “The Boy and the Heron,” was illustrated with pencil and paint on paper, the film – like virtually every modern anime film – makes extensive use of computer animation.

Some newer anime films, including “Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero” and “The First Slam Dunk,” have been produced using traditional 2D animation and 3D models. The results look a bit like a video game and are indicative of an industry-wide shift.

But while these recent films have enjoyed success at the box office, the change has sparked passionate debate among hardcore fans, who complain about poor visuals and the look of computer-generated animation.

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