Shot U.S. lawmaker Gabrielle Giffords's former aide Ron Barber won an election Tuesday to succeed her in Congress, in a disappointment for Republicans hoping for an upset ahead of November ballots.

With 86 percent of votes counted Barber, a Democrat like Giffords, had won 52 percent against 45 for Republican Jesse Kelly in the election, triggered by Giffords's decision to step down after last year's deadly shooting rampage.

United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly hailed on Wednesday the resumption of the national dialogue between Lebanese foes, warning of turning Lebanon into an arms smuggling hub to Syria.

“What matters now is the Lebanese people’s willingness to safeguard the country and not what the foreign powers want,” Plumbly told As Safir newspaper published on Wednesday.

A wave of apparently coordinated bombings and shootings rocked Iraq during a major Shiite religious commemoration on Wednesday, killing at least 72 people and wounding more than 250, many of them pilgrims.

The attacks, which came as pilgrims flocked to a shrine to mark the anniversary of the death of Imam Moussa Kadhim, a revered imam in Shiite Islam, were the deadliest in Iraq since August 15, 2011 when 74 people were killed.

Speaker Nabih Berri expressed regret on Wednesday that parts of the minutes of the national dialogue session were leaked to the media, saying he would exert efforts to keep the discussions confidential.

In remarks to several newspapers, Berri said the leaks reflect negatively on the atmosphere of dialogue, adding he would discuss the issue with the concerned officials “in the hopes that we would succeed in preventing the leaks that hit the privacy of the discussions and the confidentiality of deliberations.”

NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Wednesday that foreign military intervention was "not the right path" in Syria despite the U.N.'s peacekeeping chief declaring the country in civil war.

Rasmussen said there were "no plans at this stage" for a NATO operation, as he condemned the U.N. Security Council failure to reach agreement as a "big mistake", saying Russia could have an "instrumental role" in brokering peace.

Syria is now in a full-scale civil war, U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said, as the United States voiced fears the U.N. mission in the country may not survive once its mandate expires in July.

World powers are groping to find a way to end the bloodshed in Syria with the toll growing daily despite a ceasefire that should have gone into effect from April 12, and amid reports of children being used as human shields.

Beijing said Wednesday Chinese companies were not involved in shipping missile launch vehicles to North Korea last year, denying a Japanese newspaper report that accused it of breaking U.N. resolutions.

The Asahi Shimbun report -- based on Japanese government sources -- is the most strident of recent claims that China has been involved in helping to arm its wayward ally Pyongyang.

At least 73 people were killed in shelling and clashes across Syria on Tuesday, 61 of whom were civilians and rebels and 12 regime soldiers, according to the opposition Local Coordination Committees and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Regime forces rained shells on rebel positions in the northwestern Latakia province, pounding the town of al-Haffe for the eighth straight day as they appeared to be preparing to storm it, monitors said.

Tunisia said Tuesday it has imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in eight regions of the country including the capital Tunis after rioting blamed on ultra-conservative Salafist Muslims.

The curfews take effect from 9 pm to 5 am and cover areas in the southeast and northeast of the country including the greater Tunis region, the defense and interior ministries said in a joint statement.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned that Washington would find it hard to support the extension of the observer mission beyond next month if the government of President Bahar al-Assad's regime continued to show "contempt" for a U.N.-backed ceasefire that was supposed to go into effect from April 12.

Asked whether he believed Syria is in a civil war, Ladsous told reporters: "Yes I think we can say that. Clearly what is happening is that the government of Syria lost some large chunks of territory, several cities to the opposition, and wants to retake control.