News in Brief
Suspected Russian jets kill 45 in Syrian city hours after ceasefire
JETS struck a busy market place in the rebel-held Syrian city of Idlib yesterday, killing at least 25 people, including 13 children and teenagers, and injuring dozens more.
Rescue workers say they thought the jets were Russian, which they said can be identified by their high altitude flying, unlike Syrian helicopters that hit at lower altitudes.
The raid came a day after the signing of a new US-Russian agreement aimed at halting the fighting in Syria and delivering humanitarian aid. The accord is set to take effect tomorrow, coinciding with the Muslim Eid holiday.
Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria vowed to retaliate across the world if the Americans and Russians target them.
Bangladesh plant fire leaves 23 dead
A FIRE at a packaging plant in Bangladesh killed at least 23 people and injured dozens yesterday, in the country’s worst industrial accident since the Rana Plaza building collapse of 2013 in which 1,100 people died.
Wisconsin fights ruling to free Dassey
WISCONSIN’S attorney general has appealed an overturned conviction of a man accused of helping his uncle kill a woman in a case profiled in TV’s Making a Murderer.
In August a federal magistrate judge ruled that police tricked Brendan Dassey into confessing that he helped his uncle, Steven Avery, rape and kill photographer Teresa Halbach in 2005. The judge ordered that Dassey, who was 16 at the time of the killing, be freed within 90 days.
But Attorney General Brad Schimel’s office has filed a notice of appeal, keeping 26-year-old Dassey behind bars.
Reagan gunman Hinckley is freed
THE man who tried to assassinate Ronald Reagan has been released from a Washington mental hospital for good, more than 35 years after the shooting. A judge ruled in July that the 61-year-old Hinckley is not a danger to himself or the public, and can live full-time at his mother’s home.
Notre Dame attacker apears in court
A 29-YEAR-OLD woman whom authorities suspect is part of a female “terrorist commando” in the service of Isil went before a judge Saturday, the first of five suspects to face preliminary charges in an aborted attack near Notre Dame Cathedral and another possible attack thwarted by police.
The discovery of the car last Sunday led investigators to the arrests of three more women and a man that revealed links to two attacks this year in France claimed by Isil.
Earthquake hits Tanzania, kills 11
A 5.7-MAGNITUDE earthquake shook the Lake Victoria region of East Africa yesterday, killing at least 11 people in Tanzania, a police official said. The quake was felt as far away as western Kenya and parts of Uganda.
EU adds €115m to Greece refugee aid
THE European Union will add €115m in funding to humanitarian organisations in Greece to assist programmes for refugees and migrants before the winter.
The money will be used to support refugee schooling, food stamps, heating and living facilities for unaccompanied minors.