GLOBAL SNAPSHOT

Two die in embassy

AMMAN: Two Jordanians have been killed and an Israeli has been wounded by gunfire in a residential building in the heavily fortified Israeli embassy compound in Jordan’s capital. Before the shooting, Jordanians had entered the apartment building for carpentry work, the statement said. The kingdom’s Public Security Directorate did not say what triggered the shooting. Three people were initially wounded in the incident, the security agency said. Two Jordanians later died, according to the agency and the news site Hala Akhbar, linked to the Jordanian military.

CIA dumps rebels

WASHINGTON: The head of the US military’s special operations confirmed at the weekend that the Central Intelligence Agency is shutting down its program to support rebels fighting against Syrian President Bashar alAssad. General Tony Thomas denied that the four-year-old operation was brought to an end as a way to placate Russia and earn its support for a ceasefire in southwestern Syria.

It was a “tough, tough decision” but “absolutely not a sop to the Russians”, Thomas said at a forum in Aspen, Colorado. “It was, I think, based on an assessment of the nature of the program, what we’re trying to accomplish, the viability of it going forward.”

Body in freezer

LONDON: A man has been charged with murder, rape and kidnap after a teenage girl’s butchered body was allegedly found stuffed in the freezer in a suspected honour killing at a $2.5 million home. The Sun reports the 33-year-old man was charged by Scotland Yard over the 19-year-old’s death in Kingston, southwest London. A 21-year-old woman was also found injured at the house. The owners of the property had been granted planning permission to turn the sixbedroom home into two houses and are believed to have given the keys to a building firm.

Snooty dies, 69

MIAMI: Snooty, the longest living manatee in captivity, has died, the day after a huge party to celebrate his 69th birthday, according to the South Florida Museum. “Snooty was found in an underwater area only used to access plumbing for the exhibit life support system. Early indications are that an access panel door that is normally bolted shut had somehow been knocked loose and that Snooty was able to swim in,” the museum said in a press release yesterday. “Snooty’s habitat undergoes a daily visual inspection and there were no indications the previous day that there was anything amiss.” The Aquarium will remain closed while staff continues its investigation and to give other staff time to grieve.