AP, Beijing
Chinese state media say Beijing and Moscow have agreed to take “further countermeasures” in response to plans for an advanced US missile defense system in South Korea. The Xinhua News Agency says the agreement was reached during security talks between the two countries in Moscow on Thursday.
Five children dead in Baltimore house fire
Reuters, Baltimore
At least five children were killed and one was missing on Thursday after a fire tore through a three-story house in Baltimore, city fire department officials said.
The mother of the children killed was injured in the blaze, along with three of her nine children, authorities said.
The fire had engulfed the house by the time firefighters arrived on the scene at about 12:30 a.m. EST and its third floor collapsed onto the second floor shortly afterwards, Baltimore Fire Department spokesman Chief Roman Clark said.
80 flights cancelled amid UK blizzard warning
PTI, London
Over 80 flights have been cancelled in pre-emptive action as heavy snow began falling amid warnings of blizzard conditions sweeping across the UK today.
London’s Heathrow Airport said airlines had cancelled 80 out of 1,350 flights, with disruption expected from 1500 GMT. Four flights at Gatwick Airport have also been cancelled. Heathrow Airport said without the cancellations it could not reschedule any flights delayed by the weather as 6 per cent of its usual daily flights were cancelled.
Israel rockets hit Syrian air base
Los Angeles Times
Syria on Friday accused Israel of firing rockets that hit near a major military airport west of Damascus, triggering a fire, and warned Israel of repercussions without specifying whether it would retaliate for the attack, the third such incident recently, according to the Syrian government.
In a statement carried on the official news agency SANA, the military said several missiles were launched just after midnight from an area near Lake Tiberias that fell in the vicinity of the Mezzeh military airport on the western edge of the capital. a
