AFP, Damascus
Israeli jets bombed several areas in southern Syria and near Damascus on Thursday drawing retaliatory fire from the ground, a monitoring group said.
The Israeli military made no comment on the reported strikes, during which Syrian air defences opened fire for the first time since the deadly downing of a Russian transport plane in September, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
China to build underwater
bullet train route
CNN, Beijing
The Chinese government has approved a project to build the first underwater bullet train route in the country, a media report said on Thursday.
The line will connect Ningbo, a port city south of Shanghai, to Zhoushan, an archipelago off the east coast, CNN reported.
The proposed underwater tunnel will be a part of the 77-km Yong-Zhou Railway plan to boost tourism and create a two-hour-commute zone within Zhejiang province.
Caravan migrants declare hunger strike to pressure US
Reuters, Tijuana
A handful of the thousands of Central American migrants camped out at the U.S.-Mexican border waiting to plead their case for asylum in the United States launched a hunger strike on Thursday to protest the Mexican police blocking their way.
Members of the 6,000-strong caravan, mostly migrants from Honduras, have been sleeping outdoors, on cold floors or on mats in an overcrowded shelter since they arrived in Tijuana city across the border from San Diego, California, three weeks ago.
23 civilians killed in S. Afghan airstrike
Xinhua, Kabul
Twenty-three civilians, including at least 10 children and eight women, were killed and three children injured following an airstrike in Afghanistan’s restive southern province of Helmand on Tuesday, the UN mission in the country said Friday.
“Preliminary findings from the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) indicate that as many as 23 civilians were killed and three injured Tuesday in an airstrike in Garmser district of Helmand province during operations conducted by pro-government forces against Taliban in the area,” UNAMA said in a statement.
267 living with HIV/AIDS in Mongolia
Xinhua, Ulan Bator
A total of 267 HIV carriers and AIDS patients are living in Mongolia, the Health Department of the country’s capital city Ulan Bator said on Friday.
A total of 16 new HIV cases were reported in the first 11 months of this year, the department said ahead of World AIDS Day, which falls on Saturday. About 60 percent of the HIV-infected are aged between 15 and 34. About 99 percent of the infections resulted from sexual transmission.
