AFP, Beirut
A “significant increase” of air strikes on Syrian hospitals recently has killed at least 35 patients and medical staff and wounded 72, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Thursday.
The escalation of attacks by air forces the group did not identify, which began in late September, had targeted 12 hospitals in Idlib, Aleppo and Hama provinces, including six supported by MSF, a statement said.
“Overall, six hospitals were forced to close… and four ambulances destroyed,” said the international medical aid group.
China calls on Japan to stop ‘hampering’ military flights
Reuters, Beijing
China on Thursday called on Japan to stop “hampering” flights by Chinese military aircraft, after Japan said its scrambled fighter jets to prevent possible incursions by Chinese planes a record high number of times in the summer.
Japan jets scrambled 117 times from July to September, up from 103 in the same period of last year, although it was lower than the all-time high of 164 times recorded in the final quarter of 2014.
7 children die after migrant boats sink off Greece
AFP, Athens
At least seven children died when boats carrying migrants sank off Greece on Wednesday, as rescue workers battled to save more youngsters on the seashore in the latest desperate scenes in Europe’s refugee crisis.
Three adults also died as four vessels went down on the dangerous sea crossing from Turkey and more than 200 people, many suffering hypothermia, were rescued from one sinking off the north coast of the Greek island of Lesbos.
Israeli forces kill Palestinian attacker
AP, Jerusalem
A Palestinian stabbed an Israeli soldier in the West Bank on Thursday and was shot dead by security forces, Israeli authorities said, as a five-week wave of violence continued.
Police said the Palestinian stabbed the soldier in the head. The soldier was lightly wounded, the military said.
The incident took place in Hebron, a volatile West Bank city that is a frequent flashpoint for violence. Several hundred ultranationalist Jewish settlers live in heavily guarded enclaves amid tens of thousands of Palestinians.
IS may invade Central Asia: Russia
AP, Moscow
Russian intelligence on Wednesday warned of an increased risk of Taliban or Islamic State fighters invading Central Asia.
FSB director Alexander Bortnikov said in comments carried by Russian news agencies that a concentration of Taliban fighters, some of whom had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, at Afghanistan’s northern border make the risk of invasion tangible.
