AFP, Madrid
Two migrants drowned and 12 others were injured Friday when they tried to enter into the tiny Spanish territory of Ceuta in North Africa by swimming from Morocco or scaling a barbed-wire fence, officials in both nations said.
Just before 4:00 am (0300 GMT) a group of over 300 migrants tried to get into the Spanish city which borders Morocco and is located across the Strait of Gibraltar from mainland Spain, the Spanish government authority in Ceuta said in a statement.
Moroccan forces intercepted over 120 migrants but 182 others managed to get into Ceuta by climbing over the fence or swimming into the territory, it said.
‘Armed’ China ship near disputed isles: Japan
AFP, Tokyo
A Chinese coast guard ship which appeared to be armed with several cannon Saturday entered what Tokyo regards as its territorial waters near disputed islands, the Japan Coast Guard said.
Japan and China routinely butt heads over ownership of the uninhabited East China Sea islets, as Chinese ships — mostly coast guard vessels — and aircraft have sometimes approached them to back up Beijing’s claims and test Japan’s response.
It was however the first time an apparently armed Chinese coast guard vessel had “entered the territorial waters near the Senkaku Islands”, the Japan Coast Guard said.
Top Syrian rebel leader killed in air strike
Reuters, Beirut
A top Syrian rebel leader and head of the most powerful insurgent group in the eastern suburbs of Damascus was killed in an aerial raid that targeted the group’s headquarters, rebel sources and the Syrian army said on Friday.
The death of Zahran Alloush, 44, head of Jaysh al Islam, is a big blow to rebel control of the rural eastern suburban area of Damascus known as al Ghouta, the rebels said.
Defense experts say the disarray among the rebel forces could also consolidate Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s control over the rest of the area.
