IN BRIEF

YEMEN

Attack on migrant boat claims 31 lives

Thirty-one Somali refugees were killed off the coast of Yemen late on Thursday in an airstrike launched by suspected Saudi-led helicopters, a local coast guard in the Houthi-controlled Hodeidah area said. Coast guard Mohamed al-Alay said the refugees, carrying official UNHCR documents, were on their way from Yemen to Sudan when they were attacked by an Apache helicopter near the Bab al-Mandeb strait. A sailor who had been operating the boat, Ibrahim Ali Zeyad, said 80 refugees had been rescued after the incident.

SYRIA

Israeli warplane is shot down

The Syrian air defenses shot down an Israeli warplane, which was one of four Israeli war jets carrying out airstrikes on Syrian military positions in the central province of Homs before dawn on Friday, the Syrian army said in a statement, adding that the targeted warplane fell down inside Israeli airspace. Four Israeli warplanes infiltrated Syrian airspace at 2:40 am on Friday, over the Braij area, and targeted one of the military positions near the city of Palmyra in the eastern countryside of Homs, said the military statement.

SIERRA LEONE

Pastor unearths giant diamond

A pastor has discovered the largest uncut diamond found in more than four decades in this West African country and has turned it over to the government, saying he hopes it helps to boost recent development in his nation. Emmanuel Momoh found the 706-carat alluvial diamond in Yakadu village in Sierra Leone's diamond-rich east, and it was presented to President Ernest Bai Koroma on Wednesday, said presidential spokesman Abdulai Bayraytay.

DENMARK

'Rasputin' daughter to be extradited

Denmark's public prosecutor has decided that Chung Yoo-ra, the 20-year-old daughter of Choi Soon-sil, a friend of ousted South Korean president Park Geun-hye, "is to be extradited for the purpose of prosecution in her home country". Choi, the woman dubbed South Korea's "Rasputin", is accused of colluding with the former president to pressure large South Korean businesses to contribute to nonprofit foundations. Both Choi and Park have denied wrongdoing.

FRANCE

Second person held over school shooting

A second person was being held on Friday over a shooting at a French school where a heavily armed teenager opened fire, injuring three fellow pupils and a teacher, a judicial source said. A brother of a friend of the shooter is in custody, the source said, asking not to be named. The shooter, who was described by investigators as unstable and obsessed with guns, surrendered to police after Thursday's attack in the southeastern town of Grasse.

AUSTRALIA

Disaster averted after jet scare

A passenger plane landed safely on Friday after one of its two propellers fell off in an extraordinary emergency as it approached Sydney Airport. The Regional Express Airlines crew reported the right engine propeller assembly separated from the Saab 340 airliner 20 kilometers southwest of the airport, Civil Aviation Safety Authority spokesman Peter Gibson said.

Xinhua-AP-AFP