News in Brief -2024-08-22

Moscow comes under largest Ukrainian attack

MOSCOW, Aug 21: Russian authorities said Wednesday that Moscow came under the largest attack yet by Ukrainian drones since the start of fighting in 2022, and that it destroyed all of them. Russia destroyed 45 Ukrainian drones overnight, Russia's Ministry of Defense said. It said 11 were destroyed over the Moscow region, 23 over the Bryansk region, six over Belgorod, three over Kaluga and two over Kursk. "This was one of the biggest attempts of all time to attack Moscow using drones," Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said on his Telegram channel. He said all of the drones were destroyed because strong defenses have been created around the capital. Some Russian social media channels shared videos of drones apparently being destroyed by air defense systems, which then set off car alarms. — AP

3 killed in Bosnia school shooting

SANSKI MOST, Aug 21: Three staff members of a high school in the western Bosnian town of Sanski Most were killed on Wednesday when a school employee shot them and then tried to commit suicide, police said. Police were notified at 10:15am (0815 GMT) that a man had opened fire at the school with an automatic rifle, the police spokesman for Una-sana canton, Adnan Beganovic, said. The shooter killed the school dean, the secretary and a teacher, he said. "He tried to commit suicide and was gravely injured," Beganovic said, adding that the suspect was transferred for emergency treatment in the nearby town of Banja Luka. — Reuters

Cult member jailed for killing

two-year-old daughter

SYDNEY, Aug 21: A cult member who beat her two-year-old daughter to death over her failure to properly complete chores in Australia has been sentenced to nine years in jail. Tillie Craig disappeared from the Ministry of God farm in 1987, sparking a decades-long search by her father, who was told she'd been adopted. In reality, Tillie had been killed with a plastic pipe. Her remains were then allegedly burned by the sect's leader and scattered at the commune in regional New South Wales (NSW). Ellen Rachel Craig, 62, was charged with her daughter's murder in 2022 after a tip-off to police. She later pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter. — BBC

Brazilians 'struggling to breathe'

PORTO VELHO, Aug 21: Residents of Porto Velho in the Brazilian Amazon have barely seen sunlight in days as a thick cloud of smoke from forest fires envelops their city. "We are struggling to breathe," said 30-year-old teacher Tayane Moraes, one of some 460,000 people who live in the city near the border with Bolivia. On Tuesday, the concentration of cancer-causing microparticles known as PM2.5 reached 56.5 micrograms per cubic meter of air in Porto Velho -- 11 times more than the limit recommended by the World Health Organization and the worst of Brazil's big cities. — AFP