Clashes rock Syrian capital

Clashes rock Syrian capital

BEIRUT

Syrian rebels battled regime forces Monday in a heavily protected, upscale area of Damascus, activists said, in a sign that the country’s outgunned opposition is increasingly turning to insurgent tactics.

At least three people were killed in the firefight, which was the most serious clash in the Syrian capital since the uprising began a year ago. The battle with machine guns and automatic rifles brought the country’s violent conflict to the streets of a neighborhood that houses embassies and senior government officials.

Heavy rain leads to call for water rescue

OKLAHOMA CITY

Heavy rain fell across parts of the nation’s midsection Monday, forcing at least one motorist stranded in high water to call for help, while others braced for storms that could bring hail and tornadoes over the next few days.

A tornado warning spanned part of Texas, and flood warnings stretched from southeast Texas north through western Missouri.

4 slain at French Jewish school

TOULOUSE, France

A gunman on a motorbike opened fire Monday at a Jewish school, killing a rabbi and his two young sons as they waited for a bus, then chased down a 7-year-old girl, shooting her dead at point-blank range. It was the latest in a series of attacks on minorities that have raised fears of a racist killer on the loose.

Authorities said the same weapon, a powerful .45-caliber handgun, was used in two other recent shootings in southwestern France, also involving an assailant who fled by motorbike. Those attacks left three people dead — military paratroopers of North African and Caribbean origin.

Associated Press