Briefly

CANADA

4 Chinese students killed in vehicle crash

Four teenagers and a woman died on Saturday following a two-vehicle collision in Toronto, Canada, police said on Sunday. The Chinese Consulate General in Toronto has confirmed the four teenagers aged 15-17 are international students from China. Police said the crash occurred on Highway 60, near Hidden Valley Road, at about 11:10 pm between a westbound Mercedes SUV and an eastbound Ford SUV. The teenagers were inside the Mercedes and pronounced dead at the scene, police said, and the woman, 42, driving the Ford, succumbed to her injuries after being transported to hospital.

FRANCE

6 teenagers in court over 2020 murder of teacher

Six teenagers went on trial on Monday, accused of involvement in the beheading of French history teacher Samuel Paty by a suspected extremist in 2020. One of the minors is a 15-year-old girl who allegedly told her parents that Paty had shown caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in a class. She will be charged with false accusation, after it was established that she was not in the class that day. Paty, 47, was killed outside his school in a Paris suburb by an 18-year-old assailant who was shot dead at the scene by police.

BELGIUM

27 schools closed due to bomb alert

Numerous Belgian schools in Brussels and the central Brabant region will remain closed to students on Monday after a bomb alert was issued late on Sunday evening, the Wallonie-Bruxelles Enseignement administration body said on its website. The 27 schools, which the organizing authority decided to close "in strict compliance with the precautionary principle", are being inspected by the police with further information expected throughout the day.

Agencies - Xinhua