Briefly

RUSSIA

Putin, Erdogan to boost Syria channels

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to take immediate measures to improve coordination of their countries' actions in Syria, the Kremlin said on Tuesday, a day after a Syrian attack on Turkish soldiers in Idlib Province. Putin and Erdogan, in a phone call initiated by Turkey, highlighted the need to follow their agreements relating to Idlib that envisage increasing cooperation to "neutralize extremists", the Kremlin said. In Turkey's account of the phone call earlier on Tuesday, Erdogan told Putin that Turkey will use its self-defense rights in the event of another attack on Turkish military personnel in Syria.

MEXICO

Children among dead in arcade shoutout

Four gunmen killed nine people, including a 12-year-old boy and four teenagers, in a blaze of gunfire at a slot-machine arcade in the central state of Michoacan, part of a wave of violence sweeping the country's avocado heartland. Michoacan's attorney-general said in a statement late on Monday that eight people died during the arcade shootout in Uruapan, the state's second-largest city. The ninth victim died while receiving medical attention, and others were injured. The youngest victims were aged 12 and 13. Others aged 14, 17 and 18 also died, the prosecutor's office said. Footage on social media showed bodies lying in pools of blood on the floor of the arcade.

IRAN

Teheran to keep up jet probe cooperation

Iran's Civil Aviation Authority said on Tuesday that it would keep working with other countries investigating the downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane last month and it called on all parties to avoid politicizing the issue. Iran's Revolutionary Guard shot down the airliner on Jan 8, killing all 176 people onboard. It later admitted it had done so by mistake while on high alert hours after the Guard had fired at US targets in retaliation for a US strike that killed Iranian military commander general Qasem Soleimani. On Monday, Iran blamed Ukraine for leaking what it described as confidential evidence and said it would no longer share material with Kiev from the investigation.

NEW ZEALAND

Hundreds flee homes to escape flooding

Hundreds of people evacuated their homes and farms on Wednesday to escape flooding in southern New Zealand. Authorities told many residents in the towns of Gore, Mataura and Wyndham that they should leave immediately as rivers continued to rise following heavy rainfall. Several hundred tourists were being evacuated from Milford Sound after getting stuck there earlier this week when flooding and mudslides cut off car access. Many of the tourists were evacuated by helicopters.

Agencies - Xinhua