13 Apr 2019; DW: Dominic Asquith, the British High Commissioner to India, joined scores of Indian politicians and public figures on Saturday to mark the 100th anniversary of the 1919 Amritsar massacre.

DAMASCUS, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Israeli warplanes conducted airstrikes against a military site in central Syria before dawn Saturday, state news agency SANA reported.

The warplanes carried out the attack from inside the Lebanese airspace and targeted the military site in the central city of Masyaf.

The Syrian air defenses intercepted several missiles before reaching their targets.

The attack destroyed some facilities and wounded three soldiers, according to the report.

BAGHDAD, April 12 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi security forces received Friday a batch of 200 Islamic State (IS) militants captured by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in neighboring Syria, a security source said.

"Iraqi security forces have received 200 IS militants, who are Iraqi nationals, from the Kurdish-led SDF," an officer from al-Jazira Operations Command, responsible for security in Iraq's western province of Anbar, told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

WASHINGTON, April 12 (Xinhua) -- A new study found that the first life on Earth was more likely to be bred in shallow bodies of water than in oceans.

The study published on Friday in the journal Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems showed that primitive ponds with 10 centimeters deep had higher concentration of nitrogen, a key ingredient for life on Earth.

13 Apr 2019; DW: Germany has a "very expansive investment strategy" that is helping to stimulate the global economy, German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank spring meetings in Washington on Friday, adding that "politically produced" risks had instead caused global uncertainty.

"We have already done what everybody asked of us," he said, citing recent budgetary increases for Germany's public infrastructure, its education sector and digitalization projects.

PHOENIX (AP) — Authorities say a man on a flight that had just landed in Phoenix sprayed other passengers with a liquid from a bottle and then opened one of the jet’s doors and jumped to the tarmac.

Phoenix police spokesman Tommy Thompson says the man randomly touched passengers’ faces and sprayed them after the American Airlines flight from Minneapolis arrived Friday morning at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

Thompson says the man was escorted to the front of the Boeing 737-800 but opened a service door and jumped out.

ALGIERS, April 12 (Xinhua) -- Algerians on Friday staged wide scale marches to reject the appointment of Abdelkader Bensalah as interim president.

The marches were conducted across Algeria, while the largest one was in the capital city of Algiers where millions took to the street to demand the departure of the current interim president and members of the care-taking cabinet.

NEW YORK (AP) — Health officials say ground beef is the likely source of a food poisoning outbreak that has sickened more than 100 people in six states.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday said no specific brand or source of the meat has been determined yet.

The CDC says people can continue to eat ground beef. The meat should be cooked thoroughly to 160 degrees to kill germs.

13 Apr 2019; DW: A Dutch fertility doctor used his own sperm to inseminate female patients who gave birth to 49 children, DNA tests have confirmed.

Jan Karbaat, who died in 2017, has long been suspected of using his own semen at his now closed Rotterdam fertility clinic without the knowledge of the women. The doctor had repeatedly told patients that the sperm came from anonymous donors.

Gorakhpur (UP), Apr 12 (PTI) A woman, allegedly fed up with dowry demands from her husband and in-laws, set herself on fire in Rajghat area here, police said Friday.

The woman's family, however, alleged her in-laws burnt her to death.

The woman in her 20s, Poonam Gupta, a resident of Laldiggi locality, was seen running in the street on Tuesday with her clothes set on fire. She was recorded in CCTV cameras in the area and the video later surfaced on social media.

New Delhi, Apr 12; GANASHAKTI: CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Friday asked the Election Commission to act strongly against the ruling BJP for its "despicable attempts" to politicise and misuse the armed forces during the ongoing election campaign.

Over 150 armed forces veterans have written to President and Commander-in-Chief Ram Nath Kovind to complain about the manner in which political parties have been repeatedly using armed forces for political gains ahead of the Lok Sabha election.

New Delhi, Apr 12; GANASHAKTI:  Welcoming the Supreme Court's decision on electoral bonds, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury Friday said the apex court had "demolished" the stand taken by the BJP-led NDA government on the issue.

The Supreme Court Friday did not stop political funding through electoral bonds but brought several checks on it to bring transparency by directing all political parties to furnish receipts of amounts received and details of identity of donors in a sealed cover to the Election Commission.