Circuit courts

    CHINA’S Supreme People’s Court will set up circuit courts to facilitate the handling of judicial cases filed by the public from local communities. According to a communique released Thursday, the country will also explore establishing courts and procuratorates with jurisdictions spanning across different administrative regions. The supreme court will also seek to build up a system, in which prosecuting bodies can institute public interest litigations.

    Air strikes

    AIR strikes by U.S.-led forces have killed 521 Islamist fighters and 32 civilians during a monthlong campaign in Syria, the Britain-based monitoring group, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the violence, said Thursday.

    The attacks killed 464 militants from the Islamic State, which has grabbed large areas of Syria and Iraq and 57 members of the al Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front. Six of the civilians were children and five were women. The United States has been carrying out strikes in Iraq against the Islamic State since July and in Syria since September with the help of Arab allies, Britain and France.

    Russia detains 4

    RUSSIA has detained four Moscow airport employees over a plane crash that killed the head of French oil giant Total, whose private jet hit a snowplow on takeoff, investigators said Thursday. Those detained include the air traffic controller in charge of directing the doomed plane at Vnukovo airport, her supervisor, the head of air traffic controllers and the chief of runway cleaning. Longtime Total boss Christophe de Margerie was killed along with the crew of his private jet.

    The driver of the snowplow said he had lost his bearings and strayed on to the runway.