Missouri tornado leaves three dead

WASHINGTON • A powerful tornado swept across the US state of Missouri, killing three people as it knocked down power lines and trees, smashed windows and left streets strewn with debris, officials said yesterday.

Major damage was reported in the state capital Jefferson City and at least nine people were hospitalised after Wednesday's twister.

The storm forced people to take shelter as heavy rain, hail, wind and lightning struck the state, along with neighbouring Oklahoma and Kansas.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Aussie actor gets record payout over defamation

MELBOURNE • Australian actor Geoffrey Rush has been awarded a A$2.8 million (S$2.7 million) defamation payment against a News Corp tabloid, the largest such payout in Australian history, after he was accused of inappropriate sexual behaviour towards female cast members.

The federal court ordered that an Australian arm of News Corp pay the Oscar-winning actor A$1.98 million for past and future economic loss, in addition to an initial A$850,000 awarded in April, court documents showed yesterday.

REUTERS

Italian hostage freed after 2 years in Syria

BAB AL-HAWA (Syria) • An Italian hostage is on his way home after more than two years in captivity in Syria, where an unknown number of foreigners remain missing eight years into the country's devastating war.

Mr Alessandro Sandrini, 32, disappeared in October 2016 after going on holiday to Turkey.

A representative of the militant-linked authorities in north-west Syria said the Italian had been held captive by an unnamed "group carrying out kidnappings".

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE