GERMANY: Employees at Berlin and Hamburg airports staged walkouts today in an ongoing dispute over salary raises, leading to flight cancellations in both German cities.

In Berlin, all departures and 70 out of 240 incoming flights were cancelled, German news agency dpa reported. 

Due to a strike announced at short notice by trade union ver.di, the airport in Hamburg announced in the early morning that 31 of 160 departures had been cancelled.

BURKINA FASO: At least 60 people were killed by men wearing military uniforms in northern Burkina Faso, authorities said.

The killings took place in the area of Barga, in Yatenga province, the injured have been evacuated to hospitals and an investigation into the killings has been opened, said Lamine Traore, Burkina Faso’s prosecutor, in a statement on Sunday.

SYRIA: Syria’s state media said Israel shelled targets in southern Syria early today, near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, causing unspecified material damage. There was no comment from Israel.

The report on the state Sana news agency said that Israeli forces targeted the town of Talat Qars al-Nafl, Quneitra province, but did not mention any casualties.

CHINA: The Chinese government said tosay that it respects the sovereignty of former Soviet Union republics after Beijing’s ambassador to France caused an uproar in Europe by saying they aren’t sovereign nations.

The governments of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania rejected ambassador Lu Shaye’s comment to a French broadcaster. 

While answering a question about the status of Crimea, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014, Mr Lu said there was no agreement to “solidify its status as a sovereign country.”