SPAIN: Four migrants have died just yards from a beach in southern Spain after people-traffickers forced them out of their boat.

The Spanish government press office in the southern province of Cadiz said today that 31 other people, including six children, survived the incident on Wednesday and four were taken to hospital.

The press office said that 27 were forced out near Camposoto beach, which is where the four died, and another eight were pushed into the water close to another beach.

GERMANY: A 15-year-old boy and an alleged accomplice have been accused of plotting to blow up a small lorry at a Christmas market.

The teenager was detained on Tuesday in Burscheid, near Cologne, and a court in Leverkusen remanded him in custody on Wednesday pending charges, prosecutors said today. Another teenager was arrested in the eastern state of Brandenburg.

Officials say the 15-year-old wrote in a chat group about attack plans modelled on the methods of the Islamic State terrorist group.

UKRAINE: Russian missiles have hit blocks of flats in the eastern Donetsk region, killing at least two people and burying families under rubble.

Emergency workers pulled the body of a 62-year-old man from the ruins of a multistorey building in Novohrodivka today. Another death was reported in the same city.

UNITED STATES: Global leaders have paid fulsome tribute to former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger following his death on Wednesday at the age of 100, but there was also sharp criticism of his record.

Former British prime minister Tony Blair said that he was “in awe” of Kissinger, but on social media, many people posted celebratory videos.

A headline in US magazine Rolling Stone said: “Henry Kissinger, war criminal beloved by America’s ruling class, finally dies.”