News Headlines - 27 September 2015

▽France launches air strikes against Islamic State in Syria | Reuters

France said on Sunday it had launched its first air strikes against Islamic State in Syria in an act of "self-defence" to stop to the militant group from carrying out attacks inside France.

▽Hajj stampede: former Iranian diplomat thought to be among dead | The Guardian

A former Iranian ambassador to Lebanon is feared to have died in the stampede at the hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia that killed more than 750 worshippers. Ghazanfar Roknabadi, who worked as the country’s ambassador in Beirut until last year, has been declared missing and is believed to have been at the pilgrimage to Mecca, Iran’s state TV said.

▽Shinzo Abe tweaks his economic programme for Japan | The Economist

On September 24th Mr Abe fired off what he called “three new arrows” on behalf of Abenomics, his programme to revive Japan’s economy through a package of monetary easing, fiscal stimulus and structural reform. The first is a new pledge to boost nominal GDP by 22% to \600 trillion ($5 trillion) from \491 trillion last year. That goal was met with scepticism—unsurprisingly, since Mr Abe gave little detail on how to achieve it. Yet nominal GDP has been rising consistently thanks to his efforts to reflate the economy—by an annualised 2.3% per year since he returned to office at the end of 2012.

▽Pope meets victims of clergy sex abuse, says 'God weeps' for them | Reuters

Pope Francis met on Sunday with five adults who were abused by Catholic clergy when they were children and vowed to hold responsible all involved in the crime or cover-ups.

▽'Murder victim' turns up alive 31 years after disappearance | The Independent

A 31-year-long murder mystery has been solved in Germany after the alleged victim turned up alive and well.
Petra Pazsitka, then a 24-year-old computer science student, disappeared from her home in Braunschweig without a trace in 1984 and was officially declared dead five years later.