Midday Roundup: Bombs hit hospitals, school in northern Syria

Innocent victims. Airstrikes in northern Syria hit three hospitals and a school today as the government and Russian forces worked to wrest control of the region from rebels. It wasn’t immediately clear who carried out the bombings, but reports from the ground said the planes and missiles looked Russian. Many of the dead and wounded in today’s attack were children. One of the bombings hit a medical clinic in the town of Maaret al-Numen run by the international aid group Doctors Without Borders. “All members of the medical team inside are believed to be dead,” opposition activist Yahya al-Sobeih said.

Mission to Mexico. Pope Francis spent the weekend in Mexico, where he denounced the country’s rampant and deadly drug trade. “God came close and still comes close to the suffering but resilient hearts of so many mothers, fathers, and grandparents who have seen their children leaving, becoming lost, or even being taken by criminals,” Francis said Saturday in Mexico City at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, where Catholics believe a dark-skinned Virgin Mary appeared to natives in 1531. Earlier in the day, the pope admonished bishops in Mexico to adopt humbler lifestyles, serve the poor, and stop acting like “princes.”

Unfortunate flash. A Virgin Atlantic flight from London to New York turned around and headed home Sunday after a laser beam hit the cockpit, causing medical problems for one of the pilots. Laser pointer attacks on airplanes by people on the ground have become a serious problem around London’s Heathrow Airport. Some laser pointer beams can spread over long distances and illuminate the entire cockpit of an airplane with blinding light. A laser hit Sunday’s flight during takeoff, and the crew decided they needed to turn around about an hour later.

Adult content. At the weekend box office, Deadpool shattered records with an impressive debut. The comic-book flick starring Ryan Reynolds pulled in $135 million, giving it the highest grossing debut weekend ever for a rated-R film. It was also the first R-rated film to gross more than $100 million in its opening weekend. The film marks a shift in superhero movies, which typically try to cater to—or at least not exclude—younger audiences.