In brief: Freddie Gray’s parents settle with Baltimore for $6.4 million

BALTIMORE – The parents of Freddie Gray reached a tentative $6.4 million settlement with the city of Baltimore, nearly five months after their 25-year-old son was critically injured in police custody, sparking days of protests and rioting.

The deal announced Tuesday appeared to be among the largest settlements in police death cases in recent years and happened just two days before a judge is set to hear arguments on whether to move the trials for six officers charged in Gray’s death from Baltimore.

Gray’s spine was injured April 12 in the back of a transport van after he was arrested. Gray, who was black, died at the hospital a week later.

Dentist who killed Cecil is back to work

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – The Minnesota dentist who killed Cecil the lion returned to work Tuesday after weeks away, walking silently into his small dental practice, past swarming media and a handful of protesters calling for him to be sent to Zimbabwe to face trial.

Walter Palmer had largely retreated from public view since he was identified as Cecil’s killer in July, offering little insight into the hunt that until a Sunday interview with the Associated Press in which he defended the kill as legal and announced his plan to return to work.

The small group of protesters didn’t match the furor in the days after Cecil was killed during a July hunt in Zimbabwe’s vast Hwange National Park.

Jet catches fire before takeoff

LAS VEGAS – An engine on a London-bound British Airways jet caught fire Tuesday while the plane was preparing to take off from Las Vegas, shooting flames from the side of the jet and forcing passengers to escape on emergency slides.

All 159 passengers and 13 crew members aboard Flight 2276 were able to get off the plane, airport spokesman Chris Jones said.

Child death rate lower since 1990

UNITED NATIONS – The rate of child deaths around the world has dropped by more than half since 1990 – but not enough to reach the United Nations goal of a two-thirds reduction by this year, according to a report released Tuesday.

New estimates show that under-5 deaths fell from 12.7 million per year in 1990 to 5.9 million this year, the first time the figure has gone below 6 million.

But despite the decline, 16,000 children under the age of 5 still die every day, according to the report by the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the World Bank Group, and the U.N.’s Population Division.

Based on the data, UNICEF reported that 48 million lives of under-5 youngsters have been saved since governments committed to achieve the U.N. goal in 2000.