US official: Russian jet hit over Syria after incursion into Turkey

News in Brief

1. A US official says the Russian warplane downed by Turkey was targeted over Syria after a brief incursion into the Turkish airspace. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the assessment was based on the detection of the plane’s heat signature.

2. People have rallied in the US city of Chicago to protest last year’s brutal killing of an African-American teenager. White US police officer Jason Van Dyke has been charged with first-degree murder over the fatal shooting. He shot 17-year-old Laquan McDonald sixteen times in October 2014, although the victim had fallen to the ground.

3. The Canadian health minister has announced plans for taking in 25,000 refugees. Jane Philpott said Canada aims to resettle 10,000 refugees by the end of this year and the rest in the first two months of next year. She said most of them will be resettled in their new host communities upon arrival.

4. Tunisia's president has declared a state of emergency throughout the country following a terrorist attack in the capital Tunis. Beji Caid Essebsi also declared a curfew in the capital. At least a dozen people were killed after an explosion hit a bus carrying presidential guards in downtown Tunis.

5. Several people have been killed after a car bomb went off at a checkpoint on a coastal road east of the Libyan capital city of Tripoli. Officials say more than a dozen people were also wounded in the bombing. Libya has been grappling with political uncertainty and violence in the last four years.

6. The French interior minister says police have arrested 165 people in the security crackdown following the November 13 terror attacks in Paris. Bernard Cazenueve said the police also conducted over 1,200 searches and seized 230 weapons. He said the number of confiscated weapons shows the effectiveness of the searches in providing security for citizens.

7. Taliban militants have taken hostage over a dozen soldiers, including two foreigners after their helicopter crash-landed in the northern Afghan province of Faryab. Officials say at least three people were killed in the crash. The Taliban has threatened to execute the hostages if the army continues its rescue operation.

8. The Ansarullah fighters, backed by the Yemeni army, have targeted a Saudi warship with a rocket off Ta'izz province. Meanwhile, clashes have erupted between Ansarullah fighters and forces loyal to the former Yemeni regime in Lahij province. At least 20 pro-Saudi mercenaries have been killed or wounded in the clashes.

 


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