NATO to boost Turkey’s air defenses near Syrian border

1. NATO plans to step up measures to boost Turkey’s air defense system on the border with Syria over what the alliance calls security threats. NATO's secretary general said Ankara has the right to defend its territorial integrity and airspace. The plan comes in the wake of Turkey’s downing of the Russian fighter jet.

2. The United States is set to dispatch a new special operations force to the Middle East under the pretext of fighting Daesh terrorists in Iraq and Syria. US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said the troops are assigned to conduct raids, free hostages and gather intelligence.

3. In the US, the mayor of Chicago has fired the city's police chief. This, after public outcry over the release of a video showing a white police officer fatally shooting a black teenager. In the footage, officer Jason Van Dyke shoots 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times.

4. The head of a prominent environmental group has cast doubt on the world powers’ rhetoric about their commitment to fighting climate change. Greenpeace Executive Director Kumi Naidoo also criticized US policies to continue subsidizing the burning of fossil fuels despite its rhetoric about the threat of global warming.

5. The BBC headquarters and nearby buildings have been evacuated after a bomb alert in central London. In a similar incident in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, police partially shut down the international airport after the discovery of a suspicious van in the area. Both alarms turned out to be false.

6. A new poll shows people across the UK are divided over London’s decision to extend its bombing campaign from Iraq to Syria. Figures show 72 percent of Scots, and nearly half of respondents in England are against airstrikes in Syria. They say the move would only intensify ISIL’s hatred towards the UK.

7. Syria’s president says peace in his country can be achieved if some Western governments and their regional allies stop supporting terrorists. Speaking to a Czech television channel, Bashar al-Assad said the US, the UK, France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey are backing terrorists.

8. Reporters Without Borders has blasted Turkey for arresting two prominent journalists of the opposition Jumhuriet newspaper. The group has also launched a campaign for the release of the journalists. Jan Dundar and Erdem Gul were arrested last week after they published reports on Turkey’s covert arms shipments for terrorist groups in Syria.

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