Monday, November 30, 2015
Syrian opposition: Russian strikes kill 18
BEIRUT
Airstrikes believed to have been carried out by Russian warplanes killed at least 18 civilians and wounded dozens more Sunday in a northern Syrian town held by insurgents, Syrian opposition media reported.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the airstrikes struck the town of Ariha, killing at least 18 people, including four children, and wounding dozens more.
If Russian warplanes carried out Sunday’s strikes, it would be one of the deadliest incidents since Moscow began launching airstrikes in Syria two months ago.
Turkey: Pilot’s body to be flown to Russia
ankara, turkey
The Turkish prime minister says Turkey has taken delivery of the body of a Russian pilot who was killed after Turkish F-16s shot down a Russian warplane.
Ahmet Davutoglu says the pilot’s body was brought to the border province of Hatay “through Turkey’s initiatives” early Sunday and will be flown back to Russia. He said the local Orthodox church in Hatay performed religious rites for the pilot.
Turkey shot down the plane Tuesday after it entered its airspace from Syria, ignoring several warnings. The two pilots parachuted out of the plane but were shot at by Syrian rebels on the ground. One of the pilots, Lt. Col. Oleg Peshkov, died.
Pope’s peace message
BANGUI, Central African Republic
Flanked by Vatican bodyguards in flak jackets and machine-gun-toting U.N. peacekeepers, Pope Francis plunged Sunday into conflict-wracked Central African Republic and urged the country’s Christian and Muslim factions to lay down their weapons and instead arm themselves with peace and forgiveness.
Francis issued the appeal from the altar of Bangui’s cathedral after arriving in the badly-divided capital on the final leg of his three-nation African tour.
“My wish for you, and for all Central Africans, is peace,” Francis told the nearly 4,000 residents in the St. Sauveur church camp.
Storm lingering in the southern Plains
DAllas
A deadly storm that has caused flooding and coated parts of the southern Plains in ice during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend dumped more rain on already-swollen rivers in parts of North Texas and Arkansas on Sunday and made driving dangerous in parts of Oklahoma.
The band of storms that has been moving through parts of the Plains and the Midwest since Thursday has been blamed for at least 14 deaths, including eight in Texas and six in Kansas.
In parts of North Texas and Arkansas, the concern was flooding, with flood watches and warnings in effect through Sunday evening.
A 70-year-old woman whose car was swept away in Fort Worth on Friday remained missing Sunday.
NASA to relaunch resupply missions
NASA’s commercial space program returns to flight this week as one of its private cargo haulers, Orbital ATK, is to launch its first supply shipment to the International Space Station in more than 13 months.
Orbital plans to launch its Cygnus capsule carrying more than 7,000 pounds of space-station equipment and supplies from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Thursday.
Though the company has launched satellites from the Cape, this will be Orbital’s first space-station resupply launch from there.
This also will be the first launch attempt of any commercial resupply rocket to the space station since June, when a Falcon 9 used by NASA’s other private space station cargo hauler, SpaceX, blew up.
Combined dispatches