The United States conducts airstrikes targeting Kuwaiti-British militant Jihadi John. Later, the U.S. says it is "reasonably certain" a drone strike in Syria killed Jihadi John, né Mohammed Emwazi. (BBC)(Reuters)
During an arrest attempt in Cairo, Egyptian security forces kill Aly Ashraf Hassanein al Gharabli, an ISIL-linked militant who masterminded the murder of Apache Corporation worker William Henderson in Egypt last year. (Fuel Fix)
At least 22 people are killed this week in a string of raids on villages in the Central African Republic. The escalation of violence threatens to derail a visit by Pope Francis and crucial elections scheduled for December 27, 2015. (Reuters)
South Korean news agency Yonhap reports China's mobile phone users are discarding 80 million devices annually, but almost none are being recycled. China's recycling rate stands at 9-10 percent of the global recycling average. (UPI)
The bodies of eight babies are found wrapped in towels and inside plastic bags in an apartment in the town of Wallenfels in Germany's state of Bavaria. Authorities are looking for the apartment's most recent occupant, Andrea G, a 45-year-old woman. (CNN)(Irish Times)
At least four people are dead and 33 injured in a landslide in China's Zhejiang province. (CRI)
International Relations
U.S. diplomats, amid growing international concern the violence could spiral into an ethnic conflict, push for peace talks in Burundi. The European Union advises non-essential staff to evacuate the Central African nation amid rising violence and an uptick in political rhetoric. The head of the opposition UPRONA group urges the United Nations to send peacekeepers quickly. Yesterday, the UN Security Council called on the Burundi Government to protect human rights and cooperate with regional African mediators to immediately convene "an inclusive and genuine inter-Burundian dialogue" to find a peaceful resolution of the crisis. (Al Jazeera)(Reuters)(UN)
German ChancellorAngela Merkel asserts she still isn't prepared to name an upper limit to the number of refugees who can come to Germany, despite mounting domestic political pressure. (AP)
Oxfam's Belgrade Center for Human Rights reports migrants coming through Bulgaria have faced beatings, threats and other abuses by police, though the country's own refugee agency said it had received no such complaints. (Reuters)
U.S. Secretary of StateJohn Kerry meets in Vienna, Austria, with the foreign ministers of Turkey and Saudi Arabia, as well as the U.N. special envoy for Syria, ahead of Saturday's next round of international summits on the Syrian Civil War. The talks, aimed toward a cease-fire in Syria's devastating war and a political transition to a post-war government, will include senior officials from 19 nations/groups and, as in October, Iran will participate. (AP)
As a temporary security measure, effective Saturday, Russia bans incoming flights by Egypt's state-owned airline, EgyptAir, two weeks after an apparent terrorist bomb downed a Russian jet in the Sinai. (Reuters)
Law and crime
Police in the Dominican Republic raid a mansion owned by 30-year-old Francisco Flores de Freites, one of the two nephews of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro facing charges for allegedly trying to traffic 800 kg of cocaine into the U.S., and found more than 280 pounds of cocaine and 22 pounds of heroin hidden inside the nephew's posh Casa de Campo property and a 135-foot yacht named "The Kingdom" docked behind it. (Fox News)