[naviga:h3]Turkey shoots down Russian warplane[/naviga:h3]

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey shot down a Russian warplane today, claiming it had violated Turkish airspace and ignored repeated warnings. Russia denied the plane crossed the Syrian border into Turkish skies.

“We are looking into the circumstances of the crash of the Russian jet,” Russia’s Defense Ministry said. “The Ministry of Defense would like to stress that the plane was over the Syrian territory throughout the flight.”

Russia said the Su-24 was downed by artillery fire, but Turkey claimed its F-16s fired on the Russian plane after it ignored several warnings. The ministry said the pilots parachuted but added Moscow had no further contact with them.

Video footage of the incident showed a warplane on fire before crashing on a hill and two crew members apparently parachuting safely.

Jahed Ahmad, a spokesman for the 10th Coast Division, an insurgent group in Syria, said its forces fired at the Russian pilots as they descended. One was dead when he reached the ground, Ahmad told The Associated Press.

[naviga:h3]Vatican puts 2 journalists on trial[/naviga:h3]

VATICAN CITY — Two Italian journalists who wrote books detailing Vatican mismanagement faced trial today in a Vatican courtroom along with three people accused of leaking them the information, in a case that has drawn scorn from media watchdogs.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, among others, have all called on the Vatican to drop the charges against Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaldi. The two reporters face up to eight years in prison if convicted of charges they violated Vatican law by publishing news based on confidential Holy See documents.

In interviews Monday, Nuzzi and Fittipaldi both called the process “Kafka-esque.”

With hours to go before the start of trial, neither they nor their lawyers had seen the court file detailing the accusations against them. Nuzzi spoke for the first time with his Vatican court-appointed lawyer Monday morning. They were indicted Friday.

Even though they technically risk arrest by stepping on Vatican soil, both arrived shortly before trial was set to begin, saying they want to understand the accusations and to report to the world what transpires.

[naviga:h3]Hollande to press Obama on Russia[/naviga:h3]

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will stand in solidarity with French President Francois Hollande at the White House today, 11 days after the Islamic State group launched a series of deadly attacks in Paris. But Hollande is likely to leave Washington without firm backing for his call to bring Russia into a new coalition to fight the extremists.

Hollande’s visit to Washington is part of a diplomatic offensive to get the international community to bolster the campaign against the Islamic State militants.

The group is believed to have been behind the Nov. 13 attacks that killed 130 people in Paris.

As the Islamic State group expands its reach outside its bases in Syria and Iraq, Obama is facing increased pressure at home and abroad to ramp up U.S. efforts to destroy the militants.

So far, Obama is resisting calls to either change or significantly ramp up his approach, and instead is focused on getting other countries to offer more counterintelligence, humanitarian and military assistance.

[naviga:h3]Gas supply will be cut off to Ukraine [/naviga:h3]

MOSCOW — Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak says Russia will cut off gas supply to Ukraine “today or tomorrow” over unpaid deliveries.

Russia resumed supplying gas to Ukraine less than two months ago after the two countries signed a deal ensuring supplies through March next year.

Russian news agencies today quoted Novak as saying Ukraine has prepaid for gas only once since and Moscow would have to cut off supplies “today or tomorrow.”

Past gas disputes between Russia and Ukraine have led to cutoffs. One standoff in 2009 caused serious disruptions in shipments to EU countries in the dead of winter. Temperatures in Ukraine can drop to as cold as -4 degrees Fahrenheit in winter.