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U.S. AIRSTRIKE IN SYRIA HITS PRO-REGIME FORCES
A U.S. airstrike in Syria on Thursday targeted pro-regime forces who were threatening a coalition base where advisers train anti-Islamic State fighters, according to a U.S. military official.
The forces came within a 34mile defensive zone around the al-Tanf base in southern Syria, according to the official, who was briefed on the action but not authorized to discuss the incident publicly.
U.S. military officials have not yet determined if Syrian army forces were targeted in the strike or if they were militias aligned with the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
TULSA LEADERS URGE PEACE AFTER COP IS ACQUITTED
Tulsa leaders on Thursday called for a peaceful response to a jury’s decision to acquit a white police officer who fatally shot an unarmed black man, and said more must be done to fight racial divisions in Oklahoma’s secondlargest city.
The comments came after a jury on Wednesday found Tulsa officer Betty Shelby not guilty of manslaughter. She said she shot out of fear Sept. 16 when she killed Terence Crutcher, who had his hands held above his head.
Mayor G.T. Bynum said at a news conference Thursday that he respected the jury’s decision, but also called Tulsa’s racial divide the city’s greatest moral issue.
“This verdict does not alter the course on which we are adamantly set,” he said. “It does not change our recognition of the racial disparities that have afflicted Tulsa historically. It does not change our work to institute community policing measures that empower citizens to work side by side with police officers in making our community safer.”
DUTCH KING SECRETLY PILOTED FLIGHTS
King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands hasn’t been resting on his monarchical laurels, telling Dutch media he has been moonlighting as a copilot for a KLM airlines affiliate for more than two decades.
The king told Holland’s Telegraaf newspaper he co-pilots two KLM Cityhopper flights per month.
And now he is training to fly with the big boys, Boeing 737s for KLM itself — coincidentally known as Dutch Royal Airlines.
Willem-Alexander, 50, said he often walks through Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in his pilot uniform without being recognized by his subjects.