President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Sunday that a monument will be put up to memorialize nine U.S.-Mexican dual citizens ambushed and slain last year by suspected drug gang assassins along a remote road in the northern border region near New Mexico.

In remarks to members of the small town of La Mora, which was shattered by the Nov. 4 killings of three women and six children from the extended Langford, LeBaron and Miller families, Lopez Obrador said the first goal is to bring those responsible to justice.

Speaking after meeting with victims’ relatives, the president said an agreement had been reached with municipal and Sonora state officials to establish a monument of some sort “here where these lamentable and painful events took place,” and also for special recognition of those who risked their lives to rush to the aid of victims and survivors.

“So that we exalt this, the true solidarity: He who is willing to give his life for another,” Lopez Obrador said.

He promised to meet with family members in two months to give them another in-person update on the investigation and to return in four to six months to present a plan on regional development including road improvements.

The mostly bilingual American-Mexicans have lived in northern Mexico for decades and consider themselves Mormons, though they are not affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The community’s origins in Mexico date to the official end of polygamy over a century ago by the LDS church, which prompted many families that continued the practice to establish colonies elsewhere. Many of those in northern Mexico have by now, over the generations, abandoned polygamy as well.

La Mora is a hamlet of about 300 people in Sonora state while Colonia LeBaron is a larger town of over 2,000 on the other side of the mountains in Chihuahua; the two are linked by a bone-jarring and treacherous dirt road where the attack occurred as the women and children were traveling to visit relatives.

The areas lie in the territory of rival drug gangs with the Sinaloa cartel of convicted kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman holding sway in Sonora and the Juarez cartel dominant in Chihuahua.

The killings sowed grief and fear in the tightly knit communities, and dozens fled La Mora for the United States in the subsequent days out of concerns for their safety. What was once a tranquil and even idyllic life in a fertile river valley surrounded by mountains and desert scrub had grown increasingly tenuous as criminal gangs exerted their influence and fought each other, some said.

“Broken hearts, defeated, and through the fault of crime. I personally do not understand how so many people continue to die in such a beautiful country, such good people and with such richness,” community member Margaret Langford said at Sunday’s ceremony. “I was born in Chihuahua but I have been living for 20 years here in La Mora, a place that was so tranquil and neighbors we treasure so much.”

“I love this  country and it pains me to my soul to think of not being able to live here,” Langford said. “This massacre has left us lost and destroyed. I ask God that it not be what defines our community..”

Mexico has been posting homicide totals in recent years at all-time highs since comparable records began to be kept in the 1990s.

Lopez Obrador repeated Sunday that his security strategy aims to address root causes of violence such as poverty, inequality and lack of opportunity, particularly for young people, rather than the military offensive launched in 2006 by then-President Felipe Calderon and continued under Lopez Obrador’s predecessor, Enrique Pena Nieto.

“Deprive the fish of water,” the president said “so there are no longer young people who want to be cartel killers.”

Victims’ relatives said Thursday that U.S. authorities told them they had detained two suspects in the killings, and Mexican prosecutors said earlier in the week that more than 40 suspects had been identified.

Previously, Mexican prosecutors said three men were arrested and charged with organized crime for drug offenses, though none apparently yet faced homicide charges in the case.

Four other suspects were said to be under a form of house arrest, and the name of one suspect partially matched the police chief of the town of Janos, Chihuahua, near the eastern terminus of the connecting dirt road.

Local media reported the chief had been on the payroll of La Linea drug gang, which is allied with the Juarez cartel.

“I know there are things that do not take away the pain, that the pain remains in our hearts, but without doubt, justice, Mr. president, … will relieve a little bit the pain of these families,” Sonora Gov. Claudia Pavlovich Arellano said Sunday.

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Retired Pope Benedict XVI has broken his silence to reaffirm the value of priestly celibacy, co-authoring a bombshell book at the precise moment that Pope Francis is weighing whether to allow married men to be ordained to address the Catholic priest shortage.

Benedict wrote the book, “From the Depths of Our Hearts: Priesthood, Celibacy and the Crisis of the Catholic Church,” along with his fellow conservative, Guinean Cardinal Robert Sarah, who heads the Vatican’s liturgy office and has been a quiet critic of Francis.

The French daily Le Figaro published excerpts of the book late Sunday; The Associated Press obtained galleys of the English edition, which is being published by Ignatius Press.

Benedict’s intervention is extraordinary, given he had promised to remain “hidden from the world” when he retired in 2013 and pledged his obedience to the new pope. He has largely held to that pledge, though he penned an odd essay last year on the sexual abuse scandal that blamed the crisis on the sexual revolution of the 1960s.

His reaffirmation of priestly celibacy, however, gets to the heart of a fraught policy issue that Francis is expected to weigh in on, and could well be considered a public attempt by the former pope to sway the thinking of the current one.

The authors clearly anticipated that potential interpretation, and stressed in their joint introduction that they were penning the book “in a spirit of filial obedience, to Pope Francis.“

Francis has said he would write a document based on the outcome of the October 2019 synod of bishops on the Amazon. A majority of bishops at the meeting called for the ordination of married men to address the priest shortage in the Amazon, where the faithful can go months without having a Mass.

Francis has expressed sympathy with the Amazonian plight. While he has long reaffirmed the gift of a celibate priesthood in the Latin rite church, he has stressed that celibacy is a tradition, not doctrine, and therefore can change, and that there could be pastoral reasons to allow for a exception in a particular place.

Benedict addresses the issue head-on in his chapter in the brief book, which is composed of a joint introduction and conclusion penned by Benedict and Sarah, and then a chapter apiece in between. True to his theological form, Benedict’s chapter is dense with biblical references and he explains in scholarly terms what he says is the “necessary“ foundation for the celibate priesthood that dates from the times of the apostles.

“The priesthood of Jesus Christ causes us to enter into a life that consists of becoming one with him and renouncing all that belongs only to us,” he writes. “For priests, this is the foundation of the necessity of celibacy but also of liturgical prayer, meditation on the Word of God and the renunciation of material goods.”

Marriage, he writes, requires man to give himself totally to his family. “Since serving the Lord likewise requires the total gift of a man, it does not seem possible to carry on the two vocations simultaneously. Thus, the ability to renounce marriage so as to place oneself totally at the Lord’s disposition became a criterion for priestly ministry.”

The joint conclusion of the book makes the case even stronger, acknowledging the crisis of the Catholic priesthood that it says has been “wounded by the revelation of so many scandals, disconcerted by the constant questioning of their consecrated celibacy.”

Dedicating the book to priests of the world, the two authors urge them to persevere, and for all faithful to hold firm and support them in their celibate ministry.

“It is urgent and necessary for everyone-bishops, priests and lay people-to stop letting themselves be intimidated by the wrong-headed pleas, the theatrical productions, the diabolical lies and the fashionable errors that try to put down priestly celibacy,” they write. “It is urgent and necessary for everyone-bishops, priests and lay people-to take a fresh look with the eyes of faith at the Church and at priestly celibacy which protects her mystery.”

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China’s health officials say there is no danger that a new strain of coronavirus could cause a worldwide spread of pneumonia-like illness similar to the 2003 SARS  (Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus) pandemic. More than 40 people have been diagnosed with the new virus in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province and one person has died from the complications caused by it. Chinese authorities are applying measures to prevent the spread of the infection within the city as well as in other parts of China. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.

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The leader of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said Sunday that Iran’s missile attacks on two bases in Iraq housing U.S. forces was only the start of the retaliation for America’s killing a top Iranian general in a drone strike.

Hassan Nasrallah described Iran’s ballistic missile response as a “slap” to Washington, one that sent a message. The limited strikes caused no casualties and appeared to be mainly a show of force.

The leader of Hezbollah, which is closely aligned with Iran, said the strikes were the “first step down a long path” that will ensure U.S. troops withdraw from the region. 

“The Americans must remove their bases, soldiers and officers and ships from our region. The alternative … to leaving vertically is leaving horizontally. This is a decisive and firm decision,”  Nasrallah said. 

“We are speaking about the start of a phase, about a new battle, about a new era in the region,” he added.

His 90-minute televised speech marked one week since the killing of Iran’s Gen. Qassim Soleimani. 

Nasrallah praised Soleimani for his steadfast support for Hezbollah. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has provided training for Hezbollah, which fought in the war in Syria alongside Iran-backed militias that Soleimani directed. 

Nasrallah said that the world is a different place after Soleimani’s death, and not a safer place as some U.S. officials have declared. 

Iran had for days been promising to respond forcefully to Soleimani’s killing. But after the ballistic missile strikes, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted that the country had “concluded proportionate measures in self-defense.”

Nasrallah also praised the Iran’s leadership for admitting to accidentally shooting down a Ukrainian passenger plane on the night it launched the missile attacks. He called the acknowledgement “transparency that is unparalleled in the world.” 

The plane crash early Wednesday killed all 176 people on board, mostly Iranians and Iranian-Canadians. Iran had initially pointed to a technical failure and insisted the armed forces were not to blame.

Hezbollah is one of Iran’s main allies in the region and is a sworn enemy of Israel, with which it has had a series of confrontations, lastly in 2006.

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Fires in Australia are increasingly under control as cooler temperatures and light winds stay consistent, according to fire fighting officials.

Teams near the town of Bodalla in New South Wales, the state most affected by weeks of bushfires, said Sunday that they were able to move from defense to offense, working to ensure a fire would not reach a major highway, the Associated Press reported.

The Gospers Mountain fire northwest of Sydney, which has been burning since October, is under control as of Sunday thanks to light rain, the Sydney Morning Herald reported Sunday.

As of Sunday evening, 111 fires were still burning across the state of New South Wales – 40 of them still uncontrolled, according to the NSW Rural Fire Service.

At 8:30pm there are 111 bush and grass fires burning across NSW, all at the Advice alert level, with 40 not yet contained. While it’s been pleasing to hear of rain falling across parts of the state today, many of these fires will still take some time to fully contain. #NSWRFSpic.twitter.com/ZtF2IgDzkc

— NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) January 12, 2020

Since September, at least 27 people have died in Australia’s bushfires. More than 10 million hectares (24 million acres) of land — an area bigger than Portugal — have been scorched.

Climate change rallies have been held in Australia by thousands of protesters critical of the government’s handling of the bushfire crisis. A demonstration in Sydney Saturday has reportedly drew 30,000 people.

Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison has come under scrutiny for his response to the wildfires — most recently for underplaying the role of climate change in the devastating wildfires.

The prime minister has previously defended his energy and climate policies as adequate and responsible, but on Sunday said his government was working to create a long-term program designed to reduce the risk of natural disasters “in response to the climate changing,” the Associated Press reported.

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Islamist rebels killed 30 soldiers and wounded another 70, some seriously, during fierce fighting last week in eastern DR Congo, army officials said.

They suffered the losses during the latest offensive Thursday against the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), in North Kivu province, Major Mak Hazukai told journalists Saturday.

The army captured the ADF’s headquarters during the battle at Madina, and killed 40 rebel fighters, including five of their leaders, Hazukai added.

On Friday, the cabinet posted a tweet on the prime minister’s account congratulating the army on their capture of what they described as the one of the last bastions of the ADF.

North Kivu sits on the border with Uganda. The ADF, rebels originally from Uganda, has been waging a campaign of violence in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo for years.

Hazukai described them as “Islamist fundamentalists”.

The army announced its campaign against the ADF on October 30. The rebels are accused of having killed more than a thousand people in the Beni region, in the northern part of North Kivu, since 2014.

ADF fighters killed at least 150 civilians over November and December in reprisal according to official sources and local groups. That rising toll has sparked anger over the authorities’ response.

There have been demonstrations in the city of Beni, where local people accuse the UN peacekeeping force MONUSCO of failing to protect them. At the end of November, local people looted a MONUSCO base there.

Since then, the UN force and the army have announced joint patrols in the region.

The ADF began as an Islamist rebellion hostile to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. 

It fell back into eastern DRC in 1995 and appears to have halted raids inside Uganda. Its recruits today are people of various nationalities.

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Eleven migrants, including eight children, died Saturday when their vessel sank in the Aegean Sea off the coast of Turkey, state news agency Anadolu reported. 

The boat sank off Cesme, a popular tourist resort in western Turkey opposite the Greek island of Chios, Anadolu said, adding that eight others were rescued. 

The nationality of the victims was not yet known. 

The sinking came hours after another boat sank in the Aegean near the Greek island of Paxi, leaving at least 12 dead. 

Turkey has taken in around 4 million migrants and refugees, most of them Syrians, and is an important transit country for those fleeing conflicts and seeking to reach Europe, largely via Greece. 

An agreement reached in March 2016 between Ankara and the European Union succeeded in considerably reducing the number of people arriving on the five islands closest to Turkey. 

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The death toll from Thursday’s attack by suspected jihadists on a Niger army base has risen to at least 89, four security sources said, surpassing a raid last month that killed 71 soldiers as the deadliest against Nigerien forces in years. 

The government said Thursday that 25 soldiers had been killed, according to a provisional toll, while successfully repelling the attack by assailants aboard motorcycles and other vehicles in the western town of Chinagodrar. 

Four security sources told Reuters that at least 89 members of Niger’s security forces killed in the attack were buried Saturday in the capital, Niamey. 

One source said the actual death toll was most likely higher because some soldiers were buried immediately Thursday in Chinagodrar. 

Defense Minister Issoufou Katambe said that an updated death toll would be announced after a national security council meeting on Sunday. 

Deteriorating situation

The Chinagodrar attack, coming a month after the raid in nearby Inates by fighters from an Islamic State affiliate that killed 71 soldiers, highlights the deteriorating security situation near Niger’s borders with Mali and Burkina Faso. 

Attacks have risen fourfold over the past year in Niger, killing nearly 400 people, according to data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, a nonprofit research organization, despite efforts by international forces to stop militants linked to Islamic State and al-Qaida. 

French fighter jets were scrambled Thursday to scare off the attackers, France’s regional task force said, possibly averting an even heavier casualty count. 

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but Katambe said Friday that the army would launch a new offensive against jihadists. 

West Africa’s Sahel region, a semiarid belt beneath the Sahara, has been in crisis since 2012, when ethnic Tuareg rebels and loosely aligned jihadists seized the northern two-thirds of Mali, forcing France to intervene to temporarily beat them back. 

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Oman’s venerable ruler, Sultan Qaboos Bin Said, who ruled his strategic Gulf emirate — adjacent to Iran — for nearly 50 years, has died after a long illness. The country’s royal family chose the late Sultan’s cousin, Haitham Bin Tariq, to succeed him, in accordance with his last testament.

Oman’s royal family met Saturday, following the death overnight of the late Sultan Qaboos, and appointed his cousin, Haitham Bin Tariq, to succeed him. The appointment was made after top family members and military officials read aloud the last testament of Sultan Qaboos.

Sultan Qaboos bin Said, Who Modernized Oman, Dies; Successor Named

By walking a line between Middle East rivals, Qaboos gave Oman influence beyond its size by; a cousin succeeds him

A military honor guard fired a ceremonial cannon to honor the late Sultan as his successor presided over the official transition.

Many of the hundreds of Omanis who lined the route of Sultan Qaboos’ funeral cortege broke into tears and sobbed as his body was taken to a royal cemetery for burial. Qaboos, who succeeded his father in a bloodless coup in 1970, was the only ruler most Omanis had ever known.

Qaboos, who studied at Britain’s famous Sandhurst Military Academy, fought a leftist insurgency when he first came to power, and he then presided over one of the more stable nations in the turbulent region. The late Sultan had no children.

Oman’s new sultan, Haitham Bin Tariq, told those gathered to hear his inaugural speech he would follow the path of his predecessor in foreign policy, which he said included “peaceful coexistence between peoples and nations, good neighborly relations, non-interference in the internal affairs of others, respecting the sovereignty of all nations, and cooperation with everyone.”

State Media: Oman’s Sultan Qaboos Dies

Qaboos had no children and had not publicly appointed a successor

Sultan Qaboos, whose family has governed Oman since 1741, made a point of keeping good relations with both Iran and all of his Gulf neighbors. He refused to take sides during Iran’s 8-year conflict with Iraq during the 1980s, and he maintained a neutral stance in the more recent conflict between Qatar and Gulf Cooperation Council neighbors Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Oman played a key role in mediation between the U.S. and Iran during negotiations on the 2015 nuclear accord (JCPOA) between the G-5 countries, plus Germany.

Washington-based Gulf analyst Theodore Karasik tells VOA the “passing of Qaboos is a major moment in the region … because of the influence the sultan projected, most of the time very quietly.” Karasik adds that he expects to see “the same pragmatism” under the new Sultan Haitham.

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Authorities in Louisiana said Saturday said at least three people have died in connection with a severe storm that is sweeping across parts of the U.S. Gulf Coast and Southeast.

The Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Office said on its Facebook page that the bodies of an elderly couple were found near their demolished trailer by firefighters. A search for more possible victims was underway.

The Sheriff’s Office also said the roof of Benton Middle School was damaged and “that water damage from the sprinkler system has flooded many rooms.”

In Arkansas and Missouri, tornadoes destroyed homes and also caused damage in Oklahoma.

The national Storm Prediction Center said Friday more than 18 million people in Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma were at an enhanced risk of storms Friday, including from strong tornadoes, flooding rains and wind gusts that could exceed 80 mph (129 kph), the speed of a Category 1 hurricane. The area included several major Texas cities including Dallas, Houston and Austin.

The storms also unleashed downpours that caused widespread flash flooding. Dallas police said one person died when a car flipped into Five Mile Creek west of downtown Dallas about 7 p.m.

Earlier in the afternoon, a tornado destroyed two homes near Fair Play, Missouri, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) northwest of Springfield. The Missouri State Highway Patrol said no injuries were reported.

Shortly before 3 p.m., a tornado stripped the shingles from the roof of a home near Tahlequah, Oklahoma, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) southeast of Tulsa. No injuries were reported there either.

What the NWS described as “a confirmed large and extremely dangerous tornado” roared through parts of Logan County, Arkansas, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) east of Fort Smith on Friday night.

At least three homes were destroyed by the Arkansas tornado, said Logan County Emergency Management Coordinator Tobi Miller, but no injuries were reported. Downed trees and power lines were widespread, she said.

Miller said the tornado skirted her home in Subiaco, Arkansas. She said she heard but couldn’t see the rain-wrapped twister in the dark.

Ahead of the storms, Dallas’ Office of Emergency Management asked residents to bring in pets, outdoor furniture, grills, “and anything else that could be caught up in high winds to reduce the risk of flying debris.”

Such strong winds are a key concern in an area at greatest risk: A zone that includes parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas, the Storm Prediction Center warned. Weather service meteorologists in northern Louisiana said that such a dire forecast for the area is only issued two to four times each year, on average.

In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott said boats, helicopters, medical and rescue teams had been placed on standby in case they are needed.

“I ask that all Texans keep those in the storm’s path and all of Texas’ first responders in their prayers as they deal with the effects of this storm,” Abbott said in a statement.

Wicked weather also will pose a threat to Alabama and Georgia as the system moves eastward on Saturday, forecasters said.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said Friday the state was making necessary preparations ahead of the potential weather.

“At the state level, we continue to closely monitor this storm system, while making all necessary preparations,” Ivey said in a statement. “I encourage all Alabamians to do the same, stay weather aware and heed all local warnings.”

On Alabama’s Gulf Coast, Baldwin County canceled school activities including sporting events for Saturday. The weather service warned of flooding and the potential for 10-foot-high (3-meter-high) waves on beaches, where northern visitors escaping the cold are a common sight during the winter.

Heavy rains also could cause flooding across the South and part of the Midwest.

Many streams already are at or near flood levels because of earlier storms, and heavy rains could lead to flash flooding across the region, forecasters said. Parts of Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana were under flash flood warnings or watches on Saturday.

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Oman’s Sultan Qaboos bin Said, the Mideast’s longest-ruling monarch who seized power in a 1970 palace coup and pulled his Arabian sultanate into modernity while carefully balancing diplomatic ties between adversaries Iran and the U.S., has died. He was 79.

The state-run Oman News Agency announced his death early Saturday on its official Twitter account. Later Saturday, the Al Watan and Al Roya newspapers reported Qaboos’ successor, his cousin, Haitham bin Tariq al-Said, according to Reuters.

The sultan was believed to have been in poor health and traveled to Belgium for what the court described as a medical checkup last month. The royal court declared three days of mourning.

The news agency mourned the death of the Sultan and praised the “towering renaissance” he had presided over. It said his “balanced policy” of mediating between rival camps in a volatile region had earned the world’s respect.

Reclusive, educated in Britain

The British-educated, reclusive sultan reformed a nation that was home to only three schools and harsh laws banning electricity, radios, eyeglasses and even umbrellas when he took the throne.

Under his reign, Oman became known as a welcoming tourist destination and a key Mideast interlocutor, helping the U.S. free captives in Iran and Yemen and even hosting visits by Israeli officials while pushing back on their occupation of land Palestinians want for a future state.

“We do not have any conflicts and we do not put fuel on the fire when our opinion does not agree with someone,” Sultan Qaboos told a Kuwaiti newspaper in a rare interview in 2008.

Oman’s longtime willingness to strike its own path frustrated Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, longtime foes of Iran who now dominate the politics of regional Gulf Arab nations. How Oman will respond to pressures both external and internal in a nation Sultan Qaboos absolutely ruled for decades remains in question.

“Maintaining this sort of equidistant type of relationship … is going to be put to the test,” said Gary A. Grappo, a former U.S. ambassador to Oman. “Whoever that person is is going to have an immensely, immensely difficult job. And overhanging all of that will be the sense that he’s not Qaboos because those are impossible shoes to fill.”

The sultan had been believed to be ill for some time, though authorities never disclosed what malady he faced. A December 2019 report by the Washington Institute for Near-East Policy described the sultan as suffering from “diabetes and a history of colon cancer.”

Fashionable figure, outsized influence

Sultan Qaboos cut a fashionable figure in a region whose leaders are known for a more austere attire. His colorful turbans stood out, as did his form-fitting robes with a traditional curved khanjar knife stuck inside, the symbol of Oman. He occasionally wore a white turban out of his belief that he spiritually led Oman’s Ibadi Muslims, a more liberal offshoot of Islam predating the Sunni-Shiite split.

The sultan’s willingness to stand apart was key to Oman’s influence in the region. While home only to some 4.6 million people and smaller oil reserves than its neighbors, Oman under Sultan Qaboos routinely influenced the region in ways others couldn’t.

Oman’s oil minister routinely criticizes the policies of the Saudi-led OPEC oil cartel with a smile. Muscat hosts meetings of Yemen’s Houthi rebels, locked in a yearslong bloody war with Saudi Arabia. When Americans or dual nationals with Western ties are detained in Iran or areas under Tehran’s influence, communiques that later announce their freedom routinely credit the help of Oman.

Iran nuclear deal

The sultan’s greatest diplomatic achievement came as Oman hosted secret talks between Iranian and U.S. diplomats that led to the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers. The agreement, which limited Iran’s atomic program in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions, has come unraveled since President Donald Trump withdrew from it in May 2018.

As he grew older, Sultan Qaboos also grew increasingly reclusive. He is known to have had three major passions — reading, music and yachting.

He “read voraciously,” Grappo said, played the organ and lute. He created a symphony orchestra and opened a royal opera house in Muscat in 2011. His yacht “Al Said” is among the world’s largest and was frequently seen anchored in Muscat’s mountain-ringed harbor.

Sultan Qaboos was briefly married to a first cousin. They had no children and divorced in 1979.

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Iran announced Saturday that its military unintentionally shot down a Ukrainian jetliner, killing all 176 aboard.

The statement came Saturday morning and blamed human error for the shootdown.

The jetliner, a Boeing 737 operated by Ukrainian International Airlines, went down on the outskirts of Tehran during takeoff just hours after Iran launched a barrage of missiles at U.S. forces.

Iran had denied for several days that a missile downed the aircraft. But then the U.S. and Canada, citing intelligence, said they believe Iran shot down the aircraft.

The plane, en route to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from several countries, including 82 Iranians, at least 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians, according to officials.
 

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