On Tuesday, Turkey said that after repeated warnings over 5 minutes, Turkish F-16s shot down a fighter jet flying over its territory near the Syrian border. Russia's Defense Ministry said the jet was Russian, that it hasn't had any contact with the pilots since they parachuted out of the Su-24, and that it is "looking into the circumstances of the crash of the Russian jet." Russia said its jet was brought down by artillery fire and added, "The Ministry of Defense would like to stress that the plane was over the Syrian territory throughout the flight."

Turkey, a member of NATO, warned Russian warplanes about flying over its territory in October and shot down a Russian-made drone two weeks later, but this is a worrisome escalation in what's already a geopolitical tinder pile. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said the pilots parachuted into the Turkmen Mountains of Syria's northern Latakia province. Turkey generally supports the Syrian Turkmen in the region, which has recently been under attack from the Russian-backed forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Russia backs Assad, while Turkey wants him out of power. Both sides are purportedly fighting the Islamic State. Peter Weber

A group of Republicans, including Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) are launching a lawsuit — in the hopes of blocking the certification of Pennsylvania's election results — that claims a state law passed in 2019 allowing for universal mail-in voting is unconstitutional. If that were the case, mail-in ballots would be invalidated, likely swinging the state back to President Trump.

The lawsuit quickly drew heated criticism, including accusations that Kelly (who was just re-elected himself) and the other plaintiffs are "openly rejecting democracy and the rule of law," but many observers were simply perplexed. For starters, the bill was passed over a year ago, raising questions as to why its constitutionality wasn't brought up between then and now. Plus, it was pushed through thanks to a majority GOP state legislature, with only one Republican member of the state House voting against it, while GOP senators backed it unanimously. Tim O'Donnell

Incoming presidents "typically want to wait until they have the reins of power in order to put their fingerprints on the policies coming out of the door," Jared Bernstein, who served as President-elect Joe Biden's chief economist during the Obama administration, said this week during a virtual conference. But, he added, Biden would prefer that not be the case when it comes to coronavirus relief, which is "something that should happen now."

Biden has entered the coronavirus relief fight and wants a deal done before he's sworn in as president, Politico reports, even though waiting would theoretically increase the Democratic Party's chances of securing a larger deal, which is currently a non-starter for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). "They care more about governing than they care about politics on this one," one person in touch with the transition team told Politico.

Biden's camp is reportedly focused on ensuring Black-owned businesses receive loans they had trouble securing following the first relief bill, getting funding for state and local governments, and extending enhanced unemployment benefits. The latter issue is where Biden "may have to give something up to McConnell that we really don't want to give up to get" a deal, "but we simply have to do this," another person close to the transition team said. Read more at Politico. Tim O'Donnell

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who last year won the Nobel Peace Prize after reaching a pact with Eritrea and helped lead mediation efforts to curb violence in Sudan, has rejected the African Union's attempt to mediate talks between his own government and Tigray, a rebel-held northern Ethiopia region, Reuters reports.

Abiy reportedly plans to begin peace talks only after the government's forces capture leaders of the Tigray People's Liberation Front. Until then, the army will reportedly continue its march toward Tigray's capital city, Mekelle, which it says it will reach soon.

The fighting broke out earlier this month and has increasingly intensified. Hundreds of people are estimated to have died in the conflict, and more than 30,000 refugees have fled to Sudan since the violence began, with perhaps 200,000 more possibly crossing the border before too long, per Reuters. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee representative in Ethiopia, Ann Econtre, said she was "deeply concerned about the worsening humanitarian situation in Tigray, which is compounded by the lack of access and our current inability to bring in food and supplies to those in need." Read more at Reuters and Al Jazeera. Tim O'Donnell

President-elect Joe Biden has vowed to "make an unshakeable commitment to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon," and U.S. officials expect he'll be focused on easing tensions between Tehran and Washington once he's in the Oval Office next year, NBC News reports. But some experts think he should hold out for a bit before simply rolling back sanctions and rejoining the 2015 nuclear deal that President Trump exited in 2018, prompting Iran's decision to begin enriching its uranium again.

"From my point of view it would be crazy to rejoin the deal without getting something more out of it," David Albright, an expert on Iran's nuclear program at the Institute for Science and International Security, told NBC News. "Whatever you think of Trump — and I didn't like that he left the deal — he generated a tremendous amount of leverage on Iran, and not to use that just seems crazy. In that sense it's a gift to Biden."

Biden is facing a ticking clock, however, given that Iran will be holding its elections in June 2021. President Hassan Rouhani, who is considered a moderate, was willing to back the 2015 agreement with the Obama administration, but his two-term limit is up, and there's no guarantee his successor will want to cut any sort of deal, NBC News notes. So, even if Biden were to adopt a more gradual approach and play hard ball, he'd likely have to do so within the first few months of his presidency. Read more at NBC News. Tim O'Donnell

The Department of the Interior was essentially set up to tear down and disenfranchise Indigenous peoples, Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), the chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, argued in an interview with The New York Times. So a Native American leading the department in the Biden administration would be "to come full circle," he said.

There's a big push for Biden to name Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.), a citizen of the Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico, to the post, which the Times notes would "have undeniable symbolic power." If Haaland — or perhaps another Native American candidate like former Deputy Interior Secretary Michael Connor, who served in the Obama administration — were confirmed, it would mean that, for the first time in U.S. history, an Indigenous person would lead the department that oversee 500 million acres of public American land.

Per the Times, there are some people who are concerned Haaland, the popular choice, doesn't have the policy experience required for the role and would prefer Connor fill the post (a spokesman for President-elect Joe Biden's transition team said no personnel decisions have been made regarding the department), but if the job ultimately goes to either candidate, it would be historic.

"The Department of Interior was the driving force of modern day genocide against the Native American peoples," said Elizabeth Kronk Warner, dean and professor of law at the University of Utah, and a citizen of the Sault Ste. Marie tribe of Chippewa Indians. "We would be moving from the shadows of perpetuated genocide to a chair at the table, from being classified as a group of people that the federal government was trying to destroy to having a president say, 'I see you and value you to the point that I will raise you to the highest level of decision-making in the country.'" Read more at The New York Times. Tim O'Donnell

Nearly two dozen rockets hit Kabul's heavily fortified Green Zone, where many embassies and international firms are based, on Saturday, reportedly killing at least eight civilians and wounding at least 31 others in the Afghan capital. Tariq Arian, a spokesman for Afghanistan's interior ministry, said the perpetrators mounted the rockets on a small truck and set them off, adding that an investigation is under way.

The Islamic State has reportedly claimed responsibility, while the Taliban, which is involved in peace talks with the Afghan government as the sides seek an end to their decades-long conflict, denied involvement, saying it does "not blindly fire on public places." Despite the negotiations, violence has continued to rise in Afghanistan in recent weeks, with the Taliban and other armed groups carrying out attacks. The Afghan government has maintained the Taliban orchestrated another recent attack that was similarly claimed by ISIS.

There is reportedly hope that a breakthrough in the talks is just a few days away, as the U.S., under orders from President Trump, prepares to pull more than 2,000 troops out of Afghanistan. The move has been met with skepticism, although it was received positively by the Taliban. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is scheduled to meet with Taliban and Afghan negotiators Saturday in Qatar, the State Department announced Friday. Read more at Al Jazeera. Tim O'Donnell