• Friendly fire in Syria: Kremlin officials said that Syrian forces had shot down a Russian military plane like the one pictured above, initially blaming Israeli planes flying behind it for drawing the fire. President Vladimir Putin of Russia eased tensions by blaming not just Israel, but “a chain of tragic accidental circumstances.” [The New York Times]

• A Catholic diocese in New York made one of the largest settlements to individual victims of sex abuse in the church. Four men repeatedly raped as boys by a religion teacher were awarded $27.5 million. [The New York Times]

• France’s interior minister, Gérard Collomb, said he would step down to run for mayor of Lyon in 2020, adding to concerns over the stability of the Macron government. [L’Express/Reuters]

• Reading this in a windstorm? You may be in England, Scotland or Northern Ireland, where high winds and rain from Storm Ali were predicted for today. [The Guardian]

• Hurricane Florence: In North Carolina, rivers continued to rise in the wake of the storm’s record rainfall. [The New York Times]