Turkey weighs response after Syria shoots down its jet (Second Coming Watch Update #143)

Turkey weighs response after Syria shoots down its jet. According to the New York Times, Syria said Friday that its military forces had shot down a Turkish jet that had entered its airspace just off the Syrian coast. Turkey's president said Saturday that his country would do "whatever is necessary" in response, adding a new complication to the tense relationship between the former allies split by Turkey's support for Syrian rebels trying to overthrow the government. Turkey's President Abdullah Gul said, "It is not possible to cover over a thing like this. Whatever is necessary will no doubt be done."

Italians fear a Euro apocalypse as crisis spreads to Germany. According to the Daily Express, Italy raised the stakes for the future of the euro by warning there is just one week to save the single currency. Its prime minister, Mario Monti, painted an apocalyptic picture of what would follow if EU leaders failed to deal with the debt crisis at a summit of all 27 states in Brussels next week. New fears have emerged that the eurozone's biggest economy Germany could be slipping into recession which would be a blow to saving the single currency. A key measure of German business optimism fell this month by more than market analysts had expected. And earlier this week, a separate survey indicated that Germany's manufacturing sector was also slowing down.

Russia warns against issuing ultimatums to Iran. According to the Associated Press, Russia's foreign minister said that Iran shouldn't face threats over its nuclear program and that a quick settlement of the standoff over it isn't realistic. Ser-gey Lav-rov said the latest round of talks in Moscow had been "quite useful," even though there was no breakthrough.