NEWS SUMMARY AT THIS HOUR-TUESDAY 9/18/2018

                                        (UPDATES AND EXPANSION UNTIL 8AM)

There is Breaking News from Syria overnight with 15 Russian servicemen dead after their plane was shot down by Syrian air defenses during a sudden Israeli air attack.

Russia's Defense Ministry says 4 Israeli F-16's used the larger Russian IL-20 plane as a decoy for their attack on the northern Syrian city of Latakia.

Russia says it reserves the right to an "adequate response".

The Israel Defense Forces sends condolences and blames the Syrian government, Iran and Iranian allied Hezbollah for the incident.

The Russians also say a French frigate fired missiles at the time that their plane disappeared from the radar screen.

The incident came hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to a buffer zone in northern Syria to defuse tensions there.

US UN Ambassador Nikki Haley is in a knot accusing Russia of "cheating" on North Korea sanctions.    Haley spoke at the UN Security Council yesterday.

South Korea's President Moon Jae In arrived in North Korea today for a summit with the North's ruler Kim Jong Un.  Kim hugged Moon on his arrival.   A large South Korean delegation including pop starts and business leaders are part of the summit designed to build a closer relationship between the two Koreas.

President Trump has thrown down the gauntlet to China imposing tariffs on 200 billion dollars worth of Chinese goods effective next Monday.  The tariffs will be 10 percent at first but will jump to 25 percent January 1st if a new trade deal is not reached with China.

Items like handbags and rice will be involved.

The President said any retaliation by China for the new tariffs will lead tariffs on additional Chinese products.

China's Commerce Ministry says China has no alternative but to respond but did not give any details.

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, the woman accusing him of sexual assault when both were teenagers 36 years ago, will both be able to testify publicly before the Senate Judiciary Committee next Monday.

The man in charge of Germany's domestic intelligence agency will reportedly be fired by Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"Die Welt" newspaper says Merkel will sack Hans-Georg Maasen because he said there was "no reliable information" that migrants were attacked by German nationalist protestors who took to the streets in Chemnitz recently.

They were protesting an attack on Germans that killed one man with foreign born suspects arrested.

"Things go better with Coca-Cola" was the slogan for the soft drink maker in the 1960's but now Coke is considering the notion that "Things go better with Marijuana".

A Canadian business media site report says that Coca-Cola is in serious talks with Canadian pot producer Aurora Cannabis about developing cannabis-infused drinks.

Marijuana is becoming legal in Canada on October 17th.

The United States is not taking the pot legalization lying down.  People associated with the emerging marijuana industry in Canada are being stopped at the US border and denied entry.