Russia has completed genetic examinations of the remains of those killed in a Russian passenger jet downed over Egypt's Sinai peninsula, TASS reports.
The IS group claimed responsibility for downing the plane on October 31. All 217 passengers and seven crew members died.
Genetic verification to identify the remains of the victims of the plane downing was carried out at the Center for Forensic Medicine in Moscow.
French President Francois Hollande is to visit a French aircraft carrier off Syria, AFP has just tweeted, citing the President's office.
France's only aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, was despatched to target the IS group in Syria last month following the November 13 attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.
Here is the official statement from the French President's office regarding President Hollande's visit to the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier off Syria:
Turkey will not cancel visa-free travel for Russian citizens despite the chilling of relations between the two countries in the wake of last week's downing of a Russian Su-24 jet near the Syrian border, the Turkish Embassy in Moscow has said.
"Turkey will not introduce visa requirements for Russian citizens because it considers the Russian people to be friendly," pro-Kremlin news website RIA Novosti reports.
Russia has banned the sale of package tours to Turkey and canceled charter flights to the country in the wake of the Su-24 incident.
Sky News reports that it is La Bonne Bierre cafe, where five people were killed during the November 13 Paris attacks, has reopened.
AFP has more on French President Hollande's planned trip to visit the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle today on the eastern Mediterranean off Syria.
Hollande is expected to meet fighter pilots and the crews that service the warplanes on the aircraft carrier, which is being used to conduct air strikes on IS targets. It was despatched to the eastern Mediterranean in the wake of the November 13 Paris attacks.
Breaking news from Germany on the fight against IS in Syria.
AP has a little more information about the German Parliament's approval to send troops to support the fight against IS in Syria. More details expected soon.
This is the result of the vote in Germany's parliament over air strikes against IS targets in Syria: 445 voted in favor, 146 voted against.
Kadyrov: 'Trace Of CIA' In IS Beheading Of Russian Citizen
The head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, has said that there is a "trace of the CIA" in the beheading by IS militants of a Russian citizen. Kadyrov gave mixed messages about Khasiyev's possible links to Russian intelligence agencies, at first insisting that he was not a Russian agent, then saying the possibility Khasiyev had "some connection" with Russian authorities could not be ruled out.
Magomed Khasiyev was beheaded in Raqqa by a Russian-speaking militant after IS accused him of being a Russian "spy."
Kadyrov said there was no evidence that Khasiyev -- a Muslim convert from Russia brought up in Chechnya -- had worked for the Russian security services.
"You can say with some certainty that in this case there is a trace of the CIA," Kadyrov wrote on his Instagram account.
"Information sources who have links with IS have repeatedly noted that Western intelligence agencies are sharing information under the guise of information leaks about individuals who can carry out certain tasks for the intelligence services. Maybe Magomed went in the role of a 'Russian spy'."
Kadyrov then went on to say that perhaps Khasiyev did have "certain connections" to Russian intelligence services:
"We've never made a secret of the fact that in Syria there are groups who are carrying out tasks to neutralize bandits who post a real threat to Russia. However Khasiyev had nothing to do with them. So in this case it is impossible to completely rule out that he had certain connections with some of the country's authorities. At the slightest suspicion, IS bandits brutally beat their accomplices, they beat "confessions" [out of people], and then execute them.
This same practice was carried out by the international terrorists who were active in Chechnya," Kadyrov said.
The Chechen leader went on to say that Khasiyev's killers would be punished.
"If he [Khasiyev] was not an IS militant, then those who are guilty of his execution will get their just punishment when they least expect it," he said.