Israel has launched a probe to determine why its air defenses were not able to shoot down a missile that landed in the country near a nuclear reactor, prompting a retaliatory strike from the IDF.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed that a long-range SA-5 surface-to-air missile was launched from the direction of Syria toward Israeli fighter jets that were reportedly carrying out airstrikes in the Syrian Golan. The missile exploded in a village just a few miles from Dimona, the Negev desert town where Israel's nuclear reactor is located, on Thursday morning.

The IDF said that it does not believe that the nuclear site was specifically targeted and that the missile was not meant to strike any particular site on the ground. The projectile did not result in any injuries or serious damage.

Israeli radar detected that at least one of the missiles was heading toward the Negev desert, triggering sirens in the area and sending IDF anti-air crews into action. However, the defensive measures failed to stop the SA-5 from landing.

Commenting on the incident, Defense Minister Benny Gantz acknowledged at a press conference in Tel Aviv that an attempt to intercept the missile "did not succeed" and that the IDF are investigating what went wrong.

"Normally we see different outcomes," Gantz noted.

Thousands of Russians joined rallies in support of jailed activist Alexey Navalny on Wednesday. However, despite attracting over 466,000 pledges to attend online, far fewer actually turned out for the unauthorized demonstrations.

While organizers have not yet released their estimates of attendance at the actions, held in cities across the country, Russia's Interior Ministry claims around 14,400 people were involved in the gatherings. They say crowds ranged in size from 6,000 in Moscow to only 40 people in the Far East city of Magadan, according to official numbers.

Estimates from Russian media organisations suggest the real attendance was considerably higher. Some suggested that between 10,000 and 15,000 turned up to the Moscow event.

Nevertheless, this would mean pickets were significantly smaller than the large-scale protests held in January, when Navalny was arrested after arriving back in the country from Berlin. He had been receiving treatment for what he and his doctors claim was a poisoning with the nerve agent Novichok. He has since been jailed for breaching the terms of a suspended sentence for fraud.

OVD-Info, an opposition-linked rights group that has received Western funding in the past, claimed that at least 1,000 people had been detained, including over 300 in Saint Petersburg.

The 'Free Navalny' website had attracted more than 466,000 signatures from those claiming they would be interested in attending the protests with the stated aim of "defending Alexey and our right to freedom and happiness." However, the efforts were marred by claims that anyone could sign up from anywhere in the world, many using false details. Last week, the database of email addresses was leaked online in a massive data breach, which organizers were forced to apologize for.

Wednesday's rallies were held over concerns for Navalny's health. The anti-corruption campaigner announced on March 31 that he would begin a hunger strike, and claims he has not eaten since. He insists he has been prevented from seeing his personal doctors for leg and back pain. It is not customary for inmates in Russian penal colonies to choose their physicians, and the country's human rights watchdog, Tatyana Moskalkova, told reporters earlier on Wednesday that he had been seen by four separate medics, who are providing him with nutrients through an intravenous drip.

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NBC News - which was forced to apologize in 2012 for deceptively editing the 911 phone call of George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin case to make him sound racist - has done it again.

Following the fatal officer-involved shooting of 16-year-old black girl, Ma'Khia Bryant - who was about to stab another black girl in Columbus, Ohio - tensions flared high as a flood of leftist journalists and 'blue-checks' on Twitter falsely reported that Bryant was unarmed.

Less than a day later, bodycam footage revealed that Bryant was clearly wielding a knife - and about to stab the other black teen when she was shot.

NBC News, however, continued peddling the 'unarmed' lie with a deceptive edit of the 911 call to remove a reference to the attempted stabbing, as well as the video - which NBC stops right before it's apparent the teen is holding a knife.

Here's what NBC News didn't show:

© City of ColumbusStill from bodycam footage of Ma'Khia Bryant attacking the unnamed woman in pink.

Why is NBC intentionally trying to inflame racial tension?

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