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A pair of Russian bombers being readied for action at Hemeimeem air base in Syria on Wednesday Jan. 20, 2016. Russian warplanes have flown over 5,700 combat missions since Moscow launched its air campaign in Syria on Sept. 30, 2015.(AP Photo/Vladimir Isachenkov)

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s Defense Ministry says it has no plans to create another air base in Syria.

The ministry’s statement Monday follows media reports claiming that Russia could be preparing to set up another base in Qamishli in northeastern Syria near the border with Turkey.

The ministry’s spokesman, Maj.-Gen. Igor Konashenkov, said that the military has no intention to set up any additional air bases or advance airfields in Syria.

Russian warplanes have flown nearly 6,000 combat missions since Moscow launched its air campaign in Syria on Sept. 30. The Russian warplanes are based at Hemeimeem air base in Syria’s coastal province of Latakia.

The Russian air blitz has helped Syrian President Bashar Assad’s army to launch offensives and seize some key areas from the opposition in recent weeks.

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FLINT, MI (WLNS)- Members of Cristo Rey Church loaded up and hit the road with the goal of reaching a population that is still very much in need of help.

6 News took the journey with them to Flint today as they work to reach the undocumented immigrants and spread the word that help is available for everyone who needs it.

“Come on its time to go” Lupe Castillo said.

The trunk of a truck filled with baby wipes closes, as Lansing’s Cristo Rey Church packs a truck filled with baby wipes, and a semi filled with water.

This is all in an effort to help undocumented families in Flint.

“I understand they are asking for documentation. Well those that are not, undocumented, have a fear of, oh what immigration is going to come tomorrow and pick me up and deport me. And, and that should not happen!” John Castillo of Cristo Rey Church said.

Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Flint is the destination for Cristo Rey’s supplies.

Volunteers there have been handing out water, filters, and test kits to all families in need but say there are at least a thousand undocumented residents in Flint, and some are afraid to take any hand-outs.

“They hear the knock on the door or see the police or somebody of authority and they’re afraid to open the door. They’re not even going to open the door, you know I put myself in their shoes and I think how would I react, I think I’d be the same way” Our Lady of Guadalupe Church member Mary Mosqueda said.

Victoria Arteaga agrees, Arteaga recalls a story a woman told her; The said she visited her friends who were undocumented, and a situation involving people dropping off water occurred while she was there.

“She said, they knocked on the door and they said “Police, water!”. Well they didn’t hear “water” all they heard was “police” and everyone went in the kitchen and everyone was arguing and not going to the door. She said “Look I’m just visiting I’m going to the door.” She went to the door gave them her name, they gave her a filter, and off they went.” Arteaga shared.

Victoria Arteaga is an immigration attorney in Flint.

According to Arteaga, even though state officials have announced that ID’s are not required, and everyone is entitled to resources, that’s hasn’t really been the case.

“While the policy is that anyone can get a filter it is not happening in practice” Victoria Arteaga said.

“I have been to an office where I’ve said I need water. They said, I need a state ID, a valid state ID, and proof that you are a resident of the city of Flint. Before I can give you a filter.” Arteaga said.

According to Red Cross officials, that’s not the norm and they want all residents in Flint to know, if someone knocks on your door, they are only there to help.

“Red Cross is here to serve everyone documented, undocumented” Yanna Saunders, Red Cross volunteer said.

According to the Red Cross, the city of Flint is working to get every home a water filter regardless of immigration status, and they’re hoping everyone will open their door and accept the help.

Amnesty International activists protest against the ongoing migrant crisis with a boat filled with mannequins wearing life vests outside the Maritime Museum, rear, during an informal meeting of EU Justice and Home Affairs ministers at the Maritime Museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Monday, Jan. 25, 2016. European Union justice and interior ministers have started urgent discussions on how to tackle the migrant crisis amid the stream of new arrivals and continuing disagreements over how to seal off borders.(AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

AMSTERDAM (AP) — The latest developments in Europe’s immigration crisis (all times local):

5:10 p.m.

Children’s rights advocates are urging the European Union to do more to protect young migrants, warning that if they survive risky boat journeys they often face “malnutrition, physical and mental suffering, health and welfare problems, lack of information and insecurity.”

In an open letter to senior European officials Monday, the European Network of Ombudspersons for Children urged senior European officials to better protect the fundamental rights of children who are part of the migrant surge.

Dutch children’s ombudsman Marc Dullaert says he was shocked by the risks they face. He says, “I thought, and many people are thinking, that when you are in Europe, then you are safe. Well, on the contrary.”

As well as poor living conditions in camps, they face the possibility of being sexually abused or exploited by traffickers or smugglers during their trek.

4:50 p.m.

Swedish police say that a female worker at a shelter for youth and unaccompanied minors was stabbed to death at the center in southwestern Sweden.

Police spokesman Christer Fuxborg says that two people were holding down the male suspect when police arrived on the scene. He said the 22-year-old woman, who wasn’t named, died of her wounds later Monday when taken to hospital. The suspect was arrested by police.

Fuxborg said there were signs of a violent fight at the home, which houses about a dozen 16- to 18-year-old migrants and other youth in Molndal, near the port city of Goteborg. He couldn’t give further details pending a police investigation.

2:30 p.m.

The Belgian government says that because Greece is too weak to guard its own borders, it should face an EU “sanction mechanism” under which the rising number of refugees entering the country would effectively be forced to stay there.

Belgian Migration State Secretary Theo Francken told the VRT network that “the Greeks now need to bear the consequences” if internal border controls within the Schengen area, which is supposed to be a passport free zone, are extended for two years, as is currently discussed.

Francken said the Greek “state structure is just too weak to do it themselves – apparently.”

Francken raised the specter of setting up “closed facilities” for up to 300,000 people in Greece to be overseen by EU nations. More than 850,000 migrants arrived in Greece last year and almost all try to move on to the European heartland.

2:15 p.m.

Police say a group of five men have stabbed a Pakistani man to death and wounded two others near Greece’s border with Macedonia.

Police say the incident occurred in the early hours of Monday in the Evzones area where thousands of refugees cross into Macedonia to continue their journey toward other, more prosperous, European countries.

Police said the five men, believed to be Afghans, fatally stabbed one Pakistani man in the abdomen, and wounded the other two while also taking money and a mobile phone from one of them.

The two wounded men are being treated in a local hospital.

1:55 p.m.

A Greek minister has angrily blamed European Union member states for failing to send Athens enough manpower and ships to help it tackle the migrant crisis and for not living up to pledges to relocate migrants.

Immigration Minister Ioannis Mouzalas told reporters on the sidelines of an EU meeting in Amsterdam on Monday that sending officers from the EU border protection force known as Frontex to neighboring Macedonia in an attempt to halt migrants there would be illegal.

It has been suggested that EU border guards would be more effective on the Greek-Macedonian border, but Mouzalas said sending them there is “not a good idea,” insisting: “We need Frontex in Greece.”

Mouzalas says Greece is doing all it can to protect its sea borders from boatloads of migrants heading from Turkey to nearby Greek islands, but has not been sufficiently helped by fellow EU members. He says Athens wanted 1,800 Frontex officers, but has got only 800.

1:35 p.m.

The European Union and Turkey have committed to step up their cooperation to stem the relentless flow of migrants into the continent.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini met with Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara Monday. In a joint statement after the meeting, the two sides acknowledged there is a “need to exert huge effort” to counter the flow and that Ankara needs to do more to fight smuggling networks and the influx of migrants who are not eligible for asylum.

In return, the EU committed to make the promised 3 billion euros ($3.2 billion) available to help deal with the refugee crisis in Turkey. So far, the EU nations and institutions have been bickering over how to share the cost.

Cavusoglu warned that the delay was obstructing efforts to improve refugee conditions in Turkey, especially in education and health care. However, Mogherini said she was confident that “the amount will be there.” She added that the EU was still preparing how the money would be spent.

12:15 p.m.

Germany’s vice chancellor is dismissing a proposal by a senior member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party to manage the migrant influx by setting up centers at borders from which refugees would be allowed into the country according to daily quotas.

Julia Kloeckner, a deputy leader of Merkel’s Christian Democrats, floated her “plan A2″ over the weekend. Kloeckner hopes to become governor of Rhineland-Palatinate state in a mid-March election, ousting the center-left Social Democrats.

The Christian Democrats and Social Democrats are traditional rivals but currently govern Germany in a “grand coalition.”

Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, the Social Democrats’ leader, said Monday that Kloeckner’s idea is a “campaign action” and is “not practicable.”

Merkel spokesman Steffen Seibert responded cautiously to Kloeckner’s proposal. He said that “some of it complements the government’s policy, some overlaps with it.”

09:30 a.m.

European Union justice and interior ministers have started urgent discussions on how to tackle the migrant crisis amid the stream of new arrivals and continuing disagreements over how to seal off borders.

Monday’s meeting comes days after EU President Donald Tusk warned that Europe’s passport-free travel area, known as Schengen, could break apart if the migrant strategy is not sorted out within two months.

Ministers will be seeking to stem the flow through Greece, where authorities are struggling to contain the crossings by boat from Turkey.

Belgium’s interior minister, Jan Jambon, says that Greece “has to do what it has to do — namely, controls. And if that is not the case, we need to look closely into that.”

EU figures show more than 2,000 people are still arriving daily.

In this Jan. 23, 2016, Puerto Rican Virginia Correa waits for taxi service in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Correa traveled half a day via ship from San Juan to the Dominican capital to visit her son, who is studying medicine at a Dominican university. Officials say it’s hard to quantify exactly how many Puerto Ricans have moved to the Dominican Republic in recent years because they fall under the general category of U.S. citizens, but they say the trend is undeniable. (AP Photo/Ezequiel Abiu Lopez)

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Carlos Gonzalez already had noticed the growing number of empty chairs and increasingly quiet slot machines at the Puerto Rico casino where he worked as he mulled a job offer in the Dominican Republic.

It was 2013, and Puerto Rico’s economy had been in a downward slide for nearly a decade. Gonzalez didn’t know it at the time, but the once-popular casino where he worked as a marketing manager would soon close.

He thought of his family and friends and the reasons he moved back to Puerto Rico in the first place after spending more than 20 years in New Jersey. It took him several months to make a decision — “It’s not easy to leave your land,” the Puerto Rico native said — but he finally did.

“I never imagined it. Never!” Gonzalez said with a laugh. “I even asked myself 2,000 times whether I really was moving to the Dominican Republic. I told myself it was crazy.”

The flow of migrants through the 80 miles (130 kilometers) of churning waters that separate Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic has typically moved in one direction for more than half a century: toward the U.S. territory. But the island’s deep economic crisis is reversing this trend, with a growing number of financially strapped Puerto Ricans moving to the neighboring Caribbean country to open businesses and escape economic chaos that has scared away even many Dominican migrants.

Officials say it’s hard to quantify exactly how many Puerto Ricans have moved to the Dominican Republic in recent years because they fall under the general category of U.S. citizens, but they say the trend is undeniable.

“It used to be extremely rare for a Puerto Rican to stop by and seek a work visa,” said Franklin Grullon, the Dominican consul in the Puerto Rican capital of San Juan. “There’s been a surge in all types of visas, and we believe this flow will only increase.”

The majority of Puerto Ricans seeking business visas are young to middle-aged men, and many request permission to work in the tourism sector because they speak English and find it easy to get a job, Grullon said. They are drawn by the Dominican Republic’s robust economy, which grew 7 percent in 2015 for the second consecutive year, making it the strongest in the Latin American and Caribbean region. The government has credited vigorous performances in banking, construction and tourism, noting that a record 5.6 million tourists visited the Dominican Republic last year.

There’s also been a big increase in Puerto Rican professionals such as architects and engineers traveling to the Dominican Republic to work because of that country’s booming construction sector, said German Monroig, executive director of the office of Puerto Rican affairs.

“There’s been a considerable change in the last two years,” he said.

It’s hard for Puerto Rican professionals to find steady jobs given the island’s economy, which has stagnated for nine years as the U.S. territory of 3.5 million people struggles with a 12 percent unemployment rate and a $72 billion public debt load the governor has said is unpayable and needs restructuring. About a third of people born in Puerto Rico now live on the U.S. mainland, seeking to escape tax increases, higher utility bills and dwindling job opportunities.

“Puerto Rico became very, very difficult for the casino sector,” the 48-year-old Gonzalez said. “I left just in time. All my friends tell me that the best thing I did was to leave, that Puerto Rico’s situation is crazy.”

Puerto Ricans aren’t the only ones leaving.

Grullon said Dominicans are increasingly moving back to their country, and he noted that the flow of Dominicans entering the U.S. territory illegally also has decreased dramatically: The U.S. Coast Guard detained 1,565 Dominicans in 2004, compared with 133 in 2014.

“What’s surprising about this trend is that up until now, the migration had been from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico, and the main motive was a difference in salary and more jobs,” said Jorge Duany, an anthropology professor at Florida International University who has long studied migration patterns between the two.

In the early 1900s, Puerto Ricans were moving to the Dominican Republic to work in the country’s thriving sugar industry until the Great Depression hit. Then Dominican migrants began moving to Puerto Rico in the 1960s and 70s because of the island’s booming industrial sector. Roughly 200,000 Dominicans are now estimated to live in the U.S. territory, though there are no precise figures because many live on the island illegally.

Now, it’s the lure of more jobs and a powerful economy in the Dominican Republic that is attracting Puerto Ricans, including 51-year-old Francisco Perez.

He worked more than 20 years for an insurance company in Puerto Rico, but began to see his income shrink as car sales on the island plummeted. When a job opportunity presented itself in late 2014 to work for a Puerto Rican company in the Dominican Republic that paid in U.S. dollars, he took it.

“I told myself I had to do what I had to do given the importance I have as my family’s provider,” said the father of four. “When I got here and saw that it was like Puerto Rico back in the 90s, that the economy was doing well, I stayed. I know there are a lot of Puerto Ricans looking over this way to grow their businesses.”

Among them is Gonzalez.

He originally moved to the Dominican Republic to work as a marketing manager for a Hard Rock Cafe in the popular beach resort of Punta Cana, but he quit nearly two months ago to open his own tour company there.

“We’re at full blast,” he said, noting that he already has several contracts with large hotels in the region. “This is on the up and up.”

Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

FILE – In this Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016 file photo, a man stands on the rubble of the Chamber of Trade and Industry headquarters after it was hit by a Saudi-led airstrike in Sanaa, Yemen. Within hours of ascending to the Saudi throne, King Salman announced sweeping changes that would recast the kingdom?s line of succession, and rework its security and economic decision-making processes. It marked the start of what would be a tumultuous year for King Salman, who completes one year as monarch on Saturday, Jan. 23, 2016. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed, File)

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemeni officials say the country’s prime minister has returned to the volatile southern city of Aden, months after being targeted in a suicide bombing that forced him to leave the country.

They say Khaled Bahah’s return on Monday is aimed at establishing a permanent government presence in Aden, even as the country is torn apart by civil war.

A Saudi-led coalition is fighting to force Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, to loosen their grip on the capital, Sanaa, and other parts of Yemen. Since the Saudi-led campaign began last March, more than 5,800 people have been killed.

Also Monday, security officials say a missile killed a judge’s family of eight in Sanaa’s neighborhood of Nahda.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they aren’t authorized to speak to reporters.

(NBC News) Filing your taxes this year will be different than years past.

You’re going to have four extra days to file this year. The deadline’s been moved to April 18th.

However, in Massachusetts the deadline is April 19th. Tax Day occasionally falls on Patriots’ Day, a civic holiday in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, or the preceding weekend. When this occurred for some time, the federal tax deadline was extended by a day for the residents of Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, and the District of Columbia because the IRS processing center for these areas was located in Andover, Massachusetts and the unionized IRS employees got the day off.

The 1095 forms which you’ll have to file describing where you purchased your health insurance are also changing.

The penalty for not having health insurance goes up considerably, to $325 or two percent of taxable income, whichever is greater.

Also going up is the number of taxpayers who file electronically, which means those due a refund will get them quicker.

Read more: http://nbcnews.to/1K1pDuk

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The latest on Flint’s lead-tainted water (all times local):

11:15 a.m.

Michigan’s attorney general has named a former prosecutor as special counsel to investigate whether laws were broken during the process that left Flint with lead-tainted water.

Bill Schuette said Monday that former Wayne County assistant prosecutor Todd Flood will spearhead his office’s probe with assistance from Andy Arena, the former head of Detroit’s FBI office.

The Republican attorney general also said his office is reviewing what can be done to prevent Flint residents from being billed for water.

Schuette’s office represents both the people of Michigan and state government.

Schuette says appointing the special counsel will prevent conflicts between him, his investigation team and the team defending the state against water-related lawsuits.

Republican Gov. Rick Snyder has apologized for regulatory failures and other things that led to Flint’s crisis. Federal investigations also are underway.

5:50 a.m.

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette says a former prosecutor and a former head of the Detroit FBI will play key roles in his office’s investigation into Flint’s water crisis.

Schuette issued an update on the investigation Monday morning, saying in a statement that all involved “will do our job thoroughly and let the chips fall where they may.”

Schuette says Todd Flood, a former assistant prosecutor in Wayne County, will spearhead Schuette’s investigation and serve as special counsel. He’ll be joined by Andy Arena, who led Detroit’s FBI office from 2007 until 2012.

The announcement comes ahead of a Monday morning news conference.

Schuette, a Republican, announced Jan. 15 he would investigate what, if any, Michigan laws were violated in the process that left Flint’s drinking water contaminated with lead.

CLEVELAND (AP) — The head of Ohio’s environmental agency is calling for a criminal investigation after the operator of a water treatment plant in northeast Ohio failed to tell the public that high levels of lead and copper had been detected in some homes last summer.

Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Director Craig Butler said in a statement Sunday that officials are “taking steps” to revoke the operating license of the plant operator in Sebring.

The statement says the EPA has “reason to suspect” that the operator falsified reports.

The water system serves about 8,100 customers in Sebring, about 60 miles southeast of Cleveland.

Sebring schools canceled classes Friday and Monday.

The city manager said last week that seven of 20 homes where the water is routinely tested showed the high levels of the contaminants.