The University of Missouri professor who called for the removal of a photographer covering the protests on the Columbia, Mo., campus has resigned from her "courtesy post" within the journalism school.

Melissa Click, an assistant professor in the communications department, was among the activists who had formed a perimeter around the tent village at the center of the demonstration to block the media from accessing it.

Click was seen in a widely distributed video confronting a photographer who was filming Monday’s protests.

“Who wants to help me get this reporter out of here? I need some muscle over here!” Click yelled.

The clip drew outrage among fellow journalists and a review of Click’s position by fellow journo-school faculty members.

Follow Lara Jakes ✔@larajakesFP Pendulum swings too far the other way. Unbelievable for world's 1st J-school: Mizzou Activists Block Journalists http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/10/us/university-missouri-protesters-block-journalists-press-freedom.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share … 9:09 AM - 10 Nov 2015 The New York Times ‘I Need Some Muscle’: Missouri Activists Block Journalists Protesters at the University of Missouri blocked journalists from a campus quad. One faculty member yelled, “Who wants to help me get this reporter out of here?” View on web 1616 Retweets 1212 likes

Follow John Stoehr @johnastoehr You wanted to be in the public's eye. Now you got it. >>> http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/10/us/university-missouri-protesters-block-journalists-press-freedom.html?_r=0 … pic.twitter.com/oBugWhktRd 1:54 PM - 10 Nov 2015 55 Retweets 1010 likes

David Kurpius, the dean of the school of journalism, announced Click’s resignation late Tuesday, stressing that she held a “courtesy appointment” and never had a teaching role at the school.

“The news media have First Amendment rights to cover public events,” Kurpius said.

Click, who remains on the faculty in the communications department, apologized in a statement of her own.

Follow MU College of A&S @MUCollegeofAS Statement by Melissa Click, Assistant Professor of the Department of Communication, Regarding Carnahan Quad Protests 6:07 PM - 10 Nov 2015 286286 Retweets 114114 likes

“I regret the language and strategies I used, and sincerely apologize to the M.U. campus community, and journalists at large, for my behavior, and also for the way my actions have shifted attention away from the students’ campaign for justice,” Click wrote, adding that she had called the journalists involved to apologize.

Tim Tai, a senior photographer who was seen being confronted by in the video, told the New York Times he accepted her apology.

“I never had ill will toward her, and I felt bad when I heard she’d been getting threats,” Tai, who was covering the protests as a freelancer for ESPN, said. “I think this has been a learning experience for everyone involved, myself included, and I hope this blows over for both of us.”

Kurpius agreed.

“The events of November 9 have raised numerous issues regarding the boundaries of the First Amendment,” he said. “Although the attention on journalists has shifted the focus from the news of the day, it provides an opportunity to educate students and citizens about the role of a free press.”

It seems some of the students have already learned their lesson.

The organizers of the protests distributed a PSA on Tuesday encouraging activists to welcome the press.

“Media has a 1st amendment right to occupy campsite,” the leaflet read. “The media is important to tell our story and experiences at Mizzou to the world. ... Let’s welcome and thank them!”

An eight-year-old boy has been charged with murder after he allegedly beat a one-year-old girl while their moms were out clubbing together, authorities said.

The boy, whose identity is being withheld by police, “viciously attacked the one-year-old because the one-year-old would not stop crying,” a Birmingham, Alabama police spokesman said in a statement, AL.com reported.

He then reportedly put the little girl, identified as Kelci Lewis, back in her crib, where her mother, Katerra Lewis, found her the next day, police said.

The boy is the youngest person in recent memory in Jefferson County to be charged with murder, Edwards said.

Lewis allegedly left her daughter with at least five other children, ages two, four, six, seven and eight, on October 11 while she and the suspect’s mother went out from 11:30 p.m. to 2 a.m.

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Lewis discovered little Kelci in her crib at 10:45 a.m. the next day and called police, Edwards said. Emergency responders rushed to the home but the baby, who turned one in May, was pronounced dead at 11:07 a.m.

Read: Maintenance Crew Discovers Man's Body Inside Refrigerator In Los Angeles Apartment

She died from blunt force trauma to the head and internal injuries, Edwards said.

“This is by far one of the saddest cases that I’ve witnessed, I’ve been a part of, ever since I became a police officer,” Edwards said at a press conference.

The eight-year-old boy is in the custody of the Department of Human Resources and all of the other children in the home that night have been removed from the mothers, according to reports.

“I believe the eight-year-old is going to require some intense counseling for the next several years,” Edwards said.

Lewis was charged with manslaughter and turned herself in to the Jefferson County Jail, police said.

She was reportedly released after posting $15,000 bond.

Lewis’s attorney, Emory Anthony, told WBRC: “The manslaughter statute deals with someone's action, as far as, acting in the heat of passion or acting in a reckless manner, not a person allowing some other person to act in a dangerous manner. I think they are trying to allege that she was reckless or negligent in some particular way, and we'll have to deal with that. Of course my client has a different story about what transpired."

He has not yet answered INSIDE EDITION’s request for comment.

The child's grandmother Waynetta Callens insisted to AL.com that other adults were in the home when Lewis and the eight-year-old boy's mother went out.

Read: Cops: 'Depressed' Freshman Shot Himself in the Head During Class

"Katerra is not the type of parent that they are trying to portray her as,'' Callens said to AL.com. "We all will have our day in court. Never judge a book by its cover, which means don't try to judge from the outside. People are already talking, I know they are. If you don't know the real story, keep your mouth closed because you don't know what happened."

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Lewis had created a GoFundMe page that has since been taken down to raise money for funeral expenses.

“My baby was taken from me unexpectedly, where I wasn’t prepared to have to bury my child,” wrote Lewis, who apparently created the page on the day she found her daughter’s body.

“I would like to raise at least $1,000 for help lay my daughter to rest properly,” Lewis added. Twenty four people donated to the cause, raising $1,185 before the page was taken down.

“I think her punishment is something she’s going to have to live with for the rest of her life, her actions that night. Choosing the club over taking care of her one-year-old is going to stick with her the rest of her life,” Edwards said.

Watch: Baby Allegedly Left to Decompose in Crib Until Mom Complained About Smell

Putin's come up with a possible countermeasure, boasting that the Kremlin would develop "strike systems capable of penetrating any missile defenses." Footage of the meeting includes a clear view of a document that defense officials were looking over.

The document looks at one type of "strike system" that Putin was talking about.

The document, according to the Russian Forces blog, includes plans to develop an underwater drone that could be launched from submarines in order to carry out nuclear strikes at key coastal areas. The project is known as "Ocean Multipurpose System 'Status-6.'"

According to a translation by Russian Forces, this weapons system is aimed at "damaging the important components of the adversary's economy in a coastal area and inflicting unacceptable damage to a country's territory by creating areas of wide radioactive contamination that would be unsuitable for military, economic, or other activity for long periods of time."

The drone, according to the project documents, will be launched from two new models of submarine that Russia has started developing over the past three years. The drone will also reportedly have a maximum range of 5,400 nautical miles (10,000 kilometers) while traveling at a depth of 1,000 meters.

Bill Gertz, writing for The Washington Free Beacon, notes that Pentagon officials have determined that Russia is developing a "drone submarine" that would be capable of delivering a nuclear weapon with a yield of multiple megatons. The drones could destroy port cities in the event of a war. And since they'd be delivered underwater, they'd be immune to the NATO missile shield.

Still, there is the possibility that Russia leaked details of the project for propaganda purposes. Since the end of the Cold War, the Russian military has suffered a series of setbacks that are continuing to hamper the country's development of high-end hardware.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia lost a good portion of its military-industrial base. US-led sanctions against Russia and falling oil prices have compounded earlier problems and led to a number of procurement difficulties for the Kremlin.

A new fifth-generation bomber, the PAK DA, was intended to enter service in 2023. The plane's development has been pushed back and Russia will instead focus on production of an updated version of the Soviet-era Tu-160 supersonic nuclear bomber. And the Kremlin is also having problems financing its hulking third-generation Armata tank. Dmitry Gorenburg of Harvard University estimates that Russia will only be able to field a maximum of 330 Armata tanks by 2020, a fraction of the 2,300 originally planned.

In light of Russia's recent history of not being able to deliver on ambitious defense projects, the submarine drone may be nothing more than an attempt to bolster the Kremlin's image, rather than a weapons system that Russia actually intends to build.

Smoke rises from the site of U.S.-led air strikes in the town of Sinjar, November 12, 2015. REUTERS/Ari Jalal

By Isabel Coles

NEAR SINJAR TOWN, Iraq (Reuters) - Kurdish peshmerga forces have started clearing parts of the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar and have established positions along an Islamic State supply route between its two main strongholds in Iraq and Syria, the coalition said on Thursday.

Backed by U.S.-led coalition air strikes, the Kurds launched an offensive in the early morning designed to cordon off Sinjar, take control of strategic routes and establish a buffer zone to protect the town from artillery.

A victory in Sinjar could give the Kurds, government forces and Shi'ite militias momentum in efforts to defeat Islamic State, which controls large areas of Iraq and Syria and has affiliates in Libya and Egypt.

So far the Kurds have captured three villages and penetrated parts of Highway 47, a supply route between Raqqa in Syria and the Iraqi city of Mosul, both of them Islamic State bastions.

"The ground assault began in the early morning hours of Nov. 12, when peshmerga units successfully established blocking positions along Highway 47 and began clearing Sinjar," said the coalition in a statement.

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Smoke rises from the site of U.S.-led air strikes in the town of Sinjar, November 12, 2015. REUTERS/ …

"The peshmerga will continue operations to re-establish government control over key portions of the areas."

Islamic State, a hardline Sunni group suspected by Western intelligence officials of playing a role in the crash of a Russian passenger plane in Egypt two weeks ago, overran Sinjar more than a year ago.

Islamic State's killing and enslaving of thousands of the northern town's Yazidi residents focused international attention on the group's violent campaign to impose its radical ideology and prompted Washington to launch its air offensive.

There were no indications of direct American involvement on the ground in "Operation Free Sinjar". Iran, which has military advisors in Iraq to support the government, did not appear to have a hand in combat.

Islamic State uses Highway 47 to transport weapons, fighters and illicit commodities to fund its operations, said the coalition, which conducted more than 250 air strikes in the past month across northern Iraq.

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Members of the Kurdish peshmerga forces gather in the town of Sinjar, November 12, 2015. REUTERS/Ar …

"Strikes destroyed Daesh fighting positions, command and control facilities, weapon storage facilities, improvised explosive device factories, and staging areas," said the coalition, referring to Islamic State.

Russia's recent interventions -- air strikes against opponents of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria and intelligence sharing with Baghdad -- have raised concerns in Washington that its former Cold War foe is gaining influence in the Middle East.

U.S.-led coalition air strikes pounded Islamic State-held areas in the town overnight, as around 7,500 Kurdish special forces, peshmerga and Yazidi fighters descended from the Sinjar mountain towards the front line in a military convoy.

"This operation will degrade Daesh resupply efforts, disrupt funding to the terrorist group’s operations, stem the flow of Daesh fighters into Iraq, and further isolate Mosul from Raqqa," said the coalition.

"Coalition air strikes will continue to target Daesh leaders, revenue sources, supply routes, command facilities, and weapons caches to dismantle their operations in Iraq and Syria."

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A member of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces fires his weapon during clashes with Islamic State militant …

The Kurdish security council said Kurdish forces had captured a village to the west of Sinjar and two others on the eastern outskirts. Reuters could not independently confirm this.

Spirits were high among Kurdish commanders and local officials near the front line.

"It is going according to plan. We are optimistic and we consider today like a celebration," said Sinjar district mayor Mahma Xelil.

Kurdish forces and the U.S. military said the number of Islamic State fighters in the town had increased to nearly 600 after reinforcements arrived in the run-up to the offensive, which has been expected for weeks but delayed by the weather and friction between various Kurdish and Yazidi forces in Sinjar.

The offensive is being personally overseen by Kurdistan regional president Massoud Barzani, who is also head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which other groups in the area accuse of seeking to monopolize power.

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Smoke rises from the site of U.S.-led air strikes in the town of Sinjar, November 12, 2015. REUTERS …

Many Yazidis lost faith in the KDP when its forces failed to protect them from Islamic State militants, who consider them devil worshippers, when the group attacked Sinjar in August 2014, systematically slaughtering, enslaving and raping thousands of Yazidis.

A Syrian affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) came to the rescue, evacuating thousands of Yazidis stranded on Sinjar mountain and establishing a permanent base there.

Near the front lines on Thursday, a Kurdish officer stood behind a wall of sandbags. Sinjar, about 300 meters (1,000 feet)away, could be seen through a gap in a rampart.

Kurdish officers said an Islamic State sniper had taken up position in the town. Coordinates were passed to a joint operations room and within five minutes the position was bombed.

Islamic State militants could be heard communicating in Arabic and Turkmen in intercepted walkie-talkie chatter.

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Members of the Kurdish peshmerga forces gather in the town of Sinjar, November 12, 2015. REUTERS/Ari …

"Where are you," asked one. "Praise be to God," said another. One fighter noted that a car used by his comrades had been destroyed.

Loqman Ibrahim, head of the eight battalion, made up of Yazidis and under peshmerga command, said he heard militants urging each other to fight to the death and that an order was given not to withdraw.

Most Yazidis have been displaced to camps in the Kurdistan region; several thousand remain in Islamic State captivity.

LAND AND HONOR

The PKK has trained a Yazidi militia in Sinjar, while tribal groups operate independently. Several thousand Yazidis have also joined the peshmerga.

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A member of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces looks through binoculars during clashes with Islamic State …

For Yazidi forces taking part, the battle is very much about retribution.

Hussein Derbo, the head of a peshmerga battalion made up of 440 Yazidis, said the men under his command could have migrated to Europe but chose to stay and fight.

"It is our land and our honor. They (Islamic State) stole our dignity. We want to get it back," he told Reuters in a village on the northern outskirts of Sinjar town.

Derbo's brother, Farman, echoed the sentiment, saying he hoped the militants would not retreat so the Yazidis could kill them all.

The forces, many wearing the thick mustache typical of Yazidis and carrying light weapons, had gathered at a staging position overnight. They traveled in a peshmerga convoy comprised of Humvees on flatbed trucks, heavy artillery, and fighters waving Kurdish flags, flashing peace signs and brandishing their rifles.

Hundreds of vehicles wound slowly downhill along the same road Yazidis had fled up last summer seeking safety from Islamic State. Abandoned cars and blood-stained clothing on the roadside were reminders of those chaotic scenes.

Around dawn, the fighters piled into their vehicles and headed to the front.

Authorizing the first strikes against Islamic State in August 2014, U.S. President Barack Obama cited a duty to prevent a genocide of Yazidis by the radical Islamists.

The U.S.-led coalition has carried out dozens of strikes in the past few weeks in support of the peshmerga, apparently coordinated with the Sinjar offensive.

In December 2014, Kurdish forces drove Islamic State from north of Sinjar mountain, a craggy strip about 60 km (40 miles) long, but the radical Sunni insurgents of Islamic State maintain control of the southern side where the town is located. The peshmerga currently control about 20 percent of the town.

Backed by U.S. air strikes, the peshmerga have also regained most of the ground they consider historically Kurdish. Sinjar is part of the disputed territories to which both the Iraqi federal government and regional Kurdish authorities lay claim.

(Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Giles Elgood)