Kurdish Iraqi forces launched a major operation today to retake the militant-held town of Sinjar in northern Iraq, part of a push to secure the road that leads directly to the Syrian border. Peshmerga forces, backed by US-led coalition airstrikes, moved into the town, which has been under the control …

At least 4,700 people have died in Ukraine in the nine and a half months since the start of an armed conflict between the Ukrainian military and pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country, a United Nations team announced Monday. That’s an average of around 16 deaths per day.

Top US diplomat John Kerry was to meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov Sunday, amid anger in Moscow over the prospect of new US sanctions and possible lethal military aid for Ukraine. The meeting in Rome comes as tensions soar after US lawmakers passed a bill — dubbed the Ukraine …