US warplanes carried out their first air strike on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)near Baghdad, as world diplomats pledged Monday to support Iraq in its fight against the militants. The United States early last month began air strikes against ISIL positions in northern Iraq, but Monday’s …

Turkey could establish a buffer zone to defend its borders with Iraq and Syria from Islamic State (IS) militants, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said. After a trip to Qatar Erdogan told journalists the Turkish army is now developing the plan which will have to be inspected by the government, according to the Daily Sabah.

Lawmakers in Ukraine have passed a bill introduced by President Petro Poroshenko envisaging limited self-determination for the country’s east. Ukraine’s government is now calling for local elections (both municipal and general) to be held on December 7 in self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics”.