ISIS-led insurgents are creating an Islamic state out of the vast strips of land they control in Iraq and Syria, the militants have announced. Its territory will extend from Syria’s Aleppo, once the economic heart of the country, to the Diyala province in the east of Iraq. The Islamic State for Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), which from now is to call itself simply “Islamic …

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be his party’s presidential candidate at the vote this August, ruling AKP officials say. The widely expected announcement comes briefly after President Abdullah Gul declared he was not intending to stand for a second term in office, amid speculations he might try to do so and could put Erdogan’s ambitions …

Ukrainain forces say at least 150 rebels have been killed during heavy fighting in the east of the country. According to Kiev officials, the army virtually sealed off the town of Mykolayivka after attacking six posts of separatists.