Inner Asia
Russo-Turkish pipeline route on hold amid crisis
With Moscow threatening sanctions against Turkey, plans for a Russo-Turkish free trade zone and joint gas pipeline route appear be on hold.
Greater Middle East
Opening shots of new Russo-Turkish war?
The situation in northern Syria is escalating amid Russo-Turkish brinkmanship, with Turkmen villages coming under intense Russian bombardment.
Watching the Shadows
Drone memos may stay secret: US appeals court
A federal appeals court ruled that the US government may keep secret memoranda related to the legal justification for the use of drones for targeted killings.
Greater Middle East
Russian warplane down: heightened contradictions
After Turkey's downing of a Russian warplane over Syria, Vladimir Putin openly accused Ankara of backing ISIS—echoing a charge Kurdish forces have been making for months.
Inner Asia
ISIS commander was trained by Blackwater: report
A former police commander from Tajikistan was featured in an ISIS video boasting that he had been trained by Blackwater in the US under State Department aegis.
South Asia
Bangladesh: executions amid net silence
The Bangladeshi government imposed a social media blackout ahead of the execution of two opposition figures convicted of war crimes committed during the 1971 independence war.
North Africa
Glencore secures Libya oil contract
Global commodities giant Glencore signed a deal with Libya's state oil company—which is now divided into feuding branches loyal to the country's rival regimes.
Iraq
Security Council adopts resolution to fight ISIS
The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution calling on all member states to fight to eradicate ISIS, calling it "a global and unprecedented threat."
Greater Middle East
Syria: protests break out in ISIS-held town
Residents of the ISIS-held northern Syrian town of Manbij have held unprecedented protests against jihadist rule, according to activists who got the word out via social media.
Africa
Mali: who is behind Bamako attack?
The deadly hotel siege in Mali's capital was apparently ordered by Algerian militant Mokhtar Belmokhtar—who was twice reported killed in military operations over the past two years.
Greater Middle East
Saudi Arabia sentences Palestinian poet to death
A court in Saudi Arabia sentenced Palestinian poet Ashraf Fayadh to death for apostasy and abandoning his Muslim faith after he protested the kingdom's religious police.
The Andes
Colombia: M-19 rebels investigated for war crimes
Colombia's Fiscal General Eduardo Montealegre announced an investigation into possible war crimes by surviving commanders of the demobilized M-19 guerillas.