Warplanes flying from the USS George HW Bush carried out the first US air-strikes against ISIS targets in Syria, with planes from five Arab countries also participating in the raids.
Turkish security forces fired water cannon and tear-gas to prevent local Kurds from crossing into Syria to come to the defense of ISIS-beseiged Kobani.
Thousands of Yazidi refugees who have fled the Sinjar region of northern Iraq have been denied entry into Turkey by military forces, and are stranded in the mountains.
Tens of thousands joined the funeral for a youth killed by Turkish troops who attacked local Kurds trying to protect a statue of PKK guerrilla leader Mahsum Korkmaz near Diyarbakır.
The taking of the Mosul Dam on the Tigris River from ISIS by Peshmerga forces backed by US air power highlights the strategic nature of water in the multi-sided Iraq conflict.
The US dropped plans for a rescue mission for besieged Yazidis—over the protests of Yazidi leaders—as the "terrorist" PKK joined US-backed Peshmerga in the fight against ISIS.
In authorizing US air-strikes in northern Iraq, President Obama invoked the responsibility to protect the Yazidis from ISIS and avert a potential "genocide."
Thousands of Turkish workers went on strike to express their outrage over the mining disaster at Soma, where angry protests by local miners and their families continue.
With the open encouragement of Putin, separatists in eastern Ukraine are reviving the concept of "Novorossiya" (New Russia)—a dangerous precedent for revanchist claims.
Clashes rocked central Istanbul as Turkish protesters attempted to defy a government ban on May Day rallies at the city's iconic Taksim Square.
The United States and Turkey have said they are following up on renewed accusations that the Syrian regime continues to use chemical weapons against civilians.
Some 2,000 Armenians from the town of Kessab in northern Syria have taken refuge in the port city of Latakia following the occupation of their town by jihadist forces.
