Coalition forces continue to battle against Islamic State while the world reacts to the coronavirus pandemic.

Islamic State militants have stepped up their attacks on security forces in north-eastern Iraq, reportedly killing at least 18 people since the weekend.

Lebanon’s foreign minister summoned the German ambassador on Tuesday to explain Berlin’s decision last week to ban the Shi’ite Hezbollah movement on its soil.

In its latest report, U.S.-based democracy monitor Freedom House warns of a “stunning democratic breakdown” across Central Europe, the Balkans, and Eurasia as many leaders in the region attempt to do away with any remaining checks on their power.

The Venezuelan military thwarted an attempted naval invasion by heavily-armed mercenaries coming from Colombia on Sunday morning, neutralizing multiple fighters and capturing at least two US nationals among them. More mercenaries have surrendered in the days since.

A briefcase stuffed with ricin… Mayors under police protection… An alleged Russian assassination plot has thrown Czech foreign policy into turmoil. Reports that Russian assassins are targeting Czechs politicians may sound like the plot of a classic Cold War thriller, but they are the product of a very contemporary tussle.

Dozens of refugees and migrants trying to cross Albania have been reduced to begging for food on the streets of Tirana, victims of gang violence and under-funding at a state-run reception centre.

If the EU suddenly seems more interested than it was in integrating the Western Balkans, it is partly because the expansion into the region by large regional powers such as China has got Brussels worried.

After weeks of infighting and controversial efforts to organise a postal ballot during the pandemic, Poland’s ruling coalition has agreed not to hold the vote this Sunday.

The Islamic State used this banner in a recent issue of its Al-Naba newsletter, as well as online, to advertise its latest attack on Al-Qaeda. On April 29, the Islamic State’s “province” (wilayah) in Yemen released a lengthy video that is intended to undermine al-Qaeda’s ideological legitimacy within the jihadists’ …