Ashish Kumar Sen

A democratic dictator? Did Turkey just get its own Vladimir Putin? That’s a question on the minds of many Turks and Western observers these days.

Islamist militants behead U.S. journalist US President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that the world is “appalled” by the execution of an American journalist by militants belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and gave no indication that the US will stop bombarding the militants in Iraq.

Taking the fight to the Islamic State  U.S. airstrikes on Islamic State positions inside Iraq have forced the Sunni militants on the back foot, providing a glimmer of hope in a country desperate for some good news. 

US jets begin air strikes in Iraq US jets conducted a second round of targeted air strikes against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria fighters in Iraq on Friday, hours after President Barack Obama authorised the action and ordered humanitarian relief to besieged Iraqis.

Libya held hostage   The situation in Libya has for months been spiralling out of control. Earlier in August, a British navy ship evacuated around 100 British citizens from Tripoli as fighting between rival militias left dozens of Libyans dead and the airport in the capital in ruins.