Iraqi government forces have begun an offensive to retake the city of Ramadi from the jihadist group Islamic State (IS), officials say, teh BBC reports.
A spokesman for the Counter-Terrorism Service, Sabah al-Numani, said troops and militiamen, backed by the air force, had entered the city centre.
They were advancing towards the main government complex, he added.
Ramadi, about 90km  west of Baghdad, fell to IS in May in an embarrassing defeat for the Iraqi army.
Photo: AFP
Kurdish forces backed by coalition air strikes have repulsed the most serious attack by Islamic State group in Iraq in five months, US officials say, the BBC reports.
IS militants mounted a co-ordinated assault on several locations near the northern city of Mosul on Wednesday.
About 180 IS fighters were killed in the strikes that continued until Thursday morning, the US officials said.
Mosul has been under the control of IS since last year.
Militants began attacking Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga positions late on Wednesday afternoon, using machine guns, car bombs, rockets and armoured bulldozers, Kurdish and US officials said.
On December 18, 2015, President Serzh Sargsyan will conduct a working visit to Bern, Switzerland where on December 19 he will meet with the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliev. The meeting is mediated by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.
On December 8, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Karen Mirzoyan, who is on a working visit to the USA, had meetings with the representatives of the Armenian Assembly of America and the Armenian National Committee of America.
During the meetings issues of further expansion and development of cooperation between the NKR and the USA, the assistance provided by the United States to Artsakh, as well as the increasing number of provocations and violations on the Line of Contact by the Azerbaijan were discussed. The NKR Foreign Minister expressed satisfaction with the high level of cooperation with Armenian organizations in the US and stressed the importance of activities aimed at protecting the interests of Artsakh in the US.
After the meeting with the members of Armenian National Committee of America, the NKR Foreign Minister took part in a reception organized for the participants of the Pro-Artsakh Advocacy campaign, who had arrived in Washington for meetings in the US Congress and discussions with congressmen on issues related to Artsakh on the initiative of the Armenian National Committee of America. During the reception Karen Mirzoyan delivered a welcoming speech and answered numerous questions from the audience.
The same day the Minister of Foreign Affairs met with Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Ambassador James Warlick. A range of issues related to the current state of affairs in the negotiation process were discussed at the meeting. In particular, the sides emphasized the necessity of undertaking steps to exclude the violations of the cease-fire regime and reduce tension along the Line of Contact.The NKR Permanent Representative to the USA and Canada Robert Avetisyan accompanied the NKR Foreign Minister at the meetings.
Photo: Getty Images
Germany’s parliament is due to vote on whether the country should provide military support in the fight against Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria, the BBC reports.
MPs are expected to back the controversial plan.
Tornado reconnaissance aircraft, a naval frigate and 1,200 soldiers will then be sent to the region. But German forces will not engage in combat.
The vote comes after a French appeal following last month’s Paris attacks.
On Thursday, British warplanes carried out their first air strikes on IS targets in Syriaafter the country’s parliament authorised the military operation.
Members of the armed group “neutralized” in one of the houses in Nork Marash district of Yerevan have been taken to a detention facility.
The Armenian National Security Service task force combating terrorism (Alfa) and representatives of the Armenian Police’s head department combating organized crime have reportedly “neutralized” a group of armed people in Yerevan that allegedly planned to carry out terrorist acts in the Armenian capital.
The group illegally bought and stored the weapons in one of the houses in the capital’s Nork Marash district. The group was headed by RA citizen Arthur Vardanyan, who returned to Yerevan in 2015 after years abroad.
The Minsk Group Co-Chairs will hold consultations in New York and Washington,” US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick has tweeted.
The Co-Chairs earlier reported to the OSCE Permanent Council and the Minsk Group and had a meeting with the German Foreign Minister.
Co-Chairs reported to the Perm Council and Minsk Group. Next we are at the UN New York and in Washington for consultations on
— James Warlick (@AmbJamesWarlick)
Photo by Reuters
There are no Armenians among those killed and injured as a result of twin blasts in Beirut, Lebanon, the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports.
“According to the information obtained by the Armenian Embassy to Lebanon, there are no citizens of the Republic of Armenia or ethnic Armenians among the victims of the blasts in Beirut,” the Foreign Ministry said in a Facebook post.
 last night, leaving at least 41 killed, many injured.
Photo by Reuters
The European Commission has called on Turkey urgently to address significant failings on human rights and democracy, the BBC reports.
A delayed annual report on Turkish prospects for EU membership says there have been serious setbacks in the past two years on freedom of expression.
It also says the independence of the judiciary had been undermined and that new laws run against EU standards.
The report’s publication comes at a time when the EU needs Turkey’s help in trying to control the refugee crisis.
It also follows parliamentary elections in which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) regained the majority it lost in June.
The report had been pushed back by several weeks because sensitive negotiations on the refugee crisis were taking place with leading Turkish officials, including the president, shortly before the 1 November elections.
Although Mr Erdogan himself is not named in the report’s key findings, there are fairly direct criticisms of Turkey’s powerful president.
After several years of progress on freedom of expression, the report warns of “serious backsliding” over the past two years.
“Ongoing and new criminal cases against journalists, writers or social media users, intimidation of journalists and media outlets as well as the authorities’ actions curtailing freedom of media are of considerable concern,” it says.
Changes to Turkey’s internet law, allowing the authorities to block websites without a court order, were a significant step back from European standards, it adds.
The report says there has also been a severe deterioration of its security situation and that it is imperative that peace talks resume with the rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), designated a terrorist group by the Turkish government and the EU.
Hundreds have been killed in fighting between Turkish security forces and PKK fighters in the country’s east and south-east since a ceasefire collapsed in July.
Earlier on Saturday Egyptian air traffic control said they lost control with the Russian airliner en route from Sharm el-Sheikh to St Petersburg, Sputnik News reports.
Egyptian prime minister said Saturday a Russian airliner crashed in the Sinai peninsula. According to a source in the Egyptian civil aviation authotity, a Metrojet/Kogalymavia A321 en route from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to St Petersburg, Russia’s second largest city, crashed near Nekhel in the north of Sinai.
According to a security official at the scene, the Russian airliner is completely destroyed and all of its passengers are most probably dead. The plane went down in a mountainous area in central Sinai and poor weather conditions have made it difficult for rescue crews to get to the scene, the officer said. Survivors and bodies of those on board will be flown to Cairo, he told Reuters.
An Egyptian Health Ministry official told Ahram newspaper that 15 ambulances were sent to central Sinai’s Al-Hasana City, adding that an “emergency status” was declared.
A source in Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) told RIA Novosti the Kogalymavia Flight 9268 carrying 217 passengeers and 7 crew took off from Sharm El-Sheikh at 3:31 GMT and went off radar after 23 minutes of flight. Most of the passengers are said to be Russian tourists, including 17 children.
The Russian A321 captain informed air-traffic controller of technical faults after take-off and asked for route change, a source in the Sharm el-Sheikh airport told RIA Novosti.
MENA news agency reported that Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail canceled all his scheduled visits on Saturday because of the information of Russian plane crash. A statement from the prime minister’s office said Ismail had formed a cabinet level crisis committee to deal with the crash.
There were no indications that the Russian Airbus was shot down, Egyptian security sources said. Egypt’s North Sinai is home to a two-year-old Islamist insurgency and militants affiliated to Islamic State have killed hundreds of soldiers and police.
Initial reports about the fate of the airliner were conflicting, with the head of Egypt’s central air traffic accident authority saying the plane was safe.
“The… Russian airline had told us that the Russian plane we lost contact with is safe and that it has contacted Turkish air traffic control and is passing through Turkish skies now,” Ayman al-Muqaddam said in a statement.