U.S. President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande pressed Russia on Tuesday to focus its attacks in Syria on Islamic State militants after Turkey heightened tensions in the region by downing a Russian plane.

• November 24, 2015

Iraq closed its northern airspace to all flights on Monday for at least two days due to military traffic from Russia's air campaign in neighboring Syria.

• November 23, 2015

Russia's parliament backed a sweeping overhaul of national security, including possibly expanding the powers of the country's intelligence services, after the Kremlin concluded a bomb downed a Russian passenger plane over Egypt last month.

• November 20, 2015

Hundreds of innocent people have been killed in spectacular attacks claimed by Islamic State militants from Syria, but diplomats say major powers are no closer to a peace deal to end nearly five years of bloodshed and chaos there.

• November 20, 2015

China is to buy a batch of 24 Sukhoi-35 fighter jets from Russia in a deal worth more than $2 billion, an industry source told Reuters on Thursday, in a move that may help the Kremlin's strained finances.

• November 19, 2015

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday the West had to drop its demands about the political exit of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad if it wanted a genuinely international coalition against Islamic State militants.

• November 18, 2015

India has warned of Islamic State using regional militant groups to mount strikes in the country, and has increased security around the diplomatic missions of the United States, France and Britain among others, a government advisory said.

• November 18, 2015

Russia said on Tuesday it had stepped up air strikes against Islamist militants in Syria with long-range bombers and cruise missiles after the Kremlin said it wanted retribution for those responsible for blowing up a Russian airliner over Egypt.

• November 17, 2015