Ankara

Iran said on Dec. 6 it was its "duty" to mediate between Russia and Turkey as they trade accusations of buying oil from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Turkish authorities have refused to give a Russian ship permission to depart from Samsun Port due to a "lack of required documents" following similar action by Russia against Turkish ships at Novorossiysk Port. 

Four Russian ships were initially denied permission to depart but three of them were subsequently granted permission after they met requirements.

Senior Turkish and Iranian officials have engaged in a war of words over Syria, with each accusing each other of lending support to terrorist organizations in a row that parallels Ankara's ongoing tension with Moscow. 

A collision between a commuter train and a minibus on a level crossing in the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Dec. 6 killed at least 16 people and injured several others, an official said.

"There were 24 people inside the minibus, 16 people died including the driver, the rest are still being treated at hospitals," Jakarta police spokesman Muhammad Iqbal told AFP.

A Russian warship passed through Istanbul's Bosphorus en route to the Mediterranean on the morning of Dec. 6. One soldier was seen in footage of the boat passing holding a ground-to-air missile, drawing an angry reaction from Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavu?o?lu.

A Russian warship passed through Istanbul's Bosphorus en route to the Mediterranean on the morning of Dec. 6, with one soldier seen in footage holding a ground-to-air missile, private broadcaster NTV has reported.

The soldier held the missile on his shoulder in the shooting position during the passing of Russia's Caesar Kunikov warship.

Two soldiers and a policeman were killed in attacks carried out by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Turkey's southeast on Dec. 5, security sources have said.

PKK militants shelled a car carrying soldiers in plain clothes with long-barreled weapons in ??rnak province's Cizre district, killing two soldiers and injuring two others.

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for an explosion which killed the governor of Yemen's southern Aden province on Dec. 6.

The governor of Yemen's Aden province Jaafar Mohammed Saad was killed on Dec. 6 when a suicide bomber rammed his car into the governor's convoy in the western part of Aden city, residents and a local official said.

It was not Turkey but Russia who stopped preparation for the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project, the country's President said on Saturday.

Earlier this week, Moscow announced it was suspending work on Turkish Stream, calling on Ankara to clarify whether it was still interested in the project.