Iraq

Turkey on Dec. 4 "strongly condemned" the "heinous" terror attack near Iraq's Makhmour district that left at least 13 people dead, including civilians.

"We are saddened to receive the news that 3 civilians and 10 KRG security forces lost their lives in a terror attack that took place in a village near Iraq's Makhmour district," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The National Intelligence National Organization (MİT) has brought two PKK terrorists, who had been operating in northern Iraq, to Turkey.

The intelligence service had been closely monitoring the activities of the terrorist Emrah Adıgüzel and Pervin Arslan for some time, security sources said.

In a simple house in northeast Iraq, the parents of Maryam Nuri Hama Amin mourn the loss of their beloved daughter who drowned trying to reach her fiancee in Britain.

At least 34 irregular migrants have been apprehended during security checks and operations conducted in Turkish provinces, security sources said.

Turkish police teams in the northwestern province of Kocaeli's Gebze district were tipped off that a group of foreign nationals would be dispatched to the country's western provinces by a minibus.

Turkey's National Security Council on Nov. 25. evaluated the country's goals and challenges on its economy.

Izabela Kisic, executive director of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, said there were "huge differences" in the punishments handed down against Serbian citizens convicted of joining Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and those who fought on the side of Russian-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine.

From the rubble of Iraq's war-ravaged city of Mosul arises the sight of androids gliding back and forth in a restaurant to serve their amused clientele.

"Welcome", "We wish you a good time in our restaurant", "We would be happy to have your opinion on the quality of the service", chime the automated attendants, red eyes blinking out of their shiny blue and white exteriors.

The Turkish military has "neutralized" 831 terrorists in cross-border operations in northern Iraq since April, said the defense authorities on Nov. 20.

According to the Defense Ministry, Turkish soldiers have seized nearly 1,300 weapons and 316,000 ammunitions belonging to the terrorists since Operations Pençe-Şimşek and Pençe-Yıldırım were launched in April.

Hope for de-escalating the crisis, which has seen thousands camping in desperate conditions on the border for weeks, had been mounting in recent days, after German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke with Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko twice by phone.

European Union Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas, responsible for coordinating migration and security policies, has held two-day long talks in Ankara, his fourth stop in a tour of partner countries key to putting a stop to the "instrumentalization of migrants by the Belarussian regime and [which] aims to further reinforce the overall cooperation on migration and security."