Lawyers

• Islamic State says France remains top target

  Islamic State claimed responsibility on Saturday for attacks that killed 127 people in Paris, saying it sent militants strapped with suicide bombing belts and carrying machine guns to various locations in the heart of the capital.

• U.S commando killed in raid to free hostages of ISIS in Iraq

  One member of a U.S. special operations force was killed during an overnight mission to rescue hostages held by Islamic State militants in northern Iraq, the first American to die in ground combat with the militant group, U.S. officials said on Thursday.

• French PM Valls says no compromise with Syria's Assad possible

  France's Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Tuesday a deal with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to reach a political transition was impossible, but said Paris would back regional ground troops if they were to intervene against Islamic State militants.

• France says taking all refugees would be victory for Islamic State

  France warned on Tuesday that it would be a mistake for Europe to take in all refugees persecuted by Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq, and called for a plan of action to ensure the Middle East's diversity remained despite the mounting crisis.

• Iraq's Abadi says Baiji battle 'crucial' to ousting Islamic State

  Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the battle over the northern town of Baiji and its refinery - Iraq's largest - was critical to the fight against Islamic State.

• Russia says no common approach yet with U.S. on fighting Islamic State

  Russia and the United States have not been able to agree on a common approach to fighting Islamic State, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday, after his second meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in recent days.

• Kerry to meet Russia's Lavrov in Malaysia on Wednesday

  U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will meet for a second time in three days on Wednesday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who has been trying to bring about a rapprochement between Syria and regional states to forge an alliance to fight Islamic State militants.

• Iraqi militia leader says U.S. not serious about fighting Islamic State

  The head of one of Iraq's fiercest Shi'ite militias called the U.S.-led coalition's campaign against Islamic State ineffective and accused Washington of lacking the will to uproot radical Sunni jihadis controlling large swathes of Iraq and Syria.

• U.S. says 10,000 Islamic State militants killed in nine-month campaign

  More than 10,000 Islamic State fighters have been killed since the international coalition started its campaign against the militant group nine months ago in Iraq and Syria, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday.

• Iraq Shi'ite militia take lead in campaign to reverse Islamic State gains

  Iraq's Shi'ite paramilitaries said on Tuesday they had taken charge of the campaign to drive Islamic State from the western province of Anbar, giving the operation an openly sectarian codename that could infuriate its Sunni population.

• Turkey faces delicate battle against Islamic State sympathizers at home

  Defne Bayrak's husband was a suicide bomber who killed CIA operatives in a 2009 attack in Afghanistan. Now, she is among the hundreds of Turks using social media to show support for Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq.

• After Iraqi forces take Tikrit, a wave of looting and lynching

  On April 1, the city of Tikrit was liberated from the extremist group Islamic State. The Shi'ite-led central government and allied militias, after a month-long battle, had expelled the barbarous Sunni radicals.

• Khamenei blames United States, 'wicked' Britain, for creating Islamic State

  Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Monday blamed the United States and the "wicked" British government for creating the Islamic State in his first speech since undergoing prostate surgery last month.

• Washington wins diplomatic support for campaign in Iraq; Syria trickier

  World powers backed military measures on Monday to help defeat Islamic State fighters in Iraq, boosting Washington's efforts to set up a coalition, but made no mention of the tougher diplomatic challenge next door in Syria.