After days of intense attacks, the United States taking out another Iranian naval target sounds like nothing particularly new. But, when it's an Iranian warship sitting in international waters 4,000 kilometres from home, and that's the first time since war two that a US sub has torpedoed an enemy vessel... it's a story worth covering.
Rights groups are reporting that Iran is carrying out a major crackdown in the Kurdish town of Mahabad. The town has seen intense anti-regime protests in recent days, with people staging sit-ins and setting up barricades.
In video circulated on social media overnight, gunfire and screaming can be heard. Another clip shared by an exiled Kurdish opposition party claims to show plainclothes members of the Revolutionary Guard firing into the sky.
Fakhir Berwari was a bomb disposal expert who disarmed thousands of landmines across Iraq.
A father of eight and a Kurdish officer who served in Iraq’s armed forces is on a mission to disarm thousands of mines with just a pocket knife and a pair of wire clippers.
Between the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 and the chaos and destruction wreaked by ISIL more than a decade later, Fakhir Berwari’s unwavering bravery saved thousands of lives in Iraq.
The Deminer tells Fakhir’s story through raw and visceral amateur footage captured on a camcorder by his soldiers.
Who are the Kurds and how did their bid for independence in Iraq appear to fail after such a resounding 'yes' vote?
The first notable, historical mention of the Kurds is widely thought to be the Sharafnama, or The Book of Honour, by the medieval Kurdish poet Sharaf al-Din Bitlisi in 1597. Written by a Kurd about his own people, Sharafnama arguably put Kurdish culture and history on the map.
A people who saw themselves on a par with Persians and Arabs had announced themselves to the world.
Human Rights Watch says Kurdish forces are destroying Arab homes and expanding their territory.
Unlawful retaliation. That is what Iraqi Kurdish forces are being accused of.
US-based group Human Rights Watch says that they are destroying large numbers of Arab homes and and even whole villages in northern Iraq, in what may amount to a war crime.
The rights group says there's evidence of further destruction during the latest offensive against in Mosul. Kurdish Peshmerga forces are part of an Iraqi alliance, helped by US-led air strikes, that is battling to retake control of Mosul from ISIL.
Kurds make up the fourth-largest ethnic group in the Middle East.
They have faced years of repression in their quest for an independent state.
Marlin Stivani Nivarlainis a 15-year-old Swedish girl. Last year, her boyfriend became obsessed with ISIS, and she followed him to Syria to join the group.
Last week, Kurdish forces stormed an ISIS-held town near Mosul, Iraq, where they found Nivarlain and rescued her.
Shortly after her rescue, Nivarlain was interviewed by the Kurdish outlet Kurdistan 24, and described her boyfriend's radicalization, her trip to ISIS-held territory, the miserable life she encountered there, and her joy at being rescued.
Nivarlain says she met her (unnamed) boyfriend in mid-2014. "At first, we were good together," she said. "Then he started watching ISIS videos, talking about ISIS, stuff like that."
She was confused when he said, months after they met, that he wanted to take her to join ISIS. "I said OK, because I didn't know what ISIS is, what Islam means, nothing," Nivarlain explained.
Kurdish forces accused of conducting a campaign to uproot Arabs in northern Iraq.
Kurdish fighters are among the most trusted allies of the international coalition in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group in Iraq - benefitting from military and political support.
But they are also being accused of deliberately destroying thousands of Arab homes.
In another sign that the diverse society in Iraq is breaking down, an Amnesty International report says Kurdish forces have campaigned to forcibly displace Arab communities; bulldozing and blowing up Arab villages recaptured from ISIL.
The destruction is being seen as revenge for perceived Arab support for ISIL.
Rights groups are warning of rising casualties in Turkey's campaign against fighters.
Just a few months ago, Turkish Kurds had hope for a political solution to their ongoing disagreements with the government.
They had won seats in parliament and later this week, the pro-Kurdish party the HDP was to meet with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. That meeting was then cancelled.
The ongoing operations against Kurdish fighters leaves no sign of a likely return to what many have described as a peace process. The political engagement has turned into a military one.
Why the about-face? And will the Turkish government and the Kurds ever find a way to interact without violence?
