• Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will fly to New York on Dec. 18 for a meeting on the conflict in Syria.
• U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter arrived in Baghdad for talks with U.S. military commanders on intensifying the fight against the Islamic State. A day earlier, Carter pushed Turkey to do more in the campaign.
• Coalition airstrikes and Iraqi ground troops repelled 15 Islamic State car bombs aimed at Iraqi security forces east of Ramadi.
• Turkey is establishling a military base in Qatar.
• The leaders of Libya's rival parliaments met and rejected a U.N. peace deal, a day before moderates from both sides were expected to sign it.
• Yemeni rebels violated a cease-fire shortly after it took effect.
• The Greek parliament approved another reform bill demanded by the country's creditors in exchange for 1 billion euros in bailout funds.
• The Philippines Supreme Court delayed for a second time a decision on the legality of an agreement that would give U.S. forces access to Philippine military bases.
• U.S. prosecutors are preparing to charge Venezuela's National Guard chief with drug trafficking.
