Some Israelis are flying to China to buy most everything they need to furnish a home. They say it's cheaper than buying in Israel, though there are also cautionary tales of shopping trips gone wrong.
In northern Iraq, Kurdish fighters have won back territory from the so-called Islamic State only to lose it again. ISIS is using a range of explosives, inflicting heavy Kurdish casualties.
Until August, 24-year-old Aza Betwata was in Holland, enjoying beef and cabbage and studying to be a social worker. Now, he's among the hundreds of exiled Kurds who have returned and taken up arms.
A checkpoint near Kirkuk marks the line between Kurdish-controlled territory and the world of Islamic State extremists. Some 5,000 civilians stream across daily, lives and families divided.
Turkey says it will allow passage for Iraqi Kurdish fighters seeking to join Syrian Kurds battling the Islamic State. This comes after the United States dropped supplies to combatants in the border town of Kobani.
In an effort assist Kurdish forces in the Syrian border town, the U.S. military said Sunday the dropped supplies were meant to help resistance to Islamic State efforts to control Kobani.
The Free Syrian Army has been outgunned in the country's multi-sided civil war. But they say they have fighting experience, and if the U.S. provides arms and training they could play a key role.