Erstellt am: 13. 2. 2015 - 15:09 Uhr

US facing "mission creep" against Islamic State

Reality Check: US campaign against Islamic State militants, Syria's need for a political solution, Kosovo migrants, Russia and North Korea getting cosy, same sex marriage in the USA.

EPA/Michael Reynolds

Obama is asking Congress to authorise military force against Islamic State

In Iraq, Islamic state militants are advancing on a town close to a US airbase where around 300 US marines are training Iraq troops.

International Security analyst, Paul Rogers, looks at the increasingly difficult situation facing President Obama as it becomes clear that things aren't going as well as we were led to believe.

Rogers says the US is in a classic situation of "mission creep" that will draw it into a ground war that will inevitably involve its allies in Europe.

Syria needs a political solution

The United Nations's special envoy on Syria is in Vienna for talks, and is stressing the need for a political solution to the civil war.

Kosovo migrants

EPA/ANDREJ CUKIC

Around 40% of the people leaving Kosovo are children

The flood of migrants from Kosovo heading for Austria continues. Thousands of people, sometimes whole towns and villages, are desperate to leave their homeland, and are heading for Austria and Germany.

Meanwhile, Kosovo's Interior Minister, Skender Hyseni, is asking European countries to send them back.

Nick Thorpe reports on the extraordinary situation, and why Kosovo is so anxious for its people to stay.

Russia and North Korea

Aidan Foster-Carter discusses the warming relations between Moscow and Pyongyang.

Same sex marriage in the USA

EPA/Michael Reynolds

The Supreme Court ruling is expected this summer

After years of rulings, appeals, overturning, and further appeals, the US Supreme Court is expected to rule on whether it is constitutional for states to ban same sex marriage.

The gay rights community is hoping the coming ruling will make the right to same sex marriage standard across all states once and for all. Boris Dittrich, the LGBT rights advocacy director of Human Rights Watch, explains what the decision will mean.

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