A U.S. team under the auspices of the Energy Department is on the ground in Ukraine to try to find solutions to the impending disaster of a winter without Russian gas. The pressure will keep mounting on the West help pay both Ukraine’s unpaid gas bill and Gazprom’s current above-market prices for the gas that will see Ukraine through the winter.

The Syrian Civil War spilled over into Lebanon again, as Hezbollah drove back a “major offensive” by al-Nusra fighters.

This would be the first such move by a member of the EU—and is the product of a line of reasoning that really should be defunct by now.

Many leaders of Occupy Central are Christians, a fact which could intensify conflict between the government and this religious minority. But the religious factor in the protest points to the more general persistence of civil society in Hong Kong—and its disappearance in mainland China.

President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has fired her Central Bank head, Juan Carlos Fabrega, and replaced him with someone even further to the left.

Apache helicopters based in Baghdad have carried out strikes in Iraq. This not only increases the risk of American pilots being shot down, but stretches the meaning of the President’s pledge against combat troops.

Jordan is cracking down on Islamists within its borders at the same time as it pitches in with the anti-ISIS coalition. Keep an eye on this often-overlooked but vital buffer state.

Russia’s currency continues to devalue, as a combination of sanctions, instability, and the market pressures of a global oil and gas glut push the Russian economy to the brink.

A new study suggests that we’ve been underestimating the amount of heat stored in the upper levels of our planet’s oceans by 24 to 55 percent. Just a reminder: Climate science is anything but settled.

In the absence of Kim Jong Un, who hasn’t been seen in public in more than a month, North Korean policy seems to be shifting course in some heartening ways. Anyone who predicts whether that will continue is merely speculating, but a non-nuclear DPRK which plays nice with Seoul sure would be good news.