Globe Trot: Russia forms anti-ISIS pact with Iraq, Iran

RUSSIA: With U.S. President Barack Obama set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin this afternoon, Russia, Iraq, and Iran have reached an agreement to share intelligence on Islamic State terrorist movements. The accord caught Obama administration officials off guard, as Russia continues to move into the vacuum created by U.S. retreat in the region. Last night, 60 Minutes aired an interview with Putin, in which he said Bashar al-Assad’s military is the only legitimate military force in Syria. He sharply criticized U.S. support for rebel forces as illegal and unproductive.

“The importance of the location is obvious the moment you look at a map. The countries comprising the Middle East form, in effect, the hub of three continents—Europe, Asia and Africa. Communications between those continents, in the present air age no less than in the age of caravans and caravels, must pass within sight of the Sphinx, the Mount of Olives, or the Street Called Straight. It is no coincidence that the great world conquerors of history have fought in and over the Middle East.” —Arabs, Oil and History by Kermit Roosevelt (1947)

UNITED NATIONS: The UN General Assembly opens today with a focus on the civil war in Syria, now in its fifth year, the resulting rise of the Islamic State, and a migrant crisis spreading across Europe.

MIGRANT CRISIS: Smartphones and refugee matchmaking websites are leading some migrants from Afghanistan, Syria, and elsewhere to new life in Europe.

NEPAL: Trucks are piling up at the border to enter Nepal in what many fear could be the start of an economic blockade by India that could devastate the landlocked Himalayan country—all stemming from protests over Nepal’s new constitution. On Sunday, Nepal began to restrict driving due to limited fuel supplies.

Nepal’s constitution, which went into effect Sept. 20, transforms what was once a Hindu kingdom into a secular country. But it calls into question evangelism and religious freedom, making it illegal to “disturb the religion of other people.”

ARGENTINA: One year after surviving an assassination attempt, pastor Marcelo Nieva is embroiled in two court cases, faces continuing threats, and has had to leave his church. Local officials denounce the church as “a controversial sect,” but Nieva contends corrupt political leaders want to shut it down because its effect among prostitutes and drug dealers is cutting into organized crime.