World News Update, what you need to know

Australian aircraft have conducted their first combat mission over Iraq but dropped no bombs.

ELSEWHERE:

MURSITPINAR - Kurdish fighters backed by US-led air strikes are battling Islamic State jihadists for control of the key Syrian town of Kobane, as Turkey evacuates some border areas where mortar fire has spilled over.

BAALBEK - Shi'ite movement Hezbollah says at least two of its fighters have been killed along with "dozens" of gunmen in Syria-Lebanon border clashes.

MANILA - After evacuating about 55,000 people, Philippine authorities are labouring to move thousands of farm animals from areas threatened by the country's most active volcano.

MOSCOW - Five police officers are dead and 12 injured after they "foiled an attempt" by a suicide bomber to attack a concert hall in the capital of Chechnya.

CAIRO - An Egyptian jihadist group has released a video showing the execution of four men, including three being beheaded, accused of spying for the army and for Israel's Mossad intelligence service.