World News Update, what you need to know

The United States and its Arab allies have unleashed deadly bomb and missile strikes on jihadists in Syria, opening a new front in the battle against the Islamic State group. (SYRIA AIRSTRIKES)

ELSEWHERE

NEW YORK, Sept 23 AAP - The terrorist threat posed by Islamic State foreign fighters will be the focus of Australia's upcoming United Nations Security Council presidency. (TERROR BISHOP)

LONDON, Sept 23 AAP - The Queen apparently purred like a pussycat when British Prime Minister David Cameron told her Scotland was staying part of the United Kingdom. (UK SCOTLAND QUEEN)

NEW YORK, Sept 23 AFP - World leaders at a UN summit billed as the largest-ever gathering on climate change have faced calls to take bold action to reverse global warming. (CLIMATE UN)

MADRID, Sept 23 AFP - Spain's justice minister has resigned over a failed bid to restrict women's right to abortion, which had sparked mass protests and international condemnation. (SPAIN ABORTION)

WASHINGTON, Sept 23 AFP - The number of Ebola infections in Liberia and Sierra Leone could skyrocket to 1.4 million by January 2015, according to a worst-case scenario released by US health authorities. (EBOLA US)

DONETSK, Ukraine, Sept 23 AFP - Pro-Russian rebels have defiantly announced they will stage their own elections in six weeks, raising the stakes in a standoff with Kiev despite both sides moving to end five months of deadly fighting. (Ukraine)