Prime Minister Harper and other NATO leaders are in Newport, Wales for a summit that will discuss three trouble spots around the world.

Ukraine is the main topic on the agenda, although the first item is the final withdrawal of forces later this year from Afghanistan after more than a decade of war. But any talk of a successful mission will be tempered by the Taliban detonating two truck bombs in Central Afghanistan this morning, killing 18 people.

US President Barack Obama will be meeting with allies on the sidelines to discuss a response to the ongoing violence by the terrorist Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

In a joint editorial in today’s Times of London, Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron say they will “not be cowed” by the extremists from I-SIL.

Russia’s Foreign Minister warned Ukraine today that any aspirations towards joining NATO could derail talks on a ceasefire with pro-Russian separatists in Eastern Ukraine.