In the backdrop of its unprovoked firing along the Line of Control (LoC) and working boundary, India said Tuesday that it was willing for a “serious dialogue” with Pakistan on all outstanding issues including Kashmir, however alleged that Islamabad was not interested in talks and was using “diversionary tactics” by …

Turkey will not embark on an “adventure” in Syria without certain agreements from the international community, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said, reiterating Ankaradeems establishing safe havens and no-fly zones in northern Syria as a must for Turkish participation in the international coalition. “Turkey will not embark on an adventure [in Syria] at the …

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Libya’s capital Tripoli on Saturday for talks with the country’s warring factions fighting over control of the oil producer, in the highest-level visit of a foreign visitor for three months.

Representatives of two platforms of rebel groups from northern Mali agreed on Thursday in the Burkinabe capital Ouagadougou to end hostilities and present a united front for talks with the Malian government in Algeria in early September. In recent months, there has been fighting between the Tuareg-led National Movement for …

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry held talks with Chinese Special Envoy for the Middle East Gong Xiaosheng addressing bi-lateral ties as well as challenges in the region. Shoukry received Xiaosheng on Monday, one day after Egypt hosted the Gaza Reconstruction Conference, in which $5.4bn was pledged in aid to Palestine. Over …

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday to discuss a range of regional topics, including Palestine, terrorism, and the delivery of Apache helicopters to Egypt’s military. Kerry stressed the support of the US to the ongoing economic …

Yemeni security and military officials say Shiite rebels who recently overran the capital have now seized a key port city on the Red Sea and a province south of Sanaa in a stunning new blitz. The development indicates the Shiite Houthis may be determined to carve out a mini-state within …

CASE STUDIES IN THE ARAB WORLD   According to U.S. National Intelligence Council’s (NIC) “Global trends 2030 – Alternative worlds”[1], the world’s current roughly 50-percent urban population will climb to nearly 60 percent, or 4.9 billion people, in 2030. Urban centers are estimated to generate 80 percent of economic growth; …

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said here on Thursday that his country would not tolerate the undermining of peace, stability and peaceful coexistence. “Turkey will never tolerate any traps against our peace, stability or sense of brotherhood,” Erdogan said in a statement published by the presidential information center.

France on Thursday stressed the role of international mobilisation in helping to stabilise the situation in Mali and urged support for the UN which has deployed a peacekeeping force there but which has undergone deadly attacks in the past two months. Soldiers from Chad, Nigeria and Senegal have been killed …