Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said Thursday that his government is ready to begin a fresh round of negotiations with the European Union (EU) over landmark political-economic deals.

EU leaders Wednesday night in a ceremony in Athens officially inaugurated the six-month Greek Presidency of the EU, stressing the support of Brussels for Greece to overcome its economic and political crisis.

A special Pakistani court formed to hear the treason case against the former president Pervez Musharraf issued an order on Thursday for his appearance at its next hearing which has been adjourned to January 16.

France will reduce its troop numbers in Mali, where it routed Islamic radicals last year, to 1,600 troops by mid-February, according to the French President Francois Hollande.

A first shipment of chemical materials was moved from Syria on Tuesday, which initiated the process of transferring chemical weapons from the country to locations outside its territory for destruction.

An Egyptian court adjourned Jan. 8 the murder trial of Mohamed Morsi to February 1, citing “weather conditions” that prevented the toppled president’s transport to court from his prison. It had been scheduled as the second hearing in Morsi’s trial, after an initial court appearance in November

Egyptian security forces are on high alert for a court appearance in the capital Cairo by deposed President Mohammed Morsi. Morsi and 14 other Muslim Brotherhood figures are accused of inciting the killing

Pakistan and India have shown their readiness to upgrade infrastructure on both sides of the border and remove red tape and technical barriers to trade from the Indian side, a diplomat said on Monday.

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika Sunday received in Algiers the visiting Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmi. Fahmi discussed with the president bilateral relations and ways of developing them.

The situation in the Central African Republic (CAR) has “greatly deteriorated” lately and the violence along religious lines between Muslims and Christians has increased significantly, a UN official has warned Under Secretary-