UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon received a letter from Damascus on the Syrian intention to join the international convention banning chemical weapons and welcomed the initiative, his spokesperson said on Friday.

 Interim president Adly Mansour on Thursday extended by two months Egypt’s state of emergency in force since mid-August, his spokesman said. Mansour had initially announced a month-long state of emergency on August 14, with deadly unrest sweeping Egypt as police dispersed two Islamist protest camps.

The EU still stands by the people of Egypt, affirmed High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton during a Wednesday session of European parliament. Ashton noted in her address that she had visited Egypt 11 times, three of which this summer, and during her most recent …

Three Malian soldiers were wounded in clashes with separatist Tuareg rebels on Wednesday, the army said, the first clashes since the two sides signed a ceasefire deal in June.

US secretary of state John Kerry has arrived in Geneva to meet Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov as the UN tries to forge an international plan to disarm the Syrian government of its chemical weapons.

The Ambassador of Saudi Arabia here Dr. Abdul-Aziz Ibrahim Al Ghadeer met with the Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain on Thursday, said an official press release. The Saudi ambassador congratulated the President on assuming his new responsibilities as President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan-Saudi bilateral relations were

Russian and US chemical weapons experts and top diplomats will attend a meeting on the Syrian crisis later today that will be held in Switzerland, Russia’s foreign minister said Thursday.

France said Wednesday it would remain poised to launch military action against Syria over its use of chemical weapons despite ongoing attempts to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

President Barack Obama pledged on Tuesday to explore a diplomatic plan from Russia to take away Syria’s chemical weapons, but voiced skepticism about it and urged Americans to support his threat to use military force if needed.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on Wednesday said “a strong response” was needed to the use of chemical weapons and urged Damascus “without delay” to show readiness to destroy them. Delivering his annual “state of the union” speech before the European Parliament, Barroso said “the use of chemical