Eurasia

Both sides in the conflict in eastern Ukraine have withdrawn most of their heavy weapons from the frontline, says Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. In an interview with state television on Monday evening Poroshenko said government forces had “withdrawn the lion’s share of multiple launch rocket systems and heavy artillery”. “We …

NATO Secretary GeneralJens Stoltenberg has accused Russia of continuing to arm and train separatist forces in eastern Ukraine. His comments on Wednesday at the NATO headquarter in Brussels came a day after NATO warships began exercises in the Black Sea.

Libya’s warring factions will resume the UN-sponsored talks on March 11 in Morocco after a three-day peace dialogue was paused on Saturday, theUnited NationsSupport Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said in a statement on Sunday. A three-day UN-sponsored dialogue between Libya’s warring factions held here was paused on Saturday, allowing time …

Tunisian security forces on Monday uncovered a second arms cache in three days near the border with Libya, the interior ministry said. “As part of ongoing operations against terrorist cells and their members… [security forces] have discovered a new weapons cache 15km from Ben Guerdane” in the southeast, it said.

Spain said on Tuesday it has dismantled a militant Islamic cell in its North African enclave of Ceuta that it claims was ready to attack either Spain or other targets in Europe. Police arrested two suspected militants as part of a wider security operation that began in January, the Interior …

Islamic militants attacked an army checkpoint in northern Sinai near the border with Gaza early on Wednesday, killing an officer, officials said. The attack came as Egypt’s Islamic State affiliate, which is based in the restive peninsula, claimed responsibility for two attacks the previous day.

NATO demanded March 11 that the OSCE be given full access to verify the withdrawal of heavy weapons in eastern Ukraine and called again on Russia to end support for the separatists. The condition that both Ukraine and pro-Russian rebel forces pull back heavy weapons is a key element in a February 12 Minsk ceasefire accord …

Secretary of State John Kerry urged lawmakers Wednesday to give President Barack Obama updated war powers to go after Islamic jihadists at “a pivotal hour” in the battle against the militants. “Our nation is strongest when we act together — and we simply cannot allow this collection of murderers and …

In a meeting with Nasir Ahmad Durrani, the Rural Rehabilitation and Development Minister, Jean-Michel Marlaud, the French ambassador to Afghanistan said that his country has a long standing relationship with Afghanistan and will continue to help the Afghans by fully cooperating with the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation (MRRD) in their …

NATO’s Black Sea members Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey joined four other alliance states in a multinational naval exercise on March 10 just across the water from the Crimean Peninsula annexed by Russia last year. The naval rapid reaction force in the Black Sea drills consists of a United States flagship, the guided missile cruiser  USS Vicksburg, …