Eurasia

Kurdish militants have wrestled control of 65 villages in Kobane’s countryside from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) control since Jan. 26 in northern Syria, according to a Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) source. “Kurdish fighters are advancing rapidly because they know their area geographically very well and …

French Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development Laurent Fabius on Thursday met the External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj here. Fabius, accompanied by a delegation of fellow dignitaries, started his official trip to India today. According to reports, Fabius will also be holding meetings with Union Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu …

Pro-Russia rebels and the Ukrainian authorities agreed on Friday on a humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians from the epicentre of fighting in eastern Ukraine, rebel and government officials said, as German and French leaders prepared to bring their peace plan to Moscow. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois …

NATO was set Thursday to agree a major boost to its defences in eastern Europe including six bases and a spearhead force of 5,000 troops in response to what it called Russian aggression in Ukraine. Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg insisted that the moves likely to be approved by defence ministers …

The NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg Thursday welcomed the visit by French President Francois Hollande with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, with a new peace initiative amid escalating fighting in eastern Ukraine. “NATO fully supports all efforts to reach a negotiated peaceful solution to the conflict …

US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel Thursday ruled out a military solution to the conflict in Ukraine. “This issue is not going to be resolved militarily,” he told a press conference on the sidelines of a NATO defence ministers meeting in Brussels. “This issue , the Russian aggression in Ukraine has …

Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi received Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal Thursday, at the Residence of State in Zeralda, Algiers. The audience was attended by Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra, Minister of Energy Youcef Yousfi and Minister for Maghreb and African Affairs Abdelkader Messahel. The Tunisian president started a two-day state …

Algeria and Benin expressed satisfaction at the efforts of the international mediation, led by Algeria, for the resolution of the crisis in Mali, said Wednesday a joint statement issued at the end of the state visit of Beninese President Thomas

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has ordered an end to a years-old nightly curfew in Baghdad in a bid to ease restrictions on daily life despite persistent violence, officials said Feb. 5. Lifting the curfew is a major change to a longstanding policy aimed at curbing violence in the capital …

The leaders of France and Germany were carrying a new peace initiative to the Ukrainian and Russian capitals on Thursday, amid a flurry of high-level diplomacy to end what French President Francois Hollande called a war on Europe’s edge.