Eurasia

French special forces on Monday rescued a Dutch national kidnapped nearly four years ago in northern Mali by AQIM extremists in an operation that killed a number of suspected militants, officials said. France’s defence ministry said Dutch hostage Sjaak Rijke, kidnapped in Timbuktu in November 2011, was freed during “military …

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi begins an eight-day visit to France, Germany and Canada on Thursday in a bid to further his agenda to boost Indian manufacturing, ensure his country’s energy security and increase foreign investment. The focus of the prime minister’s three days in France will be a fighter …

Nigerian soldiers have sacked Islamist fighters belonging to Boko Haram from Alagarno, a town in Damboa local government area. Alagarno was one of the insurgent group’s strongholds. A senior military source said the routed insurgents were fleeing, adding that he believed their leader, Abubakar Shekau, was among those now on …

Houthi forces pulled back from a central Aden district on Friday and aircraft from the Saudi-led coalition dropped weapons and medical aid to fighters defending the southern Yemeni city, a last symbolic foothold of the country’s absent president. The Shi’ite Houthi fighters and their allies withdrew from Crater neighbourhood as …

The number killed in Kenya’s university massacre rose to 148 people, Kenya’s interior minister said Friday as he declared operations to recover bodies over. The final toll from yesterday’s carnage in the college in the northeastern town of Garissa included 142 students, three police officers and three soldiers, Interior Minister …

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk, who is currently on a working visit to Berlin, plans to discuss the implementation of the Minsk agreements among other issues during his planned talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Speaking to German journalists, Yatseniuk said also that Merkel and he would also address economic …

Twenty three new presumed accomplices have been arrested since the terrorist attack against the Bardo Museum, bringing the number of suspects arrested in this attack to 64 individuals. These arrests followed the dismantling of two terrorist cells whose most of its members had taken part in the Bardo attack, whether …

Turkey and Pakistan have called on “all Yemeni groups” for a peaceful solution to the country’s crisis, while pledging support for Saudi Arabia’s actions, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on April 3. Turkey and Pakistan agreed to lend “all potential support” to Saudi Arabia in order to defend the …

Yemeni Houthi fighters and their allies seized a central Aden district on April 2, striking a heavy blow against the Saudi-led coalition that has waged a week of air strikes to try to stem advances by the Iran-allied Shi’ite group. Hours after the Houthis took over Aden’s central Crater neighbourhood, …

French President Francois Hollande spoke by phone with President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday and invited him to Paris for discussions on expansion of trade between France and Nigeria. A statement by the French Embassy in Abuja, said the French leader congratulated Buhari on his success and noted the generally smooth …