Eurasia

Representatives of two platforms of rebel groups from northern Mali agreed on Thursday in the Burkinabe capital Ouagadougou to end hostilities and present a united front for talks with the Malian government in Algeria in early September. In recent months, there has been fighting between the Tuareg-led National Movement for …

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry held talks with Chinese Special Envoy for the Middle East Gong Xiaosheng addressing bi-lateral ties as well as challenges in the region. Shoukry received Xiaosheng on Monday, one day after Egypt hosted the Gaza Reconstruction Conference, in which $5.4bn was pledged in aid to Palestine. Over …

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday to discuss a range of regional topics, including Palestine, terrorism, and the delivery of Apache helicopters to Egypt’s military. Kerry stressed the support of the US to the ongoing economic …

Yemeni security and military officials say Shiite rebels who recently overran the capital have now seized a key port city on the Red Sea and a province south of Sanaa in a stunning new blitz. The development indicates the Shiite Houthis may be determined to carve out a mini-state within …

CASE STUDIES IN THE ARAB WORLD   According to U.S. National Intelligence Council’s (NIC) “Global trends 2030 – Alternative worlds”[1], the world’s current roughly 50-percent urban population will climb to nearly 60 percent, or 4.9 billion people, in 2030. Urban centers are estimated to generate 80 percent of economic growth; …

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said here on Thursday that his country would not tolerate the undermining of peace, stability and peaceful coexistence. “Turkey will never tolerate any traps against our peace, stability or sense of brotherhood,” Erdogan said in a statement published by the presidential information center.

France on Thursday stressed the role of international mobilisation in helping to stabilise the situation in Mali and urged support for the UN which has deployed a peacekeeping force there but which has undergone deadly attacks in the past two months. Soldiers from Chad, Nigeria and Senegal have been killed …

While expressing support for a Turkish suggestion to set up a buffer zone on the Syrian-Turkish border near the embattled Kurdish town of Kobane, France said on Thursday that the situation was urgent and fraught with risks and all options must be examined concerning Kobane and the advance of Islamic …

The first trials of prisoners accused of “terrorism” in Tunisia since the 2011 revolution could open later this month, with 600 defendants facing prosecution, its justice minister said on Thursday. Hafedh Ben Salah told AFP in an interview that the defendants included Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists who have been battling the Tunisian …

Skirmishes between Indian and Pakistani troops on the international border in Kashmir continued Thursday, with both sides accusing each other of resorting to unprovoked firing and targeting civilian areas. Both New Delhi and Islamabad Thursday said heavy exchange of fire and mortars between the two sides took place Wednesday night …