Eurasia

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius will meet with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in Kuwait Friday to discuss strategic cooperation between the two nations but the talks are certain to mainly focus on the ongoing struggle against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (IS) which is threatening security in the Middle East region …

Even as it prods Turkey to step up in the global fight against Islamic State militants, the United States is worried that Ankara might use military action to target Kurdish fighters who are the last line of defence against extremists trying to take over the Syrian border town of Kobani. …

Islamic State fighters seized control of a third of the key Syrian border town of Kobane today, as Turkey rejected sending in troops on its own against the jihadists. IS militants advanced in the strategic town overnight despite intensified US air strikes, as calls grew for ground action to support …

French President Francois Hollande Wednesday said he would back the creation of a buffer zone between Syria and Turkey to protect displaced civilians fleeing the bloody Daech offensive. Talking to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over phone, Hollande discussed the “alarming situation in northern Syria mainly in Kobani city” which …

Jens Stoltenberg, the new NATO secretary-general, is set to pay his first visit to Turkey since he took office on Oct. 1. Stoltenberg is expected to discuss security concerns posed to Turkey by the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). 

Intensified air strikes helped Kurdish militia push back Islamic State jihadists fighting for Kobani, as pressure mounted yesterday for more international action to save the key Syrian border town. Across the frontier in Turkey, the government’s lack of action against the jihadists was drawing a furious response, with at least 19 …

US Secretary of State John Kerry and British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond on Wednesday discussed ways to continue supporting Ukraine in its struggles with Russia in eastern Ukraine. “We agree on the need for Russia to withdraw its forces immediately from Ukraine, to end its material support for separatists and …

France on Wednesday condemned a fresh attack a day earlier against the UN stabilisation force in Mali in which a Senegalese was killed. Since September, several African volunteer forces in the UN mission have been killed and a number wounded. Soldiers from Chad and Nigeria have been among earlier victims …

The idea of a buffer zone along the Syrian border to protect displaced people “is not something that is under consideration right now,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said on Wednesday, while a Pentagon spokesman said the idea was not under active consideration “as a military option.” The remark …

Egypt will train Libyan forces to fight terrorism and help secure a shared border, the prime ministers of the two states announced in Cairo on Wednesday, stepping up efforts against Islamist insurgents in both countries. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has expressed concerns over militants who have capitalised on the …