Eurasia

Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday urged presidential candidates Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and Abdullah Abdullah to reach an agreement soon on a national unity government.

Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman Badr Abdelatty welcomed in an official statement released on Tuesday the formation of an Iraqi new government headed by Haidar Al-Abadi, who was sworn-in before the Iraqi parliament on Monday.

Syrian warplanes launched airstrikes Monday on a Lebanese border town in northeastern the country, targeting hideouts of Syrian anti-government militants, official media reported. Syrian government’s warplanes bombed the town of Arsal, bordering Qalamon, Syria, where a number of opposition Syrian armed men are usually stationed.

Faisal Meqdad, Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister, and Sigrid Kaag, head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons-UN (OPCW-UN) joint mission on eliminating Syria’s chemical weapons program, discussed issues related to Syrian chemical weapons.

EU ministers of defence will hold an informal meeting in Milan, Italy, on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss a number of issues including the crises in Ukraine, Iraq and Syria, EU officials said here Monday.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is due to visit Turkey on Monday for an official visit where he will meet with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and a number of senior officials. The two sides will discuss threats posed by the Islamic State (IS) and best possible ways to combat …

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Monday visited a frontline city in the restive southeast as a ceasefire is generally taking hold. Reaffirming his solidarity with Mariupol, a strategic port town by the Azov Sea that has been under control of government forces, Poroshenko tweeted that “we will not give up …

Ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi may face death sentence on charges of leaking national security documents to Qatar, the official MENA news agency reported on Sunday, citing a judiciary source. The former president along with 10 others will face trial over charges of handing national security files to the Qatari …

U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday hinted that his summit meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the end of the month may to large extent focus on counterterrorism and security cooperation policies, including within its ambit the rise of Islamic State in Syria and Iraq and prospects for …

Russia will retaliate against a new round of Western sanctions over Ukraine and may block flights through its airspace, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview published today.