Eurasia

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrived here Monday for an official visit to Romania and a summit with leaders of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). During the visit, Li will hold talks with Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta, and meet Romanian President Traian Basescu, President

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced on Monday that a conference on Syria, known as Geneva II, would be convened on January 22. The conference will bring the Syrian government and opposition to the negotiating table for the first time since the start of the Syrian conflict.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and foreign ministers of other major powers joined Iran nuclear talks on Saturday, throwing their weight behind a diplomatic push to complete a deal after envoys reported progress on key issues blocking an interim agreement to curb the Iranian program in return for limited …

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has expressed desire to resolve all outstanding issues with India. Addressing the fourth Literary and Cultural Conference, Prime Minister Sharif hoped that visa restrictions between Pakistan and India would be eliminated. The prime minister

The head of the US military’s Africa Command held talks with Tunisia’s Prime Minister Ali Larayedh on security cooperation, notably to stem arms trafficking, the government said Wednesday. The meeting with General David Rodriguez “was an opportunity to discuss the security issue, ways of cooperating and how the United States

Relations between Turkey and Egypt “will be restored soon,” Turkish President Abdullah Gul said Saturday, shortly after Egypt expelled the Turkish ambassador in Cairo. On Thursday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized the Egyptian interim government and condemned the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

The co-leader of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which declared the establishment of a constituent assembly in the northern parts of Syria locally denominated as Rojava, said they have not held talks with Turkish officials in the recent period. 

At least 29 people were killed on Nov. 23 in Syrian regime air strikes on the northern city of Aleppo and surrounding areas, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The main Western-backed Syrian opposition group says it has sent a delegation to Geneva for consultations ahead of proposed peace talks.

Turkey declared Egypt’s ambassador in Ankara as “persona non grata” in a reciprocal step after Cairo expelled its envoy, according to a statement of the Turkish Foreign Ministry on Saturday. The move comes few hours after Egypt expelled Turkey’s ambassador in Cairo Huseyin Avni Botsali, declaring him “persona non grata.”