Eurasia

Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam on Friday called on relevant authorities to take all necessary measures to halt the ongoing violence and fighting in the northern city of Tripoli. Salam, in a press release, urged for firm action to put an end “to the drastic deterioration

Turkey would be open to new offers for a missile defence system if a deal agreed with a Chinese firm under U.S. sanctions falls through, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan was quoted on Friday as saying. The NATO member’s decision to co-produce the long-range air and missile defence system with China Precision Machinery

Tunisia’s Islamist premier Ali Larayedh made a written pledge to step down in a last-ditch bid to rescue crisis talks on Friday that the opposition was threatening to boycott. The national dialogue aims to end months of political deadlock between the government and the mainly secular opposition that has paralysed Tunisia’s political …

Serbia has condemned statements made by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during a speech given in Kosovo on Oct. 23, saying such words “cannot be received as friendly.”

U.N.-Arab League Syria envoy Lakhdar Brahimi held a series of talks with senior Turkish officials in Ankara over the planned Geneva peace talks to end the ongoing civil war. 

Bulgaria has started construction of a fence along its border with Turkey to prevent the entry of illegal immigrants. Bulgarian Army began a construction of a fence that will be used to restrict the number

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati would not rule out Thursday Lebanon taking part in the expected Geneva 2 conference aimed at a political settlement to the crisis in Syria. “I do not rule out the possibility that Lebanon may take part in the Geneva II conference on Syria,” Mikati told reporters following a security meeting at …

Syrian forces seized a suburb of Damascus on Thursday from rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad in a push that has shored up government control of the capital’s outskirts, state television reported.

French, UN and Malian forces were engaged in a major operation aimed at preventing a resurgence of Islamist rebels in Mali, the French military said Thursday. “We have engaged, with the Malian army and (UN mission) MINUSMA, in a large-scale operation” in the north of the country, French general staff …

Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić stated on Thursday that the unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo “cannot be recognized.” This is true “because Serbia has the support of the UN Security Council,” according to Nikolić.