Eurasia

A key group within the Syrian opposition National Coalition said Sunday it would not attend proposed peace talks in Geneva and would quit the Coalition if it participated. The decision deals a potential blow to international efforts to convene a peace conference in Geneva, which was first proposed for June but has been pushed …

France will boost its troops presence in the Central African Republic by year-end as part of a forthcoming U.N. resolution to help prevent the country from spiralling out of control, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Sunday. Fabius and European Union’s aid chief, Kristalina Georgieva, are the country to drum up support and international interest …

About 2,000 Islamists have rallied in Cairo. In Egypt’s coastal city of Alexandria police fired tear gas to disperse Muslim Brotherhood supporters when they clashed with counterprotesters, a security official said.

An Egyptian prosecutor extended on Sunday the detention of ousted President Mohamed Mursi for 30 days pending investigations into allegations he participated in a prison escape during the uprising that toppled his predecessor

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Afghan President Hamid Karzai have reached preliminary agreement on a bilateral security pact that now depends on the approval of Afghanistan’s tribal leaders. The pact, announced jointly by Kerry and Karzai late on Saturday after two days of talks in the capital, Kabul, …

Starting Monday, October 14, Syria becomes an official member of the international Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). This means that starting this date, the convention on the ban of chemical weapons is valid in Syria.

Croatia stands strongly behind the EU perspective of all countries in the Western Balkans, including Serbia and Macedonia, stated Croatian President Ivo Josipovic. Josipovic spoke for the Bulgarian National Radio ahead of his Monday and Tuesday official visit to Sofia.

The UN Security Council has agreed to proposals by secretary-general Ban Ki-moon to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons by a target of the middle of next year. France’s UN ambassador Gerard Araud and Russia’s delegate Vitaly Churkin said after closed consultations that the 15 council members decided to authorise the plan proposed by

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has said Washington’s suspension of military aid to Egypt was by no means a withdrawal from relations. His remarks came after Egypt’s Army-backed government critized the U.S. decision and insisted that it will not bow to U.S. pressure.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chun Ping has called for social reconciliation and national stability in Egypt as soon as possible. The call comes in the wake of the decision to dissolve the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as the announcement of Mohamed Morsy’s much-anticipated trial on 4 February. Ping also …