Middle Orient

Iraqi lawmakers elected a veteran Kurdish politician as the nation’s new president on Thursday, hours after an attack on a prison convoy killed dozens of people, brutally underscoring the challenges faced by the country’s leaders as they struggle to form a new government.

The EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels Tuesday decided to add three additional Syrian persons and nine entities to its blacklist in view of the gravity of the situation in Syria. The Council in a statement said Syrian regime officials are involved “in the violent repression of the civilian …

The European Union (EU) has extended the suspension of restrictive measures on Iran over its nuclear programme until November 24, the Council of EU Monday said in a statement. Under the sanction relief specified in the Joint Plan of Action, the Islamic republic could continue parts of its international oil trade, which is the …

Iraqi security forces killed about 117 insurgents in a series of battles with the Sunni militant groups across Iraq on Tuesday as the government is trying to take back the lands seized by rebel fighters recently, security sources said. In Salahudin province, the army forces seized four villages after clashes …

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius called today for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas to end violence in Gaza which has left nearly 600 Palestinians dead.

Syrian government forces have launched a counter-attack to recapture a gas field seized by hard-line extremists, activists said Saturday, as the death toll from three days of fighting there rose to more than 200 people killed.

Egypt summoned the Turkish charge d’affairs to Cairo on Sunday over comments Islamist Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made, questioning Egypt’s ability to end the latest Israeli offensive in Gaza. On Friday Erdogan called Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi an “illegitimate … tyrant”, adding that Egypt “could not be relied upon” to …

The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and United States Secretary of State John Kerry are expected in Cairo Monday to push for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. The latest militarised conflict to affect the Gaza Strip has so far killed at least 509 Palestinians and 20 Israelis.

 U.S. President Barack Obama affirmed that “real progress in several areas” has been made on negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program and that “we have a credible way forward.” In a statement he delivered on Ukraine

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius will travel on Friday to Egypt and Israel for talks aimed at bringing the deadly conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians to an end, President Francois Hollande said Thursday. Fabius said on Wednesday that Europe was ready to take action to help bring about a ceasefire between the two parties.