Recent Posts

France calls for restraint in standoff between Baghdad, Kurds in Kirkuk

France on Friday urged restraint on all sides in a potentially volatile standoff between the Iraqi Government and the Kurdish authorities over the oil-rich Kirkuk region, diplomats indicated. Kirkuk is legally under Iraqi federal authority but is currently under Kurdish control and France is anxious that the differences between the …

Read More »

Iraq forces retake positions from Kurds in disputed Kirkuk

Iraqi forces Friday retook positions controlled by Kurdish peshmerga fighters since 2014 in the oil-rich province of Kirkuk amid a bitter row with the Kurds over a vote for independence last month. A senior Kurdish official said thousands of heavily armed fighters had been deployed to defend themselves “at any …

Read More »

NATO chief warns that leaving Afghanistan would mean return to chaos

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said at the end of a four-day NATO parliamentary assembly in Bucharest, Romania, on Monday that “if NATO leaves too soon, we risk Afghanistan returning to a state of chaos – a safe haven for international terrorism”. “The situation in Afghanistan is challenging. We all understand …

Read More »