France will reduce its troop numbers in Mali, where it routed Islamic radicals last year, to 1,600 troops by mid-February, according to the French President Francois Hollande.

Greece officially assumed the EU’s six-month rotational presidency on Wednesday at a ceremony in Athens. The Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras stressed that

Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul has expressed his strong support for the separation of powers in his country. He delivered a speach on Thursday during a visit to a military academy in Istanbul.