South Korea voiced disappointment with Pyongyang after high-level bilateral talks were placed on hold and phone calls to a hotline went unanswered.

• June 12, 2013

Former Georgian parliament speaker Nino Burjanadze says she will run for the country's presidency in October.

• June 12, 2013

Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned that he will not show "any more tolerance" for protests.

• June 11, 2013

China's unregulated shadow banking sector poses an increasing risk to the country's financial stability that could spread to other countries, credit rating agency Fitch said on Monday.

• June 11, 2013

The European Union plans to lodge a complaint with the World Trade Organization against Chinese duties on steel tubes used in power plants, EU sources said on Tuesday, opening another front in a rapidly escalating trade conflict with Beijing.

• June 11, 2013

Insights into Turkish Domestic and International Politics during May 16-31th 2013
By John VanPool, EGF Turkey and Black Sea Regional Analyst

Key Points:

• Protests in Istanbul’s Taksim Square erupt over a heavy handed police response and government indifference to the protesters’ demands.
• The protest, while minor in the beginning, has been a spark that has brought hundreds of thousands into the streets across Turkey’s major cities, with anger directed at the leadership of Prime Minister Erdogan.
• International press widely covers the protests, drawing the attention of investors who have until recently been extolling the virtues of AKP governance. Should the unrest continue, Turkey’s impressive economic performance could come to a halt.
• Despite civil unrest, the country’s energy future looks bright as NABUCCO West brings on GDF Suez and Turkmenistan seals an agreement for transit rights across Turkey for natural gas shipments.

• June 11, 2013

By Sébastien Jadot, Guest Contributor to EGF Middle East and Africa Research

June 2013
Key points:

• Boko Haram challenges Nigeria’s security as well as secularism
• The radicalization of Islam in Nigeria – how did it come about?
• A new role for the Shari’a in Nigeria
• The role of Boko Haram in reviving the ideology of extremism
• Is Boko Haram protected by the Nigerian state?
• Evidence of Boko Haram linkages to regional terror groups emerging
• International response not yet decisive
• It may become more decisive when offshoots of Boko Haram begin to appear

• June 11, 2013

The United Nations said on Friday it could not accept Russia's offer to replace peacekeepers from Austria in the Golan Heights because an agreement between Israel and Syria bars permanent members of the Security Council from the U.N. observer mission.

• June 10, 2013