Iraqi forces clash with Islamic State near Falluja, bombard city center
Iraqi government forces fought Islamic State militants near Falluja on Monday and bombarded central districts at the outset of an offensive to retake the longtime jihadist stronghold on the western approaches to the capital Baghdad.
Pakistan says U.S. drone strike violated its sovereignty
Pakistan accused the United States on Sunday of violating its sovereignty with a drone strike against the leader of the Afghan Taliban, in perhaps the most high-profile U.S. incursion into Pakistani territory since the 2011 raid to kill Osama bin Laden.
Kerry in Cairo to talk Mideast peace, Libya
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry landed in Cairo on Wednesday for talks with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Libya and to explore a proposal by the Egyptian leader to try to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Current U.S.-Russia tensions are dangerous -- but not ‘Cold War Two’
Since Russian-American relations spiraled downwards after Russia’s annexation of Crimea, analysts and politicians have begun to raise the once unthinkable: the advent of Cold War Two. Both American and Russian commentators have declared “Welcome to Cold War Two,” while NATO’s retiring supreme allied commander, Europe stated that “trying to prevent a Cold War” was now his successor’s responsibility. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev went one step further, arguing “one could go so far as to say we have slid back to a new Cold War.”
Armenian, Azeri leaders to meet to break Nagorno-Karabakh impasse
The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan will meet in Vienna on Monday in an attempt by the United States, Russia and France to try to end violence in the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region and push for peace talks.
Iraq takes aim at media as security forces struggle to contain strife
Iraq's Shi'ite-led authorities have shut the offices of two television channels popular with Sunni Iraqis and ordered a satirical show off air, tightening control over the media as political tensions rise in Baghdad.
Netanyahu tells France's Ayrault he still opposes peace conference
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told France's foreign minister on Sunday that Israel remained opposed to a French initiative for an international conference to try to revive peace talks.
China, Thailand set to hold joint military exercises
China and Thailand will hold joint exercises beginning this month, China's Ministry of Defence said on Friday, in another sign of improving relations since the Thai military seized power in 2014.
|
