Egyptian army and police troops Thursday launched a dawn clampdown on a restive area near Cairo where alleged backers of the deposed Islamist president Mohammad Mursi killed a dozen policemen last month. The forces, backed by armoured vehicles, stormed Kerdasa in the twin Cairo city of Giza, where they hunted …

Pakistan’s government informed the Lower House of the cabinet that it has planned to send the Afghan refugees back home by December 2015. The Federal Minister for States and Frontier Regions retired Lt Gen Abdul Qadir Baloch told the National Assembly on Thursday that the government has planned to complete …

 Foreign Secretary William Hague and Arab League Secretary General Nabil El-Araby stressed late Wednesday that it was important to implement the US-Russian agreement in regards to the chemical weapons in Syria. A statement by the British Foreign Ministry said that Hague and El-Araby meeting also touched the Mideast peace process …

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad promised Wednesday he would surrender Syria’s chemical weapons but warned it would take at least a year to do so and cost one billion dollars. His latest appearance came as UN envoys debated

A group of 160 Chadian troops from the United Nations peacekeeping force in Mali have deserted their posts in a dispute over pay and conditions, a military source and the soldiers themselves said Sept. 17. A Chadian army captain claiming to be the leader of the deserters said his men …

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Wednesday that the threat of military action should remain on the table to make Syria keep its promises on giving up chemical weapons. Speaking after he met British Prime Minister David Cameron in London, Rasmussen welcomed the recent US-Russian agreement under which the …

The President of the European Commission (EC) Jose Manuel Barroso has reaffirmed his strong position in favour of the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen area. Barroso said that both Bulgaria and Romania have met the criteria for Schengen area membership and should be given a chance to enter the zone as soon as possible.

Libya’s prime minister on Tuesday appealed to the outside world to help restore security, as it combats political chaos and tries to restart oil exports, crippled by protesters at a cost of $130m a day in lost income. Ali Zeidan met with his British counterpart David Cameron, who two years …

Leaders from Morocco to Gabon will cheer on the inauguration of Mali’s new president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on Thursday in a show of African unity as Mali enters a new era of democracy after months of political chaos.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel urged Egypt’s interim authorities to “advance the political roadmap” in a phone call with the country’s army chief on Tuesday, a Pentagon spokesman said.