November, 2014

• 24 November

  NATO chief urges members to spend more on defence

  NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg Monday called on Allies to stop defence cuts and invest more money on defence. “The time has come to stop defence cuts. We must invest more in defence and spend our money better,” he said in a keynote speech at the 60th Plenary Session of …

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• 24 November

  Pro govt forces west Libya town of Kekla

  Fighters loyal to Libya’s internationally recognised government have seized control of the key western town of Kekla after more than 40 days of clashes with Islamists, both sides said on Monday. A diverse coalition of mainly Islamist militias drove fighters allied with the government from Tripoli in August, after weeks …

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• 24 November

  Chuck Hagel resigned as US defense secretary

  Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has resigned, U.S. officials said on Nov. 25, ending nearly two years in the Pentagon’s top job after a bruising mid-term election that undermined President Barack Obama’s Democrats in Congress. Hagel, who had struggled to improve his ties with Congress after a contentious 2013 confirmation hearing, …

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• 24 November

  Group of 230 Peshmerga forces trained by Turkish soldiers

  Some 230 Peshmerga forces of Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have been trained by Turkish soldiers so far in northern Iraq, a senior Turkish Foreign Ministry official said. Turkey has been providing “subsidiary” military training for the Peshmerga forces and the process will continue for as long as necessary, according to …

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• 24 November

  Egyptian president to start tour in Europe

  Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi will start a European tour on Monday, with Italy as his first destination, followed by the Vatican and France. In Italy, El-Sisi has a packed schedule, according to presidential spokesman Alaa Youssef.

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• 22 November

  NATO chief reaffirms support for Baltic states

  The NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg Thursday started a trip to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to underline the 28-member Alliance’s support to the three Baltic states. According to a NATO statement, he began his visit today with a visit to Estonia’s Amari Airbase where he said “NATO’s greatest responsibility is …

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• 22 November

  Pentagon says Russia keeps troops along Ukraine border, destabilizing situation

  Russia continues to have “postured, ready and capable battalion tactical groups” along the border with Ukraine, particularly in the southeast between Ukraine and western Russia, Rear Admiral John Kirby, Pentagon spokesman, said on Thursday. “These units have remained ready,” Kirby said during a briefing. “They have remained close, in some …

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• 22 November

  Biden visits Kiev

  US Vice-President Joe Biden landed in Ukraine today, US diplomats in Kiev said, ahead of talks with the country’s president and prime minister over possible increased assistance amid conflict in the east. Biden will meet President Petro Poroshenko and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk tomorrow, the one-year anniversary of the Maidan …

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• 22 November

  Erdogan ends his visit to Algeria

  President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan left Thursday Algiers after a two-day official visit to Algeria, at the invitation of President of the Republic, Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

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• 22 November

  Around 400 Russian military flights were intercepted by NATO in 2014

  NATO said Thursday there have been around 400 intercepts of Russian military flights near its member countries this year, amid heightened tension between Moscow and the West over the Ukraine crisis. “If you look at the number of intercepts around NATO, we can talk about 400 intercepts, 50 percent more …

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