October, 2014

• 14 October

  UN Secretary-General visits Tripoli

  UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Libya’s capital Tripoli on Saturday for talks with the country’s warring factions fighting over control of the oil producer, in the highest-level visit of a foreign visitor for three months.

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• 14 October

  Mali rebels agree to end hostilities before talks

  Representatives of two platforms of rebel groups from northern Mali agreed on Thursday in the Burkinabe capital Ouagadougou to end hostilities and present a united front for talks with the Malian government in Algeria in early September. In recent months, there has been fighting between the Tuareg-led National Movement for …

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• 14 October

  Shoukry, Chinese envoy for Middle East discuss bilateral ties

  Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry held talks with Chinese Special Envoy for the Middle East Gong Xiaosheng addressing bi-lateral ties as well as challenges in the region. Shoukry received Xiaosheng on Monday, one day after Egypt hosted the Gaza Reconstruction Conference, in which $5.4bn was pledged in aid to Palestine. Over …

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• 14 October

  Egypt to receive Apache helicopters in November

  Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday to discuss a range of regional topics, including Palestine, terrorism, and the delivery of Apache helicopters to Egypt’s military. Kerry stressed the support of the US to the ongoing economic …

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• 14 October

  Yemen rebels take province near Sanaa

  Yemeni security and military officials say Shiite rebels who recently overran the capital have now seized a key port city on the Red Sea and a province south of Sanaa in a stunning new blitz. The development indicates the Shiite Houthis may be determined to carve out a mini-state within …

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• 11 October

  FROM CITY-STATES TO MEGALOPOLEIS

  CASE STUDIES IN THE ARAB WORLD   According to U.S. National Intelligence Council’s (NIC) “Global trends 2030 – Alternative worlds”[1], the world’s current roughly 50-percent urban population will climb to nearly 60 percent, or 4.9 billion people, in 2030. Urban centers are estimated to generate 80 percent of economic growth; …

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• 9 October

  Turkey says it won’t accept security threats

  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said here on Thursday that his country would not tolerate the undermining of peace, stability and peaceful coexistence. “Turkey will never tolerate any traps against our peace, stability or sense of brotherhood,” Erdogan said in a statement published by the presidential information center.

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• 9 October

  France underlines the role of international support to stabilise Mali

  France on Thursday stressed the role of international mobilisation in helping to stabilise the situation in Mali and urged support for the UN which has deployed a peacekeeping force there but which has undergone deadly attacks in the past two months. Soldiers from Chad, Nigeria and Senegal have been killed …

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• 9 October

  France says all options should be considered in Kobani situation

  While expressing support for a Turkish suggestion to set up a buffer zone on the Syrian-Turkish border near the embattled Kurdish town of Kobane, France said on Thursday that the situation was urgent and fraught with risks and all options must be examined concerning Kobane and the advance of Islamic …

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• 9 October

  600 jihadists to be judged in Tunisia

  The first trials of prisoners accused of “terrorism” in Tunisia since the 2011 revolution could open later this month, with 600 defendants facing prosecution, its justice minister said on Thursday. Hafedh Ben Salah told AFP in an interview that the defendants included Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists who have been battling the Tunisian …

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