• East Asia

    G8 leaders call for coalition government in Syria

    President Barack Obama, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other G-8 leaders took a united stance Tuesday on seeking a negotiated Syrian peace settlement to forge a “united, inclusive and democratic” government – but couldn’t agree on whether this means President Bashar Assad must go. Their declaration at the end of…

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  • West Asia

    Turkish protesters stand still and silent at Taksim Square

    Turkey’s prime minister on Tuesday brushed aside international criticism over his government’s crackdown on widespread demonstrations and vowed to increase the police’s powers to deal with the unrest. Meanwhile, more than 90 people were detained in police raids linked to the protests. Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s defiant stance appeared aimed at…

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  • West Asia

    ADIPEC Awards to recognize female empowerment in gas and oil sector

    Young ADIPEC Engineer Category Seeks to Groom Future Leaders and Innovators Regional Jury Panel Includes Two Experts from Kuwait’s Oil and Gas Industry The Abu Dhabi Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC) Awards, which recognise and reward excellence within individual projects and departments of gas and oil companies in the MENA…

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  • West Asia

    Turkish labor groups strike to support protesters

    Turkish labor groups fanned a wave of defiance against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s authority, leading rallies and a one-day strike to support activists whose two-week standoff with the government has shaken the country’s secular democracy. Riot police again deployed in Turkey’s two main cities, and authorities kept up their…

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  • Central Asia

    G8 leadership remains divided on Syria conflict

    Deep differences over Syria’s fierce civil war clouded a summit of world leaders Monday, with Russian President Vladimir Putin defiantly rejecting calls from the U.S., Britain and France to halt his political and military support for Syrian leader Bashar Assad’s regime. But there were also fissures among the three Western…

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  • West Asia

    Iranian President urges greater nuclear transparency

    Iran’s newly elected president showcased his reform-leaning image Monday by promising a “path of moderation” that includes greater openness on Tehran’s nuclear program and overtures to Washington. He also made clear where he draws the line: No halt to uranium enrichment and no direct U.S. dialogue without a pledge to…

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  • Central Asia

    Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan establish bilateral ties

    Uzbek President Islam Karimov (R) shakes hands with visiting Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev at a press conference in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, June 14, 2013. Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan established strategic partnership on Friday, pledging to boost bilateral cooperation. <Xinhua/NEWSis/Dong Longjiang>

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  • South Asia

    University bus attack kills 24 people in Pakistan

    Pakistani police say the death toll from attacks on a hospital and a women’s university bus in a southwestern provincial capital has increased to 24. Senior police officer Fayaz Sumbal said Sunday that a doctor and two nurses who were critically wounded in the suicide attack on the Bolan Medical…

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  • West Asia

    Turkish riot police occupy Taksim Square

    Riot police cordoned off streets, set up roadblocks and fired tear gas and water cannon to prevent anti-government protesters from converging on Istanbul’s central Taksim Square on Sunday, unbowed even as Turkey’s prime minister addressed hundreds of thousands of supporters a few kilometers away. The contrasting scenes pointed to an…

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  • West Asia

    Series of attacks in Iraq kill 51 people

    A blistering string of apparently coordinated bombings and a shooting across Iraq killed at least 51 and wounded dozens Sunday, spreading fear throughout the country in a wave of violence that is raising the prospect of a return to widespread sectarian killing a decade after a U.S.-led invasion. Violence has…

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