Washington

Iraqi security forces entered the University of Anbar in southern Ramadi on July 26 and clashed with Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants inside the compound, the joint operations command said in a statement broadcast on state television.

Turkey and the United States have agreed on a military action plan with the objective of clearing the Turkish-Syrian border of jihadist terrorists in what the two countries have called the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)-free zone. 

This column on July 22 cited the deadly suicide bomb attack that killed 32 youngsters in the town of Suruç in the province of ?anl?urfa on the Syrian border as a declaration of war by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on Turkey. 

US President Barack Obama arrives in his ancestral homeland Kenya late July 24, with a massive security operation under way to protect him from Al-Qaeda-linked Somali militants.

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic should confer with U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden in Washington on September 15, the daily Vecernje Novosti reported.

Saudi Arabia's leaders sought assurances on July 22 that the United States stands firmly against Iranian "interference" in the Middle East, during a visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will seek to reassure Gulf Arab officials at a meeting in Qatar soon that Washington will work with them to "push back" against Iranian influence in the region, he told the pan-Arab newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat.

The Cuban flag flew proudly over Havana's newly restored embassy July 20 as the US and Cuba relaunched diplomatic ties but swiftly cautioned that sharp differences lingered after five decades of enmity.

US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu July 21 to try to ease tensions over the Iran nuclear deal, as the Israeli leader urged lawmakers in Washington to reject the hard-won agreement.

A new $100 billion international bank dedicated to the emerging BRICS countries opened in China's commercial hub Shanghai on July 21, officials said, as an alternative to other multilateral lenders.

The "New Development Bank," backed by the so-called emerging BRICS nations Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has been viewed as a challenge to Washington-based institutions.