Middle East

More than 1,000 high-level delegates from over 51 countries will gather in Jerusalem on May 12-14 for the Fifth Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism (GFCA), to discuss the renewed threat to Jewish communities and individuals around the globe, the Ambassador of the State of Israel to Romania, Mr. Dan Ben-Eliezer, told AGERPRES on Tuesday.

US Assistant Secretary for Arms Control, Verification and Compliance Frank A. Rose on Monday said in Bucharest, that the ambassador of the Russian Federation in Romania, Oleg Malginov is ?wrong' when saying that the anti-missile system implemented by the United States of America is a threat and a challenge to Moscow, as this has no capacity to harm Russia's strategic deterrent potential.

Albania reaffirms commitment to NATO

Iraqi forces have entered Tikrit, dodging bombs and sniper fire in search of their biggest victory yet against embattled jihadists who tried to light new fires elsewhere in Iraq and Syria.
      

A boat capsized off Sicily when the migrants aboard rushed to meet rescuers, killing at least 10 people, the Italian coastguard said on March 4.
      
"The migrants, as they frequently do, all rushed to one side of the boat which then capsised," Italian coast guard spokesman Filippo Marini told TV station SkyTG24,  adding many of the passengers did not know how to swim.        

Yesterday marked three important developments in areas related to the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). First, the Turkish Foreign Ministry announced that months-long talks between Ankara and Washington to train and equip the moderate Syrian oppositions have been finalized and have yielded a draft of a memorandum of understanding (MoU).

Bulgaria is strongly concerned by the instability in the Middle East and tensions in the Black Sea region and is doing its best to cope with the influx of refugees which could increase, Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev said on Thursday following talks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Sofia.

The EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator Gilles de Kerchove, who is on a visit to Bulgaria, met Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov and Interior Minister Veselin Vuchkov on Friday.

Kerchove and Vuchkov condemned the terrorist attack against the office of French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in Paris.

Turkey’s newly-assigned Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has held a telephone conversation with his U.S. counterpart, Secretary of State John Kerry, amid Washington-led efforts to forge an international coalition against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.