Geography of Asia

A strong earthquake shook Nepal on May 12, sending people in the capital Kathmandu rushing out on to the streets weeks after a devastating quake killed more than 8,000 people and destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes, eyewitnesses said.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a magnitude of 7.1 and struck 68 km west of the town of Namche Bazar, close to Mount Everest. 

Leaders of ethnically split Cyprus agreed on Monday to restart peace talks on May 15, a UN envoy said on Monday, offering fresh hope of healing one of Europe's most enduring frozen conflicts.

International relations scholars would know better, but seasoned journalists could also attest to the fact that one very rarely sees a radical alteration in a country?s foreign policies after a change in government.

The Syrian question has become part of the domestic political agenda prior to the elections. It has also become a source of wishful thinking in the West, with an increasing number of reports suggesting Turkey and Saudi Arabia are on the verge of entering Syria militarily to topple the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias on Monday held talks with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and gave a flurry of interviews to Turkish media on the first day of a visit to Turkey aimed at paving the way for bilateral talks on confidence-building measures.

The indictment following the deadly attack in the southern province of Hatay?s Reyhanl? district two years ago, which killed 52 people, has cited ?negligence? as the key cause of the incident.

Delays in the program for training and equipping the moderate Syrian opposition are not due to a disagreement between Ankara and Washington, but rather because of ?technical reasons,? Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavu?o?lu has said.

?The arrival of U.S. soldiers in Turkey was delayed due to distance,? Çavu?o?lu said on May 11 in a televised interview. 

Turkish tourism representatives expect to reach over $35 billion in this year's annual income by hosting more than 42 million tourists, despite Europe's economic problems and conflicts in neighboring countries, said Ba?aran Ulusoy, president of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TÜRSAB).

Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev has boasted that the Mayor of Ulaanbaatar plans to pay a visit to Sofia to examine the construction of the Sofia subway.

Plevneliev is on an official visit to Mongolia.

A 5-meter-tall monument to the Cyrillic alphabet is to be unveiled by Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev during his visit to Mongolia on May 11.