French President Emmanuel Macron spoke by phone with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan for more than an hour, discussing the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean, Libya and Syria, the Elysee Palace said in a statement. Read More »

The United States is committed to preserving Israel's qualitative military edge (QME) in the Middle East, US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper said before a meeting with Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz at the Pentagon. Read More »

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for reforming the United Nations. A high-level meeting began on Monday at the UN to mark the 75th anniversary of the organization. Read More »

The Indian government has no plans to remove China’s most favored nation trade status despite the recent deadly clashes on the border between the two countries, the Indian minister of trade and commerce, Piyush Goyal, said on Monday. Read More »

Bahrain joined the United Arab Emirates in signing a peace deal with Israel brokered by the US, becoming one of the first two Gulf countries to establish formal ties with the Jewish state. Before the US-mediated agreement, Israel enjoyed diplomatic relations only with Jordan and Egypt among Middle Eastern countries. Read More »

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Friday that it would be impossible to achieve longed-for peace with its northern neighbor without maintaining a dialogue. Read More »

The Chinese navy on Saturday successfully escorted an Indian oil tanker carrying 31 Indian crew members to a designated sea area in the Gulf of Aden and received a thank-you note from the tanker's captain, the Global Times learned on Monday. Read More »

Murmurs of a potential $400 billion trade and military deal between Beijing and Tehran have reached New Delhi. As China and India continue to have estranged relations, Beijing’s growing influence in the strategically-important Iran is being seen as a matter of concern by the Indian opposition. Read More »

US President Donald Trump said that he has "no problem" with exporting fifth generation aircraft to the UAE after it signed a peace deal with Israel and promised "to work out" any concerns of Israel, the only operator of F-35s in the region. Read More »

Indian media reported over the weekend that Russia promised Defense Minister Singh that it won’t sell arms to Pakistan out of respect for New Delhi’s security interests, which if true, it wouldn’t matter all that much in terms of the Russian-Pakistani rapprochement since military ties were never a major component thereof but it would definitely be a big deal as regards Russian-Chinese relations since it would raise uncomfortable questions about why Russia continues to sell arms to the South Asian state despite its current tensions with the People’s Republic whose security interests Moscow also supposedly respects. Read More »