Ashish Kumar Sen

EU diplomat wary of Iran’s overtures to West The European Union's foreign policy chief warned Monday against rushing to ease economic sanctions on Iran following last week's diplomatic breakthroughs between the Islamic republic's new leadership and the West.

US, Iran Presidents speak over phone after 34 years US President Barack Obama and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani spoke on the phone on Friday in the first talks between the leaders of the two nations since 1979.

Manmohan-Obama meet boosts defence, security ties The US and India sought more intensive engagement on a gamut of issues, including defence, security, bilateral trade, and efforts to dismantle terrorist safe havens and promote clean energy. This declaration was made in a joint statement issued after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met US President Barack Obama at the White House on Friday.

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N-stalemate: US-Iran talks raise prospects of breakthrough The US and Iran held their first official high-level talks since the 1979 Islamic Revolution on Thursday in New York, raising the prospect of a breakthrough in a years-long stalemate over Iran's nuclear programme.

India, US seal first commercial civil nuke power deal In the aftermath of this week’s terrorist attack in India, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday lowered expectations of his meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif, saying the epicentre of terrorism remains in Pakistan.

Alliance of rebel groups calls for an Islamist Syria, not a U.S.-backed democracy Eleven Syrian rebel groups, including a powerful al Qaeda affiliate, have rejected the Western-backed opposition coalition, calling for a new Syria under Islamic law and dealing a severe blow to U.S.-led efforts to support a democratic alternative to embattled President Bashar Assad.

Lateral blinking Astute Russian diplomacy made the US hold fire on Syria.

Wolf calls for arrest of Sudanese leader at U.N. General Assembly A senior House Republican wants the Obama administration to arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir , who is accused of war crimes, if he arrives in the U.S. to attend a meeting of the U.N. General Assembly this week.

NAM to Namonia How would the world deal with ‘Prime Minister Modi’? And vice versa?

Sudan’s Omar Bashir, accused of war crimes, puts U.S. in bind with visa request An accused war criminal wants to address the U.N. General Assembly this week, and the Obama administration doesn’t know what to do with him.

Kerry tells U.N. to focus on ridding Syria of chemical weapons, not on sarin attack Secretary of State John F. Kerry on Thursday urged the U.N. Security Council to ignore Russia ’s questions about the source of chemical weapons used in the Syrian civil war and to back quickly the plan to rid Syrian President Bashar Assad ’s regime of its stockpile.

Al Qaeda pushing Iraq toward civil war, ambassador says A resurgent al Qaeda is trying to push Iraq toward a civil war, Iraq ’s ambassador to the United States said on Wednesday.

Bangladesh court issues death sentence in war crimes trial Bangladesh ’s Supreme Court on Tuesday sentenced to death a leader of the country’s main Islamist party for his role in a mass murder during the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan .

Barack Room Ballads A few punters cry war, but the lines are blurred on this one.

U.N. inspectors: Chemical weapons used on a ‘relatively large scale’ in Syrian civil war U.N. inspectors have found that the banned nerve agent sarin, loaded in rockets, was used “on a relatively large scale” in an attack on the outskirts of the Syrian capital, Damascus, last month that the Obama administration says killed more than 1,400 people.

Lack of mutual trust could kill Syria talks on chemical weapons The success of any effort to take control of Syria ’s stockpile of chemical weapons hinges on trust — a quality in short supply between the United States on the one hand, and Syria and its ally Russia on the other.

Modi to address BJP meet in U.S. via videolink Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is coming to the U.S. — via videolink.

A glimmer of hope in Syria? After days of telling the American public that it had exhausted all avenues of diplomacy to resolve the crisis over the use of chemical weapons in Syria, the Obama administration’s top diplomat, Secretary of State John F. Kerry, inadvertently let out a rhetorical proposal that could provide the best shot at avoiding punitive U.S. military strikes against Bashar Assad’s regime.

Obama delays strike as Syria agrees on Russian plan  U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday night made the case for military action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, but said he had instructed the US Congress to delay a vote on the decision in order to give diplomacy a chance.  

Threats to diplomatic missions increase one year after Benghazi attack One year after terrorists attacked the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, killing the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans, threats to U.S. embassies and consulates have increased, especially in the Arab world.

Doubts emerge about Assad’s control of Syria’s chemical weapons President Bashar Assad likely does not have complete control over Syria ’s stockpile of chemical weapons — one of the world’s largest — which is dispersed across the country and believed to have been shared with its allies, including the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah , analysts say.

Syrian opposition condemns video of execution of soldiers A Syrian opposition coalition on Thursday condemned a video that purportedly shows rebels executing seven soldiers loyal to President Bashar Assad .

Pace of negotiations frustrating to Syrians Syrians at the receiving end of President Bashar Assad ’s deadly crackdown are vexed by the pace of deliberations in Washington and other Western capitals on how to respond to the regime’s suspected use of chemical weapons last month.

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52 Iranian exiles killed at Iraq’s Camp Ashraf More than four dozen members of an Iranian dissident group have been killed in an early morning attack at their camp north of Baghdad on Sunday, according to the Iranian exiles.