Kazakhstan wants to develop advanced transport infrastructure to become a key part of China’s future transport network from the Pacific Ocean to the Baltic Sea. Kazakhstan plans to invest over $20 billion by 2020 into its transportation industry to become the main transit country between the booming Chinese market and Europe, said Zhenis …

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev will come to Moscow on May 8-9, attending Victory Day celebrations in the Russian capital as part of his first foreign visit after re-election, the president’s press service announced in a Monday statement. Nazarbayev will also participate in an informal meeting of CIS leaders, as well as a …

Patrick Megahan and Oren Adaki The Saudi-led international coalition operating in Yemen announced last Tuesday it had ended the first phase of its nearly month-long campaign in the country. Though the coalition fell short of its stated goal of returning Yemen’s internationally recognized government to power, it insists that in …

Richard Javad HeydarianTruong-Minh Vu With China tightening its grip on much of the South China Sea, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is struggling to adopt an appropriate and unified response. Ironically, this year is supposed to be the “Year of China-ASEAN Maritime Cooperation”. Since Cambodia’s disastrous …

By  Mary Habeck For several months, I have been writing about signs of cooperation—generally on a local level—between al-Qaeda (AQ) groups and others that have sworn fealty to the Islamic State (IS). It might seem counterintuitive that the two, which have accused each other ofassassinating leaders, engaged in …

PATRICK COCKBURN The map issued by the Pentagon to prove that Isis had lost territory shows how false optimism dominates the actions of the outside powers towards the Middle East.  A graphic illustration of Western wishful thinking about the decline of Islamic State (IS) is a well-publicised map …

Russia has done more for Crimean Tatars since the reunification than Ukraine has in over two decades while the peninsula was under its rule, Resit Kemal As, advisor of the head of Crimea Sergei Aksenov, told Sputnik.   According to the advisor, Russia has taken significant steps to solve the Crimean …

Gulf state’s investment arm adds latest acquisition of Claridge’s to portfolio already boasting landmarks from The Shard to Canary Wharf Qatar’s Constellation Hotels bought majority share in company behind Claridge’s, The Berkeley and The Connaught Five-star hotels latest in impressive list of high-profile acquisitions, including The Shard, Harrods …

By MARGHERITA STANCATI and HABIB KHAN TOTAKHIL Taliban representatives launched a series of meetings with Afghan government officials in the Gulf emirate of Qatar on Saturday, even as insurgents press an offensive around the country. Taliban and Afghan officials said an eight-member Taliban delegation and some Afghan officials were attending a …