(New York Times)- On April 30, 1941, a Jewish man here in Amsterdam wrote a desperate letter to an American friend, pleading for help emigrating to the United States. “U.S.A. is the only country we could go to,” he wrote. “It is for the sake of the children mainly.” A...

By Hassan Hassan (The National)- Peace talks between representatives of the Syrian regime and the rebels are scheduled to take place today in Astana, the Kazakh capital. These Russian-sponsored talks were made possible by the expulsion of the rebels from eastern Aleppo on December 23....

(The Guardian)- Key parties in Syria’s brutal civil war, now stretching towards the end of its sixth year, will meet in the Kazakh capital of Astana this week for a new round of peace talks. Organised by Russia and Turkey, and backed by Iran, these are the latest in many attempts to...

(Middle East Eye)- Tunisia is not simply a “jihadist beacon”, but that may be the only thing you associate it with given the way some European commentators have discussed the country recently. Against all the odds - deep ideological rifts, a fragile state in a chaotic regional context,...