NATO currently faces one of its biggest challenges away from the battlefield as concern about the budget shortfall which is plaguing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization threatens to drive a wedge between its members.

• March 3, 2010

Turkey's leaders meet the head of the armed forces, Gen Ilker Basbug, after multiple arrests over an alleged military coup plot.

• February 25, 2010

Twenty military officers are formally charged in Turkey with attempting to overthrow the government.

• February 25, 2010

India and Pakistan begin their first high-level talks since the attacks on Mumbai at the end of 2008, amid tensions over Kashmir.

• February 25, 2010

Vandals are thought to have opened the cisterns at an Italian oil refinery, allowing some 2.5 million liters of oil to flow into the Lambro River. Now the slick has reached Italy's most important river, the Po.

• February 24, 2010

The US has reached out to Syria in a bid to harness its influence and engage with problematic Middle East leaders. Renewed ties between the two countries bring cautious hope of breakthroughs on a number of issues.

• February 24, 2010

Argentina's regional allies have backed its claim to the Falkland Islands as a dispute with Britain over oil escalates. The UK has started to drill in waters off the islands, a move Argentina has formally objected to.

• February 24, 2010

China tightens controls on internet use, requiring anyone who wants to set up a website to meet regulators and produce ID documents.

• February 23, 2010