Thousands of people were evacuated on Thursday from the last rebel bastion in Aleppo, the first to leave under a ceasefire deal that would end years of fighting for the city and mark a major victory for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

• December 15, 2016

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin wrapped up two days of talks on Thursday, with numerous economic deals but no big breakthrough on a territorial row that has over-shadowed ties since World War Two.

• December 15, 2016

A transitional deal "sooner rather than later" on Britain's exit from the European Union would ensure Brexit does not undermine financial stability, a senior Bank of England official said on Wednesday.

• December 14, 2016

A priceless collection of gold artifacts from Crimea that was on loan to a Dutch museum when Russia seized the peninsula must be returned to Ukraine and not Crimea, a Dutch court ruled on Wednesday in a judgement likely to anger Moscow.

• December 14, 2016

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin does not think relations between Russia and the United States will improve under Donald Trump's administration, news agency Interfax Ukraine reported him as saying late on Tuesday.

• December 14, 2016

Turkey is negotiating with Russia to open a corridor to evacuate Syrian rebel fighters and civilians from the remaining opposition-held districts of Aleppo, but no agreement has yet been reached, a senior Turkish official said.

• December 13, 2016

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Western sanctions imposed after Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea are an obstacle to talks on a peace treaty with Japan, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Tuesday.

• December 13, 2016

European Union countries agreed on Tuesday to reforms giving the bloc the possibility of imposing higher duties on excessively cheap imports that would help shore up its defenses under a new trading relationship with China.

• December 13, 2016