With ties between Washington and many close allies strained because of eavesdropping revelations and differences over U.S. policies in the Middle East, the Obama administration can take some comfort from an improvement in ties with China.

• November 4, 2013

Britain must remain part of the European Union, British business leaders said on Monday, but they called on Prime Minister David Cameron to oppose the "creeping extension of EU authority".

• November 4, 2013

Japan and Russia held their first joint defense and foreign ministers' meeting on Saturday and agreed to boost security cooperation in the Asia-Pacific as they both warily watch neighboring China's rising influence.

• November 4, 2013

The European Union is in advanced discussions with the International Monetary Fund on providing standby financing to Ukraine should the country come under economic pressure from Russia later this year, senior EU officials have told Reuters.

• November 1, 2013

Former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden has found a job working for a website in Russia, where he was granted asylum after fleeing the United States, a Russian lawyer helping him said on Thursday.

• November 1, 2013

When NATO forces start a major exercise in Latvia and Poland this weekend, they will be rehearsing how to oust an anonymous invading enemy from a fictional region.

• November 1, 2013

China is demanding an explanation from the United States after a report in an Australian newspaper said Australian embassies, including the one in Beijing, were being used as part of a U.S.-led spying operation.

• October 31, 2013

Sheikh Mansour Hamid al-Imara clutches his prayer beads and watches a huge new oil facility nearing completion across the road from his village, hoping that Russian operator Lukoil will offer his poor tribesmen a better way of life.

• October 31, 2013