China has used diplomatic channels to warn North Korea against conducting a fourth nuclear test, multiple China-based diplomatic sources told Reuters, after the reclusive state renewed its threat of "counter-measures" against perceived U.S. hostility.

• May 19, 2014

A senior member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government hinted on Saturday that Israel was involved in back-channel contacts with Palestinian and Arab officials despite the collapse of U.S.-brokered peace negotiations last month.

• May 17, 2014

Iran and six world powers are making little progress in arduous talks on ending their dispute over Tehran's nuclear program, a senior U.S. official said on Friday, fanning doubt about the prospects for a breakthrough by a self-imposed July deadline.

• May 16, 2014

NATO members in Central and Eastern Europe need to beef up defense spending after cutting it for the past five years while Russia has sharply increased its military budget, the head of the Western alliance said on Thursday.

• May 15, 2014

He is a man with three names, sought by Ukrainian intelligence as the top Russian operative in the separatist east. He moves through the streets in a black Mercedes, his face with pencil moustache hidden behind tinted windows, and his aim is to "destroy" Ukrainian forces that venture onto his territory.

• May 15, 2014

President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday Russia's defense industry should stop relying on foreign components and become self-sufficient following Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over the crisis in Ukraine.

• May 14, 2014

Europe is partly to blame for the crisis in Ukraine although this is no excuse for Russian behavior towards the former Soviet republic, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's deputy said on Wednesday.

• May 14, 2014

Russia said on Tuesday new European Union sanctions will hinder efforts to defuse the crisis in Ukraine and urged the West to persuade Kiev to hold discussions on the country's future structure before a May 25 presidential election.

• May 13, 2014