Italy and China signed business deals worth about 8 billion euros ($10 billion) on Tuesday in sectors ranging from energy to engineering, deepening Beijing's commercial ties with the euro zone's No. 3 economy.

• October 17, 2014

China will toughen audits of its military and target older officers to ensure that corrupt individuals are denied promotion and cannot get away with their crimes, the Defense Ministry said on Thursday.

• October 16, 2014

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko will look for ways to settle a dispute over natural gas supplies and end months of conflict in east Ukraine at talks in Italy this week.

• October 15, 2014

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed on Tuesday to increase intelligence sharing between Moscow and Washington on Islamic State militants, focusing on a common enemy even as deep divisions remained over the crisis in Ukraine.

• October 15, 2014

A Snapshot of Key Developments in the External Relations of the Russian Gas Sector
By Dr Jack Sharples, EGF Associate Researcher on the external dimensions of Russian gas and Lecturer in Energy Politics at the European University of St Petersburg

Key points:

• EU antitrust investigation: suspended but not finished
• Lithuanian government continues with arbitration case against Gazprom
• Gazprom struggles to meet European gas demand beyond contracted levels as winter approaches
• European gas prices continue to fall – Gazprom could face revenue shortage
• Gazprom and Ukraine – new round of trilateral gas talks imminent as winter approaches
• Gazprom reduces gas supplies to Poland, Slovakia, and Austria – a warning against ‘reverse flow’?
• Hungary sides with Gazprom against Ukraine
• Nord Stream: European Commission delays decision on OPAL pipeline until 31st of October
• South Stream: EU cannot halt South Stream construction, but threatens action upon completion of the pipeline
• South Stream: EU puts pressure on Serbia to halt South Stream construction
• Gazprom could sign second contract for gas deliveries to China, this time via the ‘Western Route’
• Gazprom agrees to expand the capacity of Blue Stream pipeline from 16 bcm to 19 bcm per year

• October 14, 2014

Russia and China signed energy, trade and finance agreements on Monday proclaimed by Moscow as proof that a policy turn to Asia is bearing fruit and will help it to weather Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis.

• October 13, 2014

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered Russian troops to withdraw to their permanent bases after military exercises in Rostov region near the border with Ukraine, the Kremlin said, in a sign of some tension easing before a key meeting next week.

• October 12, 2014

Statements by NATO's new chief do not raise hopes of a rapid improvement in relations between Russia and the military alliance, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said on Thursday.

• October 9, 2014