Vietnam will send a special envoy to China this week to try to rebuild battered diplomatic ties with its communist neighbor after they sank to their lowest in three decades, amid a flare-up over sovereignty in the South China Sea.

• August 25, 2014

Ukraine accused Russia on Monday of sending soldiers across the border to open a new front in the separatist war that has devastated the east of the country and provoked the gravest East-West crisis since the fall of communism.

• August 25, 2014

Forces from the Libyan city of Misrata on Saturday seized Tripoli's main airport after more than a month of fighting with a rival group, a Misrata spokesman said.

• August 23, 2014

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday the standoff over Ukraine could be solved but only if control was tightened over the Ukraine-Russia border across which, the West alleges, Russia has been funnelling arms to help a separatist rebellion.

• August 23, 2014

Germany's vice chancellor has spoken out for a "federalization" of Ukraine once fighting between Ukrainian and Russian separatist forces in the eastern part of the country has ended.

• August 23, 2014

The first trucks from a Russian aid convoy on Thursday passed a Russian border check point and started moving towards the border crossing with Ukraine, a Reuters reporter at the scene said.

• August 21, 2014

Russian natural gas exporter Gazprom (GAZP.MM) said on Thursday that Ukraine's outstanding debt for gas supplies stood at $5.3 billion as of Aug. 1 and called on Kiev to ensure that gas continues to transit without disruption to Europe.

• August 21, 2014

Israel killed three senior Hamas commanders in an air strike on the Gaza Strip on Thursday, the clearest signal yet that Israel is intent on eliminating the group's military leadership after a failed attempt on the life of its top commander this week.

• August 21, 2014