On Sunday, September 29, President Bashar al-Assad declared to the world, via an interview on Italian television, his resolve to clear Syria of chemical weapons - accepting a Russian-brokered deal to avert punitive U.S. action.

• October 22, 2013

France summoned the U.S. ambassador on Monday to protest allegations in Le Monde newspaper about large-scale spying on French citizens by the U.S. National Security Agency.

• October 21, 2013

Germany is to drop the opposition it raised in June to opening a new chapter of talks with European Union membership candidate Turkey after its crackdown on a wave of anti-government protests earlier this year, a source said.

• October 21, 2013

A Snapshot of Key Developments in the External Relations of the Russian Gas Sector
By Jack Sharples, EGF Associate Researcher on the external dimensions of Russian gas

Key points:

• Gazprom’s Q1 profits rise due to increased sales revenues and reduced ‘retroactive payments’ to European energy; Gas price negotiations between Gazprom & Lithuania continue; Russia and EU agree terms of use for OPAL; Gazprom commissions underground gas storage facility in Kaliningrad and may build Baltic LNG import and export terminals; EU prepares to charge Gazprom with abusing its dominant market position in Central and Eastern Europe; Gazprom asset-swap with BASF to be confirmed by early 2014
• Ukraine faces delay in beginning of gas supplies from Europe via Slovakia; Gazprom and Ukraine reach a compromise over the amount of gas needed to be kept in storage to ensure stable transit of Russian gas via Ukraine in winter 2013-14
• The EU leaves South Stream off its list of Projects of Common Interest
• Gazprom and CNPC agree major T&Cs for gas supplies to China except for price, resulting in a delay to the start of construction of a new pipeline from Russia to China
• Gazprom predicts losses of $16bn from planned freeze of domestic gas price increases, responds with call to freeze proposed Mineral Extraction Tax increases

• October 21, 2013

European Union governments agreed on Friday to start talks with China to remove restrictions on foreign investment and set clearer rules on doing business after months of trade disputes over Chinese solar panels and EU wine.

• October 19, 2013

Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden said he did not bring any of the documents he took from the agency with him to Russia, the New York Times reported on Thursday.

• October 18, 2013

Deal or no deal, the U.S. Congress' dance with default impressed policymakers and investors in China and Japan with just how vulnerable their own economic revival plans are to the next political tantrum on Capitol Hill.

• October 18, 2013

The European Union and Canada agreed a multi-billion-dollar trade pact on Friday that will integrate two of the world's largest economies and paves the way for Europe to do an even bigger deal with the United States.

• October 18, 2013