The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a group that includes China, Russia and four Central Asian nations, has granted Afghanistan observer status. Beijing has also pledged immediate aid to Kabul and much more once NATO troops leave the country in 2014. The group has also expressed its opposition to any use of force against Iran, which already has observer status in the organisation.

• June 9, 2012

Islamic militants fighting Indian forces in Kashmir will declare war on Pakistan if it weakens its traditional support for their jihad, their senior leader has warned.

• June 8, 2012

American Ambassador to Armenia John A. Heffern has said 2015, the centennial of the events of 1915, will be an opportunity for Turkey to improve relations with Armenia, adding that it will be an important year for both sides.

• June 8, 2012

The U.N. nuclear watchdog said it made no progress in talks with Iran on Friday to seal a deal on resuming a long-stalled investigation into suspected atom bomb research by the Islamic state and it called the outcome "disappointing".

• June 8, 2012

The leaders of China and Russia have rejected military intervention to stop the violence between government forces and rebels in Syria. The statement comes a day after reports of a massacre by forces loyal to the regime.

• June 7, 2012

If the U.S. has the political will, it can seriously influence the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijani parliament deputy chairman Bahar Muradova told reporters on Thursday.

• June 7, 2012

Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Iranian counterpart on Thursday that Moscow supports Tehran's atomic program as long as it is "peaceful."

• June 7, 2012

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran views Turkmenistan's progress and welfare as if it were its own.

• June 6, 2012