A deal between China and the United States to combat global warming is "heartening" although it falls short of the action needed to avert the worst impacts, the head of the U.N. panel of climate scientists said on Wednesday.

• November 12, 2014

Ukraine said on Wednesday it was redeploying troops in the east because of fears that separatists will launch a new military offensive, despite Russia's denials it has sent troops to reinforce the rebels.

• November 12, 2014

A few brief encounters between Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin during an Asia-Pacific summit in China on Tuesday spoke volumes about the chilly state of relations between the United States and Russia.

• November 11, 2014

The former head of Syria's main political opposition said he had visited Russia with other opposition figures and had discussed ways to end the conflict with Damascus's ally Moscow, but had insisted that President Bashar al-Assad must go.

• November 8, 2014

Ukraine's military accused Russia on Friday of sending a column of 32 tanks and truckloads of troops into the country's east to support pro-Russian separatists fighting government forces.

• November 7, 2014

U.S. prosecutors have launched a money-laundering investigation into a member of Russian President Vladimir Putin's inner circle, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

• November 6, 2014

Russia has told the United States that it will not attend a 2016 nuclear security summit, the State Department said on Wednesday, in the latest sign of frosty ties between Washington and Moscow.

• November 5, 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:

• European Commission further postpones ruling on use of OPAL pipeline
• Gazprom and Wintershall finalise asset-swap, as Gazprom gains control of Europe’s largest underground gas storage facility (UGSF)
• Lithuania breaks free of Gazprom monopoly with first LNG delivery
• Gazprom and Naftogaz agree on short-term ‘winter package’ until March 2015 to ensure gas supplies and transit during the upcoming winter
• Nord Stream: Nord Stream AG deny reports that plans to extend Nord Stream to the UK will be shelved amid tensions between Russia and the EU
• South Stream: Hungarian MVM shows its support for Gazprom with gas storage deal; MVM also pledges to complete the Hungarian section of South Stream by 2017
• Gazprom CEO holds talks, discusses funding from Chinese banks and gas supply via the ‘Western Route’
• Gazprom refills Serbian gas storage facility to capacity in preparation for winter

• November 5, 2014