Islamic State raised its flag on a building on the outskirts of the Syrian frontier town of Kobani on Monday after an assault of almost three weeks, but the town's Kurdish defenders said its fighters had not reached the city centre.

• October 6, 2014

The Philippines has stopped all development work in the disputed South China Sea because of the impact such activity might have on an arbitration complaint it has filed against China, a defense official said on Friday.

• October 4, 2014

The Russia-led South Stream undersea gas pipeline is still going ahead, Energy Minister Alexander Novak was quoted as saying on Saturday, following concerns the European Union might be losing enthusiasm for the project.

• October 4, 2014

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday it was essential that both Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists fully observed a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine clinched nearly a month ago.

• October 3, 2014

Russia said on Friday the mortar fire that killed a Swiss worker from the International Committee of the Red Cross in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine was fired from territory controlled by Ukrainian government forces.

• October 3, 2014

President Vladimir Putin dismissed Western sanctions as "utter foolishness" on Thursday and said they would not stop Russia developing into a stronger economic power.

• October 2, 2014

Latvians look likely to back their hawkish centre-right ruling coalition in a parliamentary election on Saturday amid increased tensions with giant neighbor Russia, Riga's communist-era ruler, over the Ukraine crisis

• October 2, 2014

A European Union deal to cut fuel use and increase renewable energy would be a better punishment on Moscow than more sanctions as it would clearly show the EU means to cut reliance on Russian gas, Denmark's foreign minister said on Thursday.

• October 2, 2014