With oil production at a twenty year high and predictions of a manufacturing renaissance for the U.S. economy, one of the world's largest investment banks has detailed how the "shale revolution" will negatively affect emerging markets such as China.

• March 7, 2013

Iran will barter goods in return for some gas imports from Turkmenistan, an Iranian trade official was quoted as saying on Wednesday, a sign of Iran's difficulties in paying for basic supplies due to sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

• March 6, 2013

The United States warned Iran on Wednesday that it faces further international isolation if it fails to address U.N. nuclear watchdog concerns about its atomic activities.

• March 6, 2013

The UK is to provide armoured vehicles and body armour to opposition forces in Syria "to help save lives", Foreign Secretary William Hague has said.

• March 6, 2013

The U.N. nuclear watchdog raised pressure on Iran to finally address suspicions that it has sought to design an atomic bomb, calling for swift inspector access to a military base where relevant explosives tests are believed to have been carried out.

• March 4, 2013

The US media has warned that the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline might lead to sanctions against Islamabad, although the State Department says sanctions will only become effective if Pakistan finalises the deal.

• March 4, 2013

The February 26–27 round of the nuclear negotiations involving Iran and the P5+1 group (all five permanent UN Security Council members and Germany) in Almaty went as well as might have reasonably been expected.

• March 2, 2013

Tajikistan is officially a full member of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

• March 2, 2013