U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry suggested that Afghanistan's national unity government could continue beyond September, a step that could irk the opposition even as he attempts to avert a brewing political crisis.

• April 9, 2016

Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq are netting between $150 million and $200 million per year from illicit trade in plundered antiquities, Russia's ambassador to the United Nations said in a letter released on Wednesday.

• April 6, 2016

Russia believes an oil price at $45-$50 per barrel is acceptable to allow the global oil market to balance, as it prepares to meet leading oil producers in Doha later this month, sources familiar with Russian plans said on Wednesday.

• April 6, 2016

Elmira Bagiryan, a resident of a village at the epicentre of four days of fighting between Azerbaijan and ethnic Armenian forces, was leaving even though the gunfire had stopped.

• April 6, 2016

The United States urged Russia on Tuesday to push the Syrian government to allow humanitarian access to besieged areas after a boy starved to death and three children died from landmine injuries in Madaya in the past week because they could not be evacuated.

• April 5, 2016

Oil prices edged higher on Tuesday after Kuwait's insistence that major producers will agree to freeze output this month even as Iran balks at the plan.

• April 5, 2016

Upcoming peace talks on a political transition in Syria will test whether Syrian President Bashar al-Assad can negotiate in good faith, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday before a new round of negotiations in Geneva.

• April 5, 2016

Governments across the world began investigating possible financial wrongdoing by the rich and powerful on Monday after a leak of four decades of documents from a Panamanian law firm that specialized in setting up offshore companies.

• April 4, 2016