Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev ordered the state-controlled gas monopoly Monday to cut gas supplies to ex-Soviet neighbor Belarus over its debt for Russian natural gas supplies.

• June 22, 2010

Violence in Kyrgyzstan has dealt a blow to the nation's trade with China, and international analysts say the crisis could pose a threat to northwestern China's security.

• June 22, 2010

Japan sets ambitious new targets to rein in its national debt, the largest in the industrialised world, and avoid a "Greek-style" crisis.

• June 22, 2010

Israel asks the UN to suspend plans for an international inquiry into an Israeli raid on a ship trying to break the Gaza blockade.

• June 22, 2010

Russia aims to build a £10bn constellation of five ski resorts in its mainly Muslim north Caucasus region, where an Islamist insurgency claimed the lives of almost 1,000 people last year.

• June 22, 2010

The EBRD and Russia’s Federal Grid Company, the country’s high-voltage transmission operator, today laid the groundwork for a strategic partnership to promote energy efficiency in the Russian power sector.

• June 22, 2010

At the end of the last EU–Russia Summit in Rostov-on-Don, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy uttered an ambitious statement. Announcing Europe’s readiness to be a partner in Russia’s modernization, he noted “With Russia we don’t need a reset. We want a fast-forward.”

• June 21, 2010

Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan has vowed to crush Kurdish rebels after attacks killed 11 Turkish soldiers. Clashes between the two sides have escalated sharply.

• June 21, 2010