China has formally announced detailed plans for a new free-trade zone (FTZ) in Shanghai, touted as the country's biggest potential economic reform since Deng Xiaoping used a similar zone in Shenzhen to pry open a closed economy to trade in 1978.

• September 27, 2013

There were plenty of postive reactions to U.S. President Barack Obama's address to the UN General Assembly in New York on September 24.

• September 26, 2013

U.S. President Barack Obama appealed to the United Nations on Tuesday to back tough consequences for Syria if it refuses to give up chemical weapons and urged Russia and Iran to end their support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

• September 25, 2013

U.S. President Barack Obama says the new Iranian government's pursuit of a "more moderate course" should offer a basis for an agreement on Iran's nuclear program.

• September 25, 2013

China, the world's largest consumer of potash, has acquired a 12.5 percent stake in Russia's Uralkali (URKA.MM), the world's largest producer of the soil nutrient, via its sovereign wealth fund, Uralkali said on Tuesday.

• September 24, 2013

A list of goods banned for export to North Korea signals China's commitment to enforcing international sanctions and is in no way intended to punish Pyongyang, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

• September 24, 2013

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will join the five permanent U.N. Security Council members and Germany later this week to discuss the crisis over Iran's nuclear program, European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said on Monday.

• September 23, 2013

China, India and other Asian states used a United Nations nuclear agency meeting this week to signal their determination to expand the use of atomic energy.

• September 22, 2013