The fate of President Bashar al-Assad will play no part in talks to end the Syrian war, the head of the government's delegation said, leading the U.N. peace envoy to warn that lack of progress on the issue could threaten a fragile cessation of hostilities.

• March 21, 2016

U.S. President Barack Obama pushed Cuba to improve its record on human rights and sparred with President Raul Castro during a historic visit to the Communist-ruled island on Monday, while Castro hit back by decrying U.S. "double standards".

• March 21, 2016

Confronted with a plunge in its stock markets last year, China's central bank swiftly reached out to the U.S. Federal Reserve, asking it to share its play book for dealing with Wall Street's "Black Monday" crash of 1987.

• March 21, 2016

Relatives gathered to mourn the 62 victims of a passenger jet crash in southern Russia on Sunday and officials warned an investigation could take weeks to determine the cause of the downing.

• March 20, 2016

The United States is still fundamentally hostile to Iran and its policies have undermined the benefits of sanctions relief, the Islamic Republic's hardline leader said on Sunday, warning Iranians not to trust their old enemy.

• March 20, 2016

A prominent figure in the Bavarian sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives said on Sunday a deal between the European Union and Turkey to halt illegal immigration to Europe could lead to Kurds heading to Germany en masse.

• March 20, 2016

The East-West standoff over the Ukraine crisis has brought the threat of nuclear war in Europe closer than at any time since the 1980s, a former Russian foreign minister warned on Saturday.

• March 19, 2016

The ceasefire in Syria is broadly holding but the United States should be doing more to support it, Russia's Defence Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

• March 19, 2016