Armed US Predator drones are to carry out missions over Libya, Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said.

• April 22, 2011

The Japanese government has announced a 4 trillion yen ($48.9bn; £29.6bn) emergency budget for disaster relief, after March's earthquake and tsunami.

• April 22, 2011

Parliament of Kyrgyzstan adopted new customs duties on a number of basic commodity items, as decided at parliamentary session

• April 22, 2011

The Azerbaijani government has quietly stopped the operations of two international nongovernmental organizations in what some local observers claim is a further attempt to clamp down on the country’s relatively weak civil society.

• April 21, 2011

Georgia's parliament has annulled an agreement with Russia allowing Moscow to use its territory as a transit nation for a Russian military base in Armenia

• April 21, 2011

Japan has made it illegal to enter a 20km (12-mile) evacuation zone around the stricken Fukushima nuclear reactor.

• April 21, 2011

Rage against the election ban on 12 independent candidates poured out into the streets of Istanbul, Diyabakır, Van and Hakkari on Tuesday, drawing a harsh response from police.

• April 20, 2011

Libya's foreign minister says a British plan to send a military team to advise rebels fighting Col Gaddafi would harm chances of peace in the country.

• April 20, 2011