U.S. laws limit the burning of coal here, and Washington state has a strong green influence. Passenger rail in Seattle and beyond would suffer consequences from shipments to Bellingham. But the financial firepower lined up in favor of shipping coal from Washington ports to China is gigantic.

• January 8, 2011

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has rejected the idea of scrapping the next two elections and extending his term until 2020.

• January 7, 2011

Steve Coll, the president of the New America Foundation and a South Asia expert, has raised the issue of the safety of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons in the wake of the assassination of the governor of most populous Punjab state by one of his bodyguards. It’s a question that comes up each time Pakistan is faced with a crisis whether it a major act of violence such as this or a political/economic meltdown or a sudden escalation of tensions with India obviously, but also the United States.

• January 7, 2011

At the risk of angering its close ally the US but while safeguarding its own national interests, Turkey has been developing its ties with neighboring Iran while making intense efforts to end a lengthy stalemate between the international community and Tehran over its nuclear ambitions.

• January 6, 2011

Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, on a mission to resuscitate moribund military relations with China, will not arrive in Beijing for talks with the nation's top military leaders until Sunday. But at an airfield in Chengdu, a metropolis in the nation's center, China's military leaders have already rolled out a welcome for him.

• January 6, 2011

The presence of India and other key regional powers on the Security Council starting this week gives the U.N.'s most powerful body more credibility and legitimacy because it now reflects the world in the 21st century, India's U.N. ambassador

• January 5, 2011

Iran has invited Russia, China, the European Union and its allies among the Arab and developing world to tour its nuclear sites, in an apparent move to gain support ahead of a new round of talks with six world powers.

• January 4, 2011

Chinese scientists have mastered the technology for reprocessing fuel from nuclear power plants, potentially boosting the supplies of carbon-free electricity to keep the country’s economy booming, state television reported yesterday.

• January 4, 2011