A senior Iranian nuclear official says Russia will begin construction on two new nuclear reactors in Iran next week.

• December 23, 2015

The president of Turkmenistan says the completion of a new gas pipeline will boost cooperation with European partners.

• December 23, 2015

Iranian nuclear officials say Tehran will export most of its enriched uranium stockpile to Russia in the coming days as it implements a nuclear deal to secure relief from international sanctions.

• December 20, 2015

Vietnam's military is steeling itself for conflict with China as it accelerates a decade-long modernization drive, Hanoi's biggest arms buildup since the height of the Vietnam War.

• December 17, 2015

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA.N) has agreed to buy Hong Kong's flagship English-language newspaper, the South China Morning Post (SCMP), in the most politically sensitive acquisition by the e-commerce giant to date.

• December 11, 2015

Russia says it has for the first time struck Islamic State targets in Syria with missiles fired from a submarine.

• December 8, 2015

Oil prices plummeted to their lowest levels since the depths of the global recession in February 2009 as investors braced for a flood of Iranian oil in an already glutted market.

• December 8, 2015

Russia, Iran, and Iraq have quashed a plan reportedly being eyed by Saudi Arabia to lift sagging global oil prices through collective cuts in oil output.

• December 7, 2015