The United States Saturday urged Belarus to release its political detainees including the parents of a three-year-old boy who had been threatened with the loss of custody.

• January 24, 2011

Negotiations in Istanbul over Iran’s nuclear program broke up on Saturday with no agreement between Tehran and the UN Security Council permanent members—the US, China, Russia, Britain and France—plus Germany (P5+1). Such was the gulf between the parties that no further meeting was scheduled

• January 24, 2011

Belarus on 17 January concluded an agreement with Ukraine that will give it access to crude oil from the Black Sea while bypassing Russian pipelines. Ukrtransnafta and the Belarusian Oil Company signed the two-year contract for the guaranteed annual transit of four million tons of oil through Ukraine’s oil transport system using the Odesa-Brody oil pipeline to the Belarusian oil refinery in Mozyr.

• January 24, 2011

Six world powers began fresh talks with Iran today in a bid to resolve tensions over its controversial nuclear drive, but the United States warned against building up hopes of a breakthrough.

• January 22, 2011

Russia will cooperate in a range of energy projects including the construction of the Trans-Afghanistan (TAPI) pipeline, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai said

• January 22, 2011

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko was inaugurated Friday for a fourth term. Sometimes called "the last dictator in Europe," Lukashenko now may see his rule stretch for 21 years.

• January 22, 2011

Alexander Lukashenko is due to be inaugurated for a fourth term as Belarus's president in the capital Minsk, after his election last month.

• January 21, 2011

Uzbek President Islam Karimov will pay a visit to Brussels early next week, foreign media quoted European Commission representatives as reporting.

• January 21, 2011