Russia's lower house of parliament will not be able to give its full approval to a U.S.-Russian nuclear arms treaty until at least next month, a senior lawmaker said Friday.

• December 24, 2010

Japan and Turkey inked a directive on bilateral nuclear cooperation, taking both countries a step closer towards the fruition of a 20 billion U.S. dollar tie-up for Japanese firms to build a nuclear facility in Turkey, a Japanese industry ministry official said Friday.

• December 24, 2010

It is believed in the West that India’s cooperation with the world’s leading powers is aimed at counterbalancing China. But this thesis is not entirely applicable to Russian-Indian relations. India and Russia, both highly influential countries, advocate a multipolar world and are against the domination of any one state.

• December 24, 2010

Foreign Ministry of Turkmenistan told APA that President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov issued an executive order on December 23 to appoint Toyli Komekov as ambassador to Azerbaijan. The order has been published in today’s newspapers.

• December 24, 2010

The China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) disclosed Wednesday that the second phase of the China-Kazakhstan gas pipeline has begun construction in Kazakhstan.

• December 23, 2010

The bilateral Turkmen-Turkish talks on economic cooperation may be held within the summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) scheduled for these days in Istanbul (Turkey), an official Turkmen source said.

• December 23, 2010

The vote handed US President Barack Obama a major foreign policy victory in his drive to improve ties with Moscow and curb the spread of atomic weapons to other nations.

• December 23, 2010

Russia on Wednesday acknowledged that total nuclear disarmament was not possible in the near future, but called for a global consensus on the issue.

• December 23, 2010