Ukraine can transport more Russian natural gas bound for European costumers if a gas row with Belarus causes supply disruptions, the state energy company said.

• June 23, 2010

A German citizen arrested near a militant stronghold in Pakistan appears to be affiliated to terrorism. A Taliban spokesman called him "our comrade", and local security officials say he was linked to al Qaeda.

• June 23, 2010

RIA Novosti reported that Russia gas monopoly Gazprom is likely to replace Bulgaria with Romania in the South Stream pipeline network since Bulgaria halted the other two joint energy projects with Russia.

• June 22, 2010

Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev ordered the state-controlled gas monopoly Monday to cut gas supplies to ex-Soviet neighbor Belarus over its debt for Russian natural gas supplies.

• June 22, 2010

Violence in Kyrgyzstan has dealt a blow to the nation's trade with China, and international analysts say the crisis could pose a threat to northwestern China's security.

• June 22, 2010

Japan sets ambitious new targets to rein in its national debt, the largest in the industrialised world, and avoid a "Greek-style" crisis.

• June 22, 2010

Israel asks the UN to suspend plans for an international inquiry into an Israeli raid on a ship trying to break the Gaza blockade.

• June 22, 2010

Russia aims to build a £10bn constellation of five ski resorts in its mainly Muslim north Caucasus region, where an Islamist insurgency claimed the lives of almost 1,000 people last year.

• June 22, 2010