China, involved in a growing dispute with its neighbors over the energy-rich South China Sea, wants to promote peaceful development of the oceans, Premier Li Keqiang said, warning conflicts in the past had only brought "disaster for humanity".

• June 21, 2014

Pro-Russian separatists attacked Ukrainian posts on the border with Russia and a military base, and tried to storm an airforce base overnight into Saturday, government forces said, putting a Ukrainian unilateral ceasefire under pressure.

• June 21, 2014

China said on Thursday it was preparing to help evacuate a small number of people working for Chinese companies in Iraq, and repeated an offer to help Iraq fight terrorism though it declined to say if it would provide military support.

• June 19, 2014

After a late-night telephone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Wednesday set out proposals for a peace plan for eastern Ukraine involving a unilateral ceasefire by government forces.

• June 18, 2014

Russia cut off gas to Ukraine on Monday in a dispute over unpaid bills that could disrupt supplies to the rest of Europe and set back hopes for peace between the former Soviet neighbours.

• June 16, 2014

A Chinese official said on Friday that China will never send military forces to the scene of an increasingly ugly spat with Vietnam over an oil rig in the South China Sea and accused Hanoi of trying to force an international lawsuit.

• June 15, 2014

Ukraine's president promised a tough response on Saturday to pro-Russian separatists who shot down an army transport plane, killing 49 servicemen and dealing a blow to a military campaign to crush their uprising.

• June 15, 2014

The Ukrainian flag fluttered over the regional government headquarters in the strategic port city of Mariupol on Friday after government forces reclaimed the city from pro-Russian separatists in heavy fighting, and said they had regained control of a long stretch of the border with Russia.

• June 13, 2014