Ukrainian opposition leaders are due to meet President Viktor Yanukovych, a day after the first deaths in the protests that have gripped Kiev for two months.

• January 23, 2014

Ukraine's prime minister denounced anti-government protesters as "terrorists" on Wednesday, but in what appeared to be his first real move to end weeks of unrest President Viktor Yanukovich held talks with opposition leaders.

• January 22, 2014

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged European governments on Tuesday not to interfere in Ukraine's political crisis and expressed concern that events in Kiev could be spinning out of control.

• January 21, 2014

China will base a 5,000-tonne civilian patrol ship on one of the main islands it controls in the disputed South China Sea and begin regular patrols, an official newspaper said on Tuesday, a move likely to add fuel to territorial disputes with neighbors.

• January 21, 2014

Less than a month before the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russian investigators appealed to civilians on Tuesday to be more vigilant and help avert the threat of "terrorist" attacks.

• January 14, 2014

President Vladimir Putin has eased curbs on demonstrations in the Winter Olympics venue of Sochi in a gesture likely to burnish Russia's image ahead of an event dogged by security and human rights worries.

• January 4, 2014

China's increasingly sophisticated military will establish a joint operational command structure for its forces to improve coordination between different parts of the country's defense system, the official China Daily reported on Friday.

• January 3, 2014

A bomb ripped apart a bus in Volgograd on Monday, killing 14 people in the second deadly attack blamed on suicide bombers in the southern Russian city in 24 hours and raising fears of Islamist attacks on the Winter Olympics.

• December 30, 2013