U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will push Southeast Asian leaders and China to discuss the South China Sea dispute at an Asian summit, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday, despite Beijing's reluctance to address the issue at such meetings.

• October 9, 2013

North Korea said on Tuesday its military would be put on high alert and be ready to launch operations, stepping up tension after weeks of rhetoric against the United States and South Korea, whom it accuses of instigating hostility.

• October 8, 2013

China's Foreign Ministry dismissed concerns about Turkey's decision to co-produce a missile defense system with a Chinese firm, saying on Tuesday that the United States and others were needlessly politicizing a purely commercial deal.

• October 8, 2013

Russia and the United States agree on how to eliminate chemical weapons in Syria, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday after meeting U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

• October 8, 2013

Turkey's $4 billion order for a Chinese missile defense system is a breakthrough for China in its bid to become a supplier of advanced weapons, even though opposition from Washington and NATO threatens to derail the deal.

• October 3, 2013

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will not allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons, even it has to stand alone against the threat.

• October 2, 2013

After a quarter century of Middle Eastern land wars and a sharp fall in big powers' naval spending after the Cold War, sea power is back in vogue in response to the rise of China and Western reluctance to deploy ground troops in conflicts like Syria.

• October 1, 2013

Russia expressed doubt on Tuesday that Western nations can persuade Syrian opposition representatives to take part in an international peace conference in time for it to take place in mid-November.

• October 1, 2013