U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on Tuesday for the first time since U.S. air strikes in Syria on April 4 strained U.S.-Russian relations and said they would seek a ceasefire in the Syrian civil war.

• May 2, 2017

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, on a rare visit to Russia, said that Berlin and Moscow had to keep talking despite their disagreements, but those same differences overshadowed her talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.

• May 2, 2017

Saudi Arabia's powerful deputy crown prince ruled out on Tuesday any dialogue with arch rival Iran and pledged to protect his conservative kingdom from what he called Tehran's efforts to dominate the Muslim world.

• May 2, 2017

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned on Friday that failure to curb North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs could lead to 'catastrophic consequences,' while China and Russia rebuked Washington's threat of military force.

• April 29, 2017

Wary of U.S. President Donald Trump's tough talk on Iran, the European Union is courting Tehran to signal to its commitment to a nuclear deal and holding out the promise of its economic payoff ahead of May 19 presidential polls, EU diplomats say.

• April 29, 2017

Russia said on Wednesday it had banned a pro-democracy movement founded by Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky which has called for big anti-government protests on Saturday ahead of a presidential election next year.

• April 26, 2017

Eight North Korean defectors in China face involuntary repatriation after being detained by Chinese police last month, the Human Rights Watch group and a pastor who has been assisting them said on Monday.

• April 24, 2017

Rocked by a shakeup in the Western political order, companies are buying more insurance to protect themselves against the threat of rising protectionism and upheaval to their operations in emerging markets.

• April 24, 2017