India is exploring a communications and telecoms security pact with United States, that will enable both countries share and standardize procedures to evaluate mobile phone networks, cooperate on encryption details and put in place a mechanisms to check softwares before it is used.

• December 15, 2010

Azerbaijan is rife with corruption and comparisons to European feudalism in the Middle Ages are hardly a stretch. But with vast reserves of oil and natural gas at stake, the US is willing to risk the embarrassment that comes with courting the country.

• December 14, 2010

India and France signed seven agreements in the area of nuclear energy technology, including one for setting up nuclear power plants in Haharashra

• December 14, 2010

Russia's controversial transport blockade of Georgia is threatening to inflict considerable economic damage on Armenia, the Russian regional ally that uses Georgian territory as its main commercial conduit to the outside world. The government in Yerevan is now scrambling to minimize negative consequences of the sanctions for a large number of Armenian businesses trading with Russia.

• December 14, 2010

Turkmenistan has moved closer to opening another market for its natural gas reserves after signing an agreement for a pipeline to India via Afghanistan.

• December 14, 2010

Hundreds of people protested against the Russian government Sunday at two separate rallies in Moscow, with opposition activists calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and nationalists demanding greater rights for ethnic Russians. Several opposition activists were detained.

• December 13, 2010

Iran's president, on a visit to China, has criticised the world's nuclear powers for wanting "to monopolise" the technology for their own gain.

• December 13, 2010

Reflecting their desire to deepen the strategic partnership, India and Germany have for the first time discussed the possibilities of entering into bilateral cooperation in civil nuclear energy.

• December 13, 2010