Austria's Chancellor Christian Kern on Saturday denied a German newspaper report which said he had backed down from his call to end European Union accession talks with Turkey

• September 17, 2016

Ukraine is doing less than Russia to meet its obligations under the Minsk peace plan, Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Saturday, stepping up calls for the European Union to end sanctions against Moscow.

• September 17, 2016

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday he hoped the United States would stick to its commitments on Syria, adding that he believed securing a truce in that country's conflict was the common goal of both Moscow and Washington.

• September 17, 2016

Japan will step up its activity in the contested South China Sea through joint training patrols with the United States and bilateral and multilateral exercises with regional navies, Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada said on Thursday.

• September 15, 2016

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday sought to diffuse criticism of a U.S.-Russian ceasefire agreement on Syria arguing that without it violence would increase significantly with many more Syrians slaughtered or forced to flee the war-torn country.

• September 14, 2016

Germany's foreign minister said a recent attempt at a ceasefire between Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed separatists offers a "sliver of hope" and that he sees scope for further moves towards a lasting peace next week.

• September 14, 2016

India said it had held "substantive" talks with China on Tuesday on its bid to become a fully fledged member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), a club of nations that trades in civil nuclear technology.

• September 13, 2016

Libyan forces loyal to eastern commander Khalifa Haftar said on Monday they had tightened their control over four major oil ports, casting a Western-backed project to unite Libya and revive oil exports into deep uncertainty.

• September 12, 2016