Greek lawmakers on Friday passed an asylum amendment bill needed for the implementation of a European Union agreement with Turkey for the return of refugees and migrants from Greek islands to Turkey starting on Monday.

• April 1, 2016

China remains committed to its plans for nuclear reprocessing, its top nuclear industry official said on Thursday, despite concerns this could lead to a competitive buildup of plutonium stockpiles in Asia.

• March 31, 2016

The United States and China confirmed Thursday that they will sign the Paris climate change agreement in New York on April 22, a move that officials hope will help the accord enter into force this year.

• March 31, 2016

President Bashar al-Assad said it would not be difficult to agree on a new Syrian government including opposition figures, but his opponents responded on Wednesday that no administration would be legitimate while he remained in office.

• March 31, 2016

Russia is moving further away from having Western sanctions lifted over its role in the Ukraine crisis, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told Reuters on Wednesday.

• March 30, 2016

When Vladimir Putin announced the withdrawal of most of Russia's military contingent from Syria there was an expectation that the Yauza, a Russian naval icebreaker and one of the mission's main supply vessels, would return home to its Arctic Ocean port.

• March 30, 2016

Four months after President Vladimir Putin accused Ankara of a "stab in the back", Turkish business executives in Russia are getting used to saying hasty goodbyes.

• March 30, 2016

A senior U.S. diplomat said on Tuesday he hopes China will accept an offer by the United States for a technical briefing on the possible deployment of a U.S. THAAD missile defense system to South Korea, which worries Beijing.

• March 29, 2016