An isolated chain of resource-rich, Russian-held islands are at the center of an ongoing diplomatic dispute that recently has hurt relations between Japan and Russia.

• February 14, 2011

Crisis talks between Russia and Japan over four Pacific islands ended in acrimonious failure Friday when Tokyo reaffirmed its claim on the chain and Moscow accused its neighbour of extreme behaviour.

• February 12, 2011

On the last day of January, a crowd of 600 gathered in sub-zero temperatures on Moscow's Triumph Square and began to chant "Freedom! Freedom!" and call for the resignation of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

• February 11, 2011

The top diplomats of Russia and Japan will hold tense talks Friday amid a bitter war of words over a chain of disputed islands claimed by the Soviet army at the end of World War II.

• February 11, 2011

Japan is closely monitoring stepped-up activity by Russia's military near disputed islands, Japan's chief spokesman said on Thursday after Moscow said it would deploy new weapons to the area.

• February 10, 2011

A square, an angry crowd, banners, the bitter smell of burning, the grinding noise of manoeuvring tanks, blood: this time it's Cairo, but for the last three decades we have seen similar images from a range of autocracies under threat, from the Shah's Tehran, Deng Xiaoping's Beijing and Ceausescu's Bucharest to the uprisings of the last couple of years in Iran, Tunisia, and now Egypt.

• February 7, 2011

Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan led a large rally Monday demanding the return of several islands held by Russia since the end of World War II and calling the recent visit there by Russia's president an outrage.

• February 7, 2011

A new U.S.-Russia nuclear-arms-control treaty went into effect Saturday, securing a key foreign-policy goal of President Obama and raising hopes among officials on both sides that it will provide the impetus for Moscow and Washington to negotiate further reductions.

• February 7, 2011