U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Russia next week for what he described as possibly the best opportunity in years to end the civil war in Syria after Moscow's announcement of a partial withdrawal of its forces from the country.

• March 15, 2016

The United States on Monday vowed to continue pushing for United Nations Security Council action on Iran's recent ballistic missile tests and accused Russia of looking for reasons not to respond to Iranian violations of a U.N. resolution.

• March 14, 2016

A meeting between oil producers to discuss a global pact on freezing production is unlikely to take place in Russia on March 20, sources familiar with the matter say, as OPEC member Iran is yet to say whether it would participate in such a deal.

• March 10, 2016

China is taking a "distinctly Chinese approach" to national security with a raft of new laws, including one on counterterrorism, the third-ranked leader said on Wednesday, offering a strong rebuttal to Western criticism.

• March 9, 2016

U.S. Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton on Wednesday called for sanctions against Iran after the Islamic Republic brushed off U.S. concerns and test-fired two ballistic missiles that it said were designed to be able to hit Israel.

• March 9, 2016

The main Syrian opposition council said on Wednesday the agenda proposed by the United Nations for peace talks was positive and it had noted fewer government violations of a cessation of hostilities agreement in the past day.

• March 9, 2016

Russia's embassy in Kiev sent a note of protest to Ukraine's foreign ministry on Sunday about attacks on the embassy's cars, the RIA news agency quoted embassy spokesman Oleg Grishin as saying.

• March 8, 2016

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) test-fired several ballistic missiles on Tuesday, state television said, challenging a United Nations resolution and drawing a threat of a diplomatic response from the United States.

• March 8, 2016