China and the International Atomic Energy Agency have signed an agreement to improve nuclear security in the region, the UN nuclear watchdog said, as its chief made his first visit to Beijing.

• August 17, 2010

China Huaneng Group Corp and Datang Corp, the country's top power producers, plan to float shares of their renewable energy units in Hong Kong in offerings that could raise over $US2 billion ($A2.22 billion), sources close to the deals say.

• August 17, 2010

Residents of the Veshnyaki neighborhood in southeast Moscow were in for a surprise last month when the radiators in their apartments started heating at full blast while it was nearly 40 degrees Celsius outside.

• August 17, 2010

The White House denied press reports that President Barack Obama warned Turkey it could lose its chance to obtain U.S.-made weapons over its position on Israel and Iran.

• August 17, 2010

After three decades of spectacular growth, China passed Japan in the second quarter to become the world’s second-largest economy behind the United States, according to government figures released early Monday.

• August 16, 2010

Marking the second anniversary of Russia’s “coercion-to-peace” operation in Georgia, the Russian Chief of the General Staff, Army-General Nikolai Makarov, told the media: “Arms deliveries to Georgia are in full swing. Georgia’s military potential is significantly higher today, compared to August 2008.”

• August 16, 2010

Russia has imposed a ban on wheat and other grain exports until the end of the year after a severe drought and an outbreak of wildfires destroyed one-third of the harvest and ravaged agricultural land.

• August 16, 2010

For the World Health Organisation, the H1N1 swine flu pandemic is over. The world is no longer in an influenza pandemic alert and is moving into the post-pandemic period, WHO director general Margaret Chan said this week.

• August 16, 2010