The United States and Iran have flexed their military muscles in unprecedented ways in Syria to deter attacks on their allies and interests, with Russia warning Washington on Monday it would treat any U.S.-led coalition planes in its area of operations as potential targets after the U.S. military downed a Syrian jet.

• June 19, 2017

The European Union on Monday extended for another year its trade sanctions on the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014, and diplomats said they expected the bloc to do the same for its sanctions on Moscow soon.

• June 19, 2017

Thomas Wieser, the EU official who runs preparations for Eurogroup meetings, hopes Greece will be able to tap international markets for money between autumn this year and spring 2018, he told ORF radio on Saturday.

• June 17, 2017

A reversal of Britain's decision to leave the European Union would be great even if such a U-turn appears unlikely, German Economy Minister Brigitte Zypries has told Reuters.

• June 17, 2017

Russian President Vladimir Putin said new sanctions under consideration by the United States would damage relations between the two countries, but it was too early to talk about retaliation, state news agency RIA reported on Saturday.

• June 17, 2017

By Benyamin Poghosyan, PhD, Executive Director, Political Science Association of Armenia

In recent months, Turkey has been facing increasing difficulties with key NATO member states. The United States' growing reliance on Syrian Kurdish forces in Syria as a key force capable of effectively fighting Islamic State and US President Donald Trump's decision to arm Kurdish YPG units placed additional strains on bilateral US-Turkey relations, which have been sharply deteriorating since the July 2016 military coup and with Turkey's unsuccessful efforts to organize Fethullah Gulen's extradition from the US. READ MORE

• June 17, 2017

China and the Asia Development Bank (ADB) have launched a green financing platform to support efforts by small- and medium-sized enterprises to cut pollution in the smog-hit Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, ADB said on Friday.

• June 16, 2017

President Donald Trump acknowledged on Friday he is under investigation in a probe of alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential race and possible collusion by his campaign - and seemed to assail the Justice Department official overseeing the inquiry.

• June 16, 2017