Foreign diplomats and international organizations are backing a Kyrgyz provisional government decision to proceed with a constitutional referendum in late June, despite the widespread violence in southern Kyrgyzstan.

• June 17, 2010

Israel moves to ease the land blockade of the Gaza Strip and allow more civilian goods to enter the Palestinian territory.

• June 17, 2010

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev made a surprise visit to Chechnya on Monday after a series of attacks in the troubled North Caucasus region, where the Kremlin is struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency.

• June 16, 2010

Viewed from Washington, Turkey and Iran are strange bedfellows. One is a NATO member with a Constitution that mandates secularism, and the other, an Islamic republic whose nuclear program has been one of the most vexing foreign policy problems for the United States in recent years.

• June 14, 2010

UN sanctions will not hurt Russia's S-300 missile supplies to Iran nor the states' nuclear cooperation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday after claims the deal would be frozen.

• June 12, 2010

Russian security forces have captured an alleged member of a group of anti-police vigilantes suspected of being behind a series of attacks on police in the far eastern Primorye region.

• June 11, 2010

President Hu Jintao and his Uzbek counterpart pledged on Wednesday to jointly combat terrorism, a major concern for both countries.

• June 10, 2010

Russia and Georgia held tense talks on Tuesday on security and humanitarian issues unresolved since their 2008 war, differing over whether a new agreement is needed on the non-use of force.

• June 10, 2010