The president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, today halted the flow of Russian gas across his territory to Europe and lambasted Moscow for suggesting that he had tried to pay his country's gas bill using "pies, butter and cheese".

• June 23, 2010

Ukraine can transport more Russian natural gas bound for European costumers if a gas row with Belarus causes supply disruptions, the state energy company said.

• June 23, 2010

RIA Novosti reported that Russia gas monopoly Gazprom is likely to replace Bulgaria with Romania in the South Stream pipeline network since Bulgaria halted the other two joint energy projects with Russia.

• June 22, 2010

Violence in Kyrgyzstan has dealt a blow to the nation's trade with China, and international analysts say the crisis could pose a threat to northwestern China's security.

• June 22, 2010

Japan sets ambitious new targets to rein in its national debt, the largest in the industrialised world, and avoid a "Greek-style" crisis.

• June 22, 2010

Russia aims to build a £10bn constellation of five ski resorts in its mainly Muslim north Caucasus region, where an Islamist insurgency claimed the lives of almost 1,000 people last year.

• June 22, 2010

Exit polls show interim president and parliament speaker Bronislaw Komorowski has won the most votes in Poland's presidential election but not enough to avoid a run-off in two weeks.

• June 21, 2010

Turkey’s fresh fruit, vegetable and citrus exports increased by 15 percent in value while deceasing 1 percent in amount in the first five months of the year in comparison to the figures of the last year, according to a report released by the general secretary of the Mediterranean Exporter Unions.

• June 21, 2010