U.N.-brokered peace talks with the Syrian government and opposition began on Thursday, a few days before separate negotiations hosted by Damascus’s close ally Russia that the West views with suspicion.

• January 25, 2018

China has little room for raising benchmark interest rates as inflation remains subdued and authorities try to reduce the economy’s debt burden, a former vice-governor of the country’s central bank, Zhu Min, said on Tuesday.

• January 23, 2018

Russia proposed on Tuesday that the U.N. Security Council create a new inquiry into who is to blame for chemical weapons attacks in Syria, a move the United States slammed as a bid to distract from a French initiative to target perpetrators of such strikes.

• January 23, 2018

Britain will set up a new unit to beef up its efforts to counter so-called “fake news” and to try to deter disinformation campaigns by other states, a spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May said on Tuesday.

• January 23, 2018

The U.S. military has put countering China and Russia at the center of a new national defense strategy unveiled on Friday, the latest sign of shifting priorities after more than a decade and a half of focusing on the fight against Islamist militants.

• January 21, 2018

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday the Iran nuclear deal cannot survive if the United States pulls out of the agreement.

• January 21, 2018

President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that Turkey’s military incursion in northern Syria’s Idlib province would crush Kurdish militia forces that control the neighboring region of Afrin.

• January 13, 2018

By Eugene Kogan, Tbilisi-based defence and security expert

The declaration that Russia and Iran are strategic partners lacks both solid foundation and strategic perspective. Despite the sense of urgency generated by regional and global concerns, Russia and Iran have failed to establish broad-based economic, scientific, technical, educational and societal ties. In terms of arms exports, Russia still sees Iran as a customer, while Iran is doing its best to distance itself from Russia and to become self-reliant; Iran has recently turned to China in order to diversify its weapons imports away from Russia. Whether this divergence will continue remains to be seen. READ MORE

• January 9, 2018