China has used diplomatic channels to warn North Korea against conducting a fourth nuclear test, multiple China-based diplomatic sources told Reuters, after the reclusive state renewed its threat of "counter-measures" against perceived U.S. hostility.

• May 19, 2014

A senior member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government hinted on Saturday that Israel was involved in back-channel contacts with Palestinian and Arab officials despite the collapse of U.S.-brokered peace negotiations last month.

• May 17, 2014

Russia's Gazprom assured European customers it would continue to supply their gas, after its threat to halts supplies to transit nation Ukraine next month over non-payment.

• May 17, 2014

The West should impose tougher sanctions on Russia, which is waging a "hidden war" in eastern Ukraine, Ukraine's acting Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsia said in an interview with German newspaper Die Welt.

• May 17, 2014

Fire sent carbon monoxide coursing through a coal mine in western Turkey within minutes, killing close to 300 workers, but the exact cause of the country's worst industrial disaster remains unclear, the mine operator said on Friday.

• May 16, 2014

Iran and six world powers are making little progress in arduous talks on ending their dispute over Tehran's nuclear program, a senior U.S. official said on Friday, fanning doubt about the prospects for a breakthrough by a self-imposed July deadline.

• May 16, 2014

The German diplomat moderating 'round table' talks to promote political reconciliation in Ukraine said on Friday the first meetings this week had included members of pro-Russian separatist groups such as the mayor of the eastern city of Donetsk, making it a meaningful process.

• May 16, 2014

NATO members in Central and Eastern Europe need to beef up defense spending after cutting it for the past five years while Russia has sharply increased its military budget, the head of the Western alliance said on Thursday.

• May 15, 2014