The Israeli navy seized a ship in the Red Sea on Wednesday that was carrying dozens of advanced Iranian-supplied rockets made in Syria and intended for Palestinian guerrillas in the Gaza Strip, the military said.

• March 5, 2014

NATO announced a full review of its cooperation with Russia on Wednesday to try to pressure Moscow into backing down on Ukraine and said it would suspend planning for a joint mission linked to Syrian chemical weapons.

• March 5, 2014

Depositors wanting to withdraw money from a rural bank in eastern China's prosperous Jiangsu province ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday found the doors locked, their money gone and employees offering a simple explanation.

• March 5, 2014

U.S. stocks rallied on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 at a record high, as fears of a confrontation between Russia and Ukraine eased and Russian President Vladimir Putin said there was no need to use military force in the Crimea region for now.

• March 4, 2014

President Vladimir Putin delivered a robust defense of Russia's actions in Crimea on Tuesday and said he would use force in Ukraine only as a last resort, easing market fears that East-West tension over the former Soviet republic could lead to war.

• March 4, 2014

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed the situation in Ukraine by telephone on Tuesday and their positions on the issue are "close", the Kremlin said.

• March 4, 2014

U.S. lawmakers are considering options such as imposing sanctions on Russia's banks and freezing assets of Russian public institutions and private investors because of Moscow's moves in Ukraine, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy, the chairman of the Senate's Europe subcommittee, said on Monday.

• March 3, 2014

Pro-Russian demonstrators occupied the regional government building in east Ukraine's city of Donetsk on Monday, besieging lawmakers as they voted to support the protesters but stopped short of meeting their demands for a split from Kiev.

• March 3, 2014