U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to speak to several European leaders on Friday to try to nudge the EU toward fresh sanctions against Russia over Ukraine, sources familiar with the matter said.

• April 25, 2014

China's defense ministry said on Thursday it will continue military patrols in waters near a tropical Japanese island close to Taiwan, days after Tokyo announced it would break ground on a new radar base in the area.

• April 24, 2014

Ukrainian forces killed up to five pro-Moscow rebels on Thursday as they closed in on the separatists' military stronghold in the east and Russia launched army drills near the border in response, raising fears its troops would invade.

• April 24, 2014

U.S. President Barack Obama has said Washington welcomes China's rise but that engagement with Beijing would not come at the expense of its Asian allies - as Chinese state media greeted his arrival in the region with a broadside accusing the United States of wanting to "cage" the emerging superpower.

• April 23, 2014

The European Commission said on Wednesday it is working on holding talks with Ukraine and Russia on a possible solution to Kiev's gas crisis, but no date has been set.

• April 23, 2014

The European Union must create an energy union to secure its gas supply because the current dependence on Russian energy makes Europe weak, Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote in an article in the Financial Times.

• April 22, 2014

Russia, under threat of further sanctions over the Ukraine crisis, said on Tuesday it could minimize their impact and would support industries dependent on supplies from abroad.

• April 22, 2014

Britain said on Tuesday Russia was using it status as an energy superpower to hold other countries to ransom and that a meeting of the G7 group of countries next month had to find a way to reduce dependence on Russian gas.

• April 22, 2014