The first weeks of 2014 showed North Asia's manufacturing and export giants enjoying mixed fortunes, with South Korea and Japan starting the year positively, while China, the biggest of the trio, was still struggling to regain momentum.

• January 23, 2014

The UN mediator for Syrian peace talks, Lakhdar Brahimi, is to hold separate talks with rival delegations to assess their willingness to meet together.

• January 23, 2014

Ukrainian opposition leaders are due to meet President Viktor Yanukovych, a day after the first deaths in the protests that have gripped Kiev for two months.

• January 23, 2014

Iran's oil exports have picked up modestly in January for the third consecutive month, according to sources who track tanker movements, adding to signs that the easing of sanctions pressure on Tehran is helping its oil exports to recover.

• January 22, 2014

Ukraine's prime minister denounced anti-government protesters as "terrorists" on Wednesday, but in what appeared to be his first real move to end weeks of unrest President Viktor Yanukovich held talks with opposition leaders.

• January 22, 2014

China must increase spending on emission cuts and clean technologies by 2 trillion yuan ($330 billion) to do its fair share to halt climate change, a report by Beijing's Central University of Finance and Economics said.

• January 22, 2014

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged European governments on Tuesday not to interfere in Ukraine's political crisis and expressed concern that events in Kiev could be spinning out of control.

• January 21, 2014

China will base a 5,000-tonne civilian patrol ship on one of the main islands it controls in the disputed South China Sea and begin regular patrols, an official newspaper said on Tuesday, a move likely to add fuel to territorial disputes with neighbors.

• January 21, 2014