U.S. stock index futures fell on Wednesday, following four straight days of record highs on the S&P 500, amid concern over tightening financial conditions in China and weakness in European banks.

• October 23, 2013

China and India signed a deal on Wednesday aimed at soothing tension on their contested border, as the two nuclear-armed giants try to break a decades-old stalemate on overlapping claims to long remote stretches of the Himalayas.

• October 23, 2013

Russia's Rosneft (ROSN.MM), the world's largest listed oil company by output, is cutting its forecast of production at the Vankor field in East Siberia that serves as its main resource base for supplying Asian markets.

• October 23, 2013

Activists protesting against China's rule over Tibet were being held after scaling scaffolding on the U.N. European headquarters in Geneva on Tuesday and unfurling a banner before a session examining China's human rights record.

• October 22, 2013

European Union governments agreed on Tuesday to hold a new round of accession talks with Turkey on November 5 after Germany dropped its opposition voiced after Ankara's crackdown on anti-government protests earlier this year.

• October 22, 2013

On Sunday, September 29, President Bashar al-Assad declared to the world, via an interview on Italian television, his resolve to clear Syria of chemical weapons - accepting a Russian-brokered deal to avert punitive U.S. action.

• October 22, 2013

France summoned the U.S. ambassador on Monday to protest allegations in Le Monde newspaper about large-scale spying on French citizens by the U.S. National Security Agency.

• October 21, 2013

Germany is to drop the opposition it raised in June to opening a new chapter of talks with European Union membership candidate Turkey after its crackdown on a wave of anti-government protests earlier this year, a source said.

• October 21, 2013