A prolonged U.S. budget standoff would hit global markets very hard, the Bank of Japan warned on Friday as it said it was ready to top up its existing massive stimulus if the recovery underway in the world's third-largest economy was threatened.

• October 4, 2013

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton urged Egypt's army-backed government and Muslim Brotherhood on Thursday to take part in an inclusive political process - but neither side seemed prepared to heed the call

• October 4, 2013

Turkey has been trying for years to join the European Union, presenting itself as a growing economic and political power and a bridge to Asian and Middle Eastern markets.

• October 3, 2013

Turkey's $4 billion order for a Chinese missile defense system is a breakthrough for China in its bid to become a supplier of advanced weapons, even though opposition from Washington and NATO threatens to derail the deal.

• October 3, 2013

EU regulators are preparing to charge Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom with abusing its dominant position in central and eastern Europe, the EU's antitrust chief said on Thursday, in a move that could lead to a fine of up to $15 billion.

• October 3, 2013

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will not allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons, even it has to stand alone against the threat.

• October 2, 2013

President Barack Obama on Wednesday scaled down a long-planned trip to Asia, as a U.S. government shutdown entered a second day with no end in sight to the funding row in Congress that triggered it.

• October 2, 2013

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has called on Russia to reverse its recognition of Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

• October 2, 2013