Japan is planning to increase its defense budget this year for the first time in 11 years, the Defense Ministry's revised budget request showed on Friday, amid a bitter territorial dispute with China.

• January 11, 2013

Russian and U.S. diplomats plan to hold a meeting with the international mediator for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, on Friday in Geneva, Interfax news agency cited Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov as saying on Wednesday.

• January 11, 2013

Lithuania supports Georgia's political course on European and Euro-Atlantic integration, the European Club president under the Lithuanian Parliament Petras Auštrevičius said today.

• January 11, 2013

Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry has published a commentary on future cooperation with Russia at the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Thursday.

• January 10, 2013

Nabucco gas pipeline project's shareholders, Nabucco Gas Pipeline International Gmbh (NIC) and the partners on Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas condensate field development and Nabucco project's potential investors (SOCAR, BP, Statoil and Total), have agreed on Equity Option and Funding Agreement.

• January 10, 2013

Iran says its sole nuclear power plant is now linked to the national energy grid at full capacity after having to be taken off-line for two months.

• January 10, 2013

Iran today has put forward some preconditions for the future talks regarding country's nuclear program, Mehr agency reported.

• January 9, 2013

Kyrgyzstan's economy depends on the situation in Russia, Kazakhstan and China, the Kyrgyz National Bank's report on 'Stability of the financial sector of the Kyrgyz Republic', published on its website said, KyrTAG reported today.

• January 9, 2013