Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan's Republican Party won a parliamentary election, early results showed on Monday, in a poll that was seen as a test of democracy in Russia's main ally in the South Caucasus region.

• May 7, 2012

Vladimir Putin took the oath as Russia's president today with a ringing appeal for unity at the start of a six-year term in which he faces growing dissent, economic problems and bitter political rivalries.

• May 7, 2012

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on India Monday to further cut its imports of Iranian oil, saying New Delhi should use its growing clout to help isolate the Islamic republic.

• May 7, 2012

Kazakhstan and Germany have vast potential to further enhance their economic and trade relations and raise bilateral cooperation to a new level. First Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, Serik Akhmetov, delivered this message at the Third Raw Materials Conference in Berlin held on April 25.

• April 28, 2012

Russia and China have firmed up their nuclear cooperation, with Moscow set to build two more high-power reactors in this country's Tianwan atomic plant.

• April 28, 2012

Russia was interested in participating in energy projects in Kyrgyzstan, a Russian official said here Friday.

• April 28, 2012

Senior Taliban leaders tell Channel 4 News that talks with the United States have started again in Qatar - intransigence on all sides is blamed for the failure of talks earlier this year.

• April 27, 2012

As Syrian dictator Bashar Assad continues his slaughter, the issue is not whether more forceful U.S. action to stop him is risk-free.

• April 27, 2012