For China, whose President Xi Jinping is already taking an increasingly muscular approach to claims in the East and South China Sea, the question of Taiwan trumps any other of its territorial assertions in terms of sensitivity and importance.

• January 17, 2016

Israel bristled on Sunday at the lifting of international sanctions on Iran and vowed to flag up any violations of its arch-foe's nuclear restrictions while drawing on U.S. defense aid to prepare for a possible military face-off in the future.

• January 17, 2016

Russia's Defense Ministry said on Friday a new objective of Russian forces in Syria was to provide humanitarian aid.

• January 15, 2016

Negotiators at the Ukraine peace talks have vowed to make fresh efforts to enforce a shaky cease-fire in eastern Ukraine.

• January 12, 2016

NATO allies cannot agree to Russian demands to limit their missile defenses because of the threat posed by North Korea, a senior U.S. State Department official said on Tuesday.

• January 12, 2016

Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Moscow.

• January 11, 2016

An attempted attack by Islamic State on a military base in northern Iraq shows Turkey's decision to deploy troops there was justified, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday, suggesting Russia was stirring up a row over the issue.

• January 9, 2016

Armed men shot dead a police officer and a soldier in their car on the outskirts of Cairo on Saturday, Egypt's state news agency said, a day after suspected militants armed with knives wounded three European tourists in a Red Sea resort.

• January 9, 2016