The sound of battles echoes from the outskirts of the capital as Christians in Damascus celebrated the Easter weekend, briefly ignoring the conflict for the yearly ritual.

• Date: 19.04.2014  |  Published on EGF: 19.04.2014  |  External Relations  |  from http://www.reuters.com/

Japan is sending 100 soldiers and radar to its westernmost outpost, a tropical island off Taiwan, in a deployment that risks angering China with ties between Asia's biggest economies already hurt by a dispute over nearby islands they both claim.

• Date: 19.04.2014  |  Published on EGF: 19.04.2014  |  External Relations  |  from http://www.reuters.com/

At the height of the euro zone crisis, a Chinese official quipped that Europe was being reduced to a "wonderful theme park" for tourists. That view no longer has much currency as Beijing recalibrates links with the world's biggest trade bloc.

• Date: 01.04.2014  |  Published on EGF: 01.04.2014  |  External Relations  |  from http://www.reuters.com/

China denounced Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday for drawing an analogy between Russia's behaviour in Crimea and China's actions in the disputed East and South China Seas, accusing Abe of hypocrisy.

• Date: 28.03.2014  |  Published on EGF: 28.03.2014  |  External Relations  |  from http://www.reuters.com/

The Gaza Strip's sole power station stopped generating electricity on Saturday, causing blackouts throughout the territory after it ran out of fuel, officials said.

• Date: 15.03.2014  |  Published on EGF: 15.03.2014  |  External Relations  |  from http://www.reuters.com/

The Philippines is planning another challenge of a Chinese naval blockade of a disputed shoal in the South China Sea by sending civilian ships with supplies to its troops stationed there, a senior military official said on Thursday.

• Date: 14.03.2014  |  Published on EGF: 14.03.2014  |  External Relations  |  from http://www.reuters.com/

The Philippines has agreed to allow the United States access to its military bases under a new security deal being negotiated by the two allies, amid mounting concern over China's increasing assertiveness in the disputed waters of the South China Sea.

• Date: 14.03.2014  |  Published on EGF: 14.03.2014  |  External Relations  |  from http://www.reuters.com/

Unidentified armed men fired in the air as they moved into a Ukrainian naval post in Crimea on Monday in the latest confrontation since Russian military groups seized control of the Black Sea peninsula.

• Date: 10.03.2014  |  Published on EGF: 10.03.2014  |  Markets  |  from http://www.reuters.com/