Japan PM to attend Sochi Olympics: reports
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is planning to attend the opening ceremony of the Sochi Winter Olympics, reports said Friday, despite calls for a boycott over Russia's anti-gay laws.
Obama to unveil NSA reforms, response to Snowden
President Barack Obama presents Americans on Friday with long-awaited reforms of spy agency phone and Internet data collection sweeps, prompted by the damaging torrent of leaks unleashed by Edward Snowden.
EU is slow in implementing its Central Asia assistance plan
The European Court of Auditors (ECA) has concluded that the Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS) had developed a good plan of assistance to Central Asia, but was implementing it slowly.
16 January 2014
Egypt constitution sails through vote but turnout key
Egyptian voters overwhelmingly backed a new constitution that paves the way for the army chief to run for president, early results showed Thursday, but turnout figures will provide a key measure of his popularity.
Putin plots Syria strategy with Iran's Zarif
Russia launches a fresh round of Syrian diplomacy on Thursday when it receives the foreign minister of Iran before hosting his counterpart from Syria ahead of historic peace talks on the bloody crisis.
16 January 2014
Egypt votes on constitution as violence highlights divide
Egyptians queued to vote amid tight security Tuesday in a referendum on a new constitution likely to launch a presidential bid by the army chief who overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.
15 January 2014
Same-sex ban 'legalises' homophobic violence: gay Nigerians
Gay activists on Tuesday vowed to fight the Nigerian government after the country outlawed same-sex unions, warning the act legitimised homophobic violence and increased fears of persecution.
15 January 2014
Hollande vows to deal with affair fallout in private
French President Francois Hollande vowed to deal with the fallout from his affair with an actress in private, defiantly batting away questions over the future of Valerie Trierweiler.
15 January 2014
Kazakhstan prohibits Ponzi schemes
The new legislation introduces 7-12-year-long prison terms for those arranging Ponzi schemes and bans advertising of such schemes.
15 January 2014
Moscow expels US journalist
US journalist David Satter, a longtime critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been banned from the country in one of the first such expulsions since the Cold War.