Russian President Vladimir Putin was in South Korea Wednesday to push a pet project for a new major trading route linking Asia and Europe by rail that requires prying open North Korea.
Production from the Kashagan oilfield was not taken into consideration when the 2013 Kazakhstan state budget was made, so it will not affect the planned budget revenues.
Chinese shoppers spent a record 35.0 billion yuan ($5.7 billion) at the country's biggest online marketplaces on Singles Day, their operator said Tuesday, after the festival created by e-tailers to persuade the loveless to console themselves with retail therapy.
A Tibetan monk has set himself on fire in an act of protest in China, reports and campaign groups said Tuesday, as top Communist Party leaders hold a key gathering.
India's Mars spacecraft suffered a brief engine failure Monday as scientists tried to move it into a higher orbit around Earth, but controllers denied any setback to the ambitious low-cost mission.
China will open its state-owned firms to greater investment by private companies, a state-run newspaper reported Monday, as media raise expectations over a top Communist Party meeting on economic reforms.
Diplomats insisted they are closing in on an agreement to curb Iran's nuclear programme despite the failure to clinch a long-sought deal in marathon negotiations in Geneva.
Conservative US leaders, fond of finger-pointing at France in recent years, lavished praise on Paris Sunday for blocking an agreement between Western powers and Iran over Tehran's nuclear program.
The United States is "not blind, and I don't think we're stupid" in nuclear talks with Iran, Secretary of State John Kerry said in a US television interview that aired on Sunday.
Taiwan signed a free trade deal with Singapore on Thursday, its first with a Southeast Asian country, as the diplomatically isolated island steps up efforts to join regional economic blocs.
Israel urged world powers on Wednesday to reject what it said was an Iranian offer to partly cut back its nuclear programme in return for an easing of Western sanctions.
Inspectors from the UN's nuclear watchdog arrived in Tokyo Wednesday to monitor marine pollution near Fukushima as China demanded Japan provide "accurate" information on how it is handling the crisis.
With deals from London to Singapore, China is seeking a greater role for its yuan currency in global markets to challenge the hegemony of the almighty dollar.
Japan is considering boosting its fleet of Aegis-equipped destroyers from six to eight to counter threats from North Korean missile development and tensions with China over territory.
China offered a rare glimpse into its secretive space programme on Tuesday, displaying a model of a lunar rover that will explore the moon's surface in an upcoming mission.
When the Stockholm Film Festival opens Wednesday, the jury will include world-famous Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei -- in spirit only, represented by an empty chair he designed himself.