A bipartisan group of senators on Wednesday introduced legislation to give the United States new tools to fight currency manipulation, an effort aimed mainly at China, just days before President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet for an informal retreat.

• June 6, 2013

The potential for social unrest in European Union countries is higher than anywhere else in the world and the already yawning gaps between rich and poor, a major trigger, are likely to widen globally, the International Labour Organisation said on Monday.

• June 3, 2013

The United States has lifted a ban on sales of communications equipment to Iranians and opened access to Internet services and social media.

• May 31, 2013

Home to the creators of Skype and the first country to use online voting, Estonia relishes its image as a technological pioneer. But the tiny East European country's most far-reaching economic achievement could come from how it has learned to squeeze oil from a rock.

• May 30, 2013

Canada says it will freeze all trade with Iran over Tehran's nuclear program and human rights record.

• May 30, 2013

Officials at a meeting of the governing board of a Russian-led Eurasian customs union say Kyrgyzstan will join the grouping and Ukraine will be granted observer status.

• May 29, 2013

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang criticized the European Union over its plans to investigate alleged anti-competitive behavior by Chinese mobile telecom equipment makers and to impose punitive import duties on solar panels from China, state media reported.

• May 25, 2013

Saddled with Middle East problems ranging from Iran to Syria and beyond, President Barack Obama now faces one that is both old and new: Iraq.

• May 25, 2013