Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA.N) has agreed to buy Hong Kong's flagship English-language newspaper, the South China Morning Post (SCMP), in the most politically sensitive acquisition by the e-commerce giant to date.

• December 11, 2015

Georgia says a Russian military helicopter has violated its airspace.

• December 10, 2015

Moscow has rejected accusations by Turkey that Russia has been conducting ethnic cleansing operations in Syria against opponents of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

• December 10, 2015

European Union nations postponed a decision on December 9 on renewing the bloc's economic sanctions against Russia after Italy called for a debate on the matter.

• December 10, 2015

Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed the Finance Ministry to take Ukraine to court if the country defaults on its $3 billion debt to Moscow.

• December 9, 2015

Turkish officials say Russia has stopped construction work at Turkey's first planned nuclear power plant, amid a bitter row between Moscow and Ankara.

• December 9, 2015

Russia says the deployment of Turkish forces in Iraq without Baghdad's approval is “unacceptable.”

• December 8, 2015

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says that Ankara may find alternatives to buying Russian oil and gas as bilateral relations deteriorate over the downing of a Russian warplane.

• December 7, 2015