The planned ‘elections’ organised by self-appointed and armed rebel groups in parts of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions on Sunday undermine efforts towards a resolution of the conflict.

Donetsk, Lugansk Vote for ‘Parliaments’ Violates Truce and Raises Risks, Say Analysts.

Security challenges in Eastern Europe and in North Africa and the Middle East are top of the agenda the Secretary General's talks with Prime Minister Samaras and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Venizelos.

The UK is poised to quietly ratify a defence treaty that critics say will see it become more dependent on US expertise for its multi-billion pound Trident nuclear weapons programme.

The European Commission on Tuesday (28 October) lashed out at Hungary’s proposal to introduce the world’s first Internet tax.

A floating liquified natural gas terminal arrived at the Lithuanian city Klaipeda on Monday (27 October) where it was greeted by locals as the guarantor of the Baltic region's energy supply.

Speaking in the Commons yesterday, Prime Minister David Cameron re-stated his refusal to pay “anything like” an additional Ј1.7bn into the EU budget.

If the European Union wants to dictate to Hungary, then the country should consider slowly backing out of the union, Parliamentary Speaker and Fidesz MP Lбszlу Kцvйr said on 24 October.

Italians stage a massive rally in Rome to protest Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s proposed overhaul of labour market rules.

Jean-Claude Juncker's ?300 billion investment plan is laying the ground for a fiscal union although no one dares call it such yet, according to a top EU official.

Poroshenko bloc (23%), Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s People's Front (21%), and Self-help (13%), a party formed by Andrey Sadoviy Ukraine, are expected to form a ruling coalition.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg was briefed on operations and activities by the Alliance’s top military commander, General Philip Breedlove, during his first visit to NATO’s SHAPE in Mons, Belgium.

Ukraine's first female combat helicopter pilot is running for parliament despite being held in a secure psychiatric unit in Russia.

Shortly before 1pm local time on Tuesday, a Russian spy plane flew briefly into Estonian air space in what NATO officials see as the first serious violation of a NATO state's aerial sovereignty since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Speaking at her weekly press conference here in Tehran, Marziyeh Afkham dismissed speculations about the mere suspension of the anti-Iran sanctions, noting that they should be completely lifted.

The European Parliament on Wednesday (22 October) approved the new EU commission led by Jean-Claude Juncker, with 423 votes in favour, 209 against and 67 abstentions. Fifty-two MEPs did not vote.

The Lower House of the Afghan Parliament (Wolesi Jirga) is due to vote on the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) between Kabul and Washington and the NATO Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) next week.

NATO scrambled fighter jets – including two Canadian F-18s – twice in two days to intercept Russian military aircraft over the Baltic Sea,

Radek Sikorski's career is under threat following controversy over his claims that Vladimir Putin wanted Russia and Poland carve up Ukraine.

Jose Manuel Barroso made his valedictory speech in the European Parliament on Tuesday (21 October) following 10 years in office.

With temperatures already near freezing in eastern Europe, Ukraine will hold elections on Sunday (26 October) amid uncertainty on Russian gas supplies.

No one knows if the Obama administration will manage in the next five weeks to strike what many in the White House consider the most important foreign policy deal of his presidency.

The Obama administration wants a reinforced Iraqi army to bear the main burden of taking the fight to ISIS. This would entail an enhanced training programme for the Iraqi military.

Christophe de Margerie was only passenger aboard plane that hit snowplough on take-off.

Comments will heighten tensions between Poland and Russia, already at odds over the Ukrainian crisis and Poland's arrest of two men suspected of spying for Moscow.

Britain risks “alienating” friends in Europe by loose talk of migration curbs, the outgoing European Commission chief is to warn.

Over 200 people from Sweden's navy, army and air force are searching for a suspected Russian submarine off the coast of Stockholm.

A Russian gas cut-off would have a “substantial impact” on eastern Europe, but even the most vulnerable countries - Bulgaria, Estonia, and Finland - could get through the winter.

Former commander of British Army issues warning as it emerges two large stockpiles of shells filled with mustard and sarin gas have not been made secure.

A large fleet of naval vessels is taking part in the multinational “Noble Justification” military exercise which is underway in the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean.

The German Ministry of Economic Affairs has drastically lowered its growth forecasts this year and next, blaming crisis-ridden eurozone countries in particular for hampering the recovery.

Catalan leader Artur Mas on Tuesday (14 October) promised to hold a "public consultation" on whether Catalonia should be independent from Spain, after the Constitutional Court thwarted his plans to hold a referendum.

20 October, Liberation Day in Serbia, marks the anniversary of the retreat of the Nazi troops from Belgrade in 1944. But the Liberation Day parade of 2014 will be of a different kind.

The leader of Spain's Catalonia region will call off a referendum on independence from Spain planned for 9 November, and look for alternative ways to consult Catalans.

Turkey has agreed to allow the U.S.- led coalition to use its military bases for the fight against the Islamic State and to use Turkish territory as part of a training program for Syrian opposition fighters.

France wants ?10 billion a year from the EU’s “New Deal” fund, amid warnings that its budget profligacy could harm the “credibility” of EU financial rules.

Valery Heletey tenders his resignation after criticism following an August rout of government forces at Ilovaisk, with Petro Poroshenko expected to announce a successor within 24 hours

World leaders offer vast sums of money to reconstruct Gaza after the Palestinian-Israeli conflict amid warnings that financial donations are a 'band-aid fix'.

The crisis in Iraq deepened with a triple suicide bombing today, as Kurdish fighters in Kobane continued their resistance against Islamic State jihadis.

Islamic State jihadists move within eight miles of the Iraqi capital, sparking calls for America to return to the country.

Russia has 1,643 nuclear missiles ready to launch – one more than the US – according to an official State Department report. Both countries have been upgrading their active nuclear arsenals since the outbreak of the Ukrainian conflict.

The Syrian border town of Kobane will fall to terrorists unless those fighting it are given heavy weapons and extra fighters.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg met in Ankara and said that he came to hear Turkey’s views and concerns on the situation in the region.

The UK’s Lord Hill, Commissioner-nominee for Financial Services, was yesterday approved by MEPs on the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs.

The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to Estonia for Javelin missiles and associated equipment, parts, training and logistical support for an estimated cost of $55 million.

Serbia has defied EU calls to change the terms of its gas pipeline deal with Russia, but the European Energy Community says it “cannot” join the EU unless it does so.

The European Commission is not recommending any fresh steps on Western Balkan enlargement in the next 12 months, but wants to open two extra “chapters” in Turkey talks.

Hungarian and US soldiers took part in a joint military exercise Thursday, simulating "everyday" battle situations in Ukraine, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said.

Kurdish protesters demand that Ankara does more to save Syrian town from jihadist advance.

Dispatch from the Turkey-Syria border: 'When Kobane falls, it will be like World War III'.

As Islamic State jihadists continue to make gains in key Syrian border town, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan calls for a ground operation to slow their advance.

Isil jihadists make gains in Kobane, close to the Syria-Turkey border, in the face of US air strikes.

Jens Stoltenberg stressed that NATO would defend every Ally on a visit to Poland on 6 October 2014.

Latvia's hawkish center ruling coalition has won a clear majority in a general election, results showed on 5 October, after taking a hard line over the actions of Russia.

The centre-right GERB party looked set to win Bulgaria's "last-chance" snap general election, but will fall short of a majority, a result that could mean another shaky coalition struggling to solve a bank crisis and revive growth.

The new left-wing government in Sweden has promised to recognise Palestine, amid EU criticism of Israel’s latest settlement expansion.

Mr. Jens Stoltenberg chaired his first North Atlantic Council after taking up his post as NATO Secretary General on Wednesday (1 October 2014).

Move allows the deployment of armed forces in Syria and Iraq, as well as the transit of foreign forces in Turkey.

Remarks to the press by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, October 1, 2014.

France has put itself on a collision course with its EU partners after rejecting calls for it to adopt further austerity measures to bring its budget deficit in line with EU rules.

Radovan Karadzic claims he was a friend of the Muslims in his defence against genocide charges at the UN tribunal.

The Obama administration on Friday sanctioned more than two-dozen people and companies for aiding Iran’s illegal nuclear activities and violating existing sanctions against Tehran.

From suspected spies to suspicious submarines, Russia is ramping up covert and military operations in eastern and northern Europe.

Markets are realising that the five-and-a-half year recovery since the financial crisis may already be over.

For the Euro to be fixed its power-brokers need to realise that the Euro itself is the problem. If not the Euro could destroy Europe.

NATO detected and monitored four groups of Russian military aircraft conducting significant military manoeuvers in European airspace over the Baltic Sea, North Sea/Atlantic Ocean, and Black Sea on 28 and 29 October 2014.

Anyone wondering what Western leaders have been up against when they try to reason with Vladi­mir Putin need only read the transcript of the Russian ruler’s three-hour performance at the annual Valdai conference in Sochi on Friday.

Russian president says Washington wants to divide and rule world “by diktat”.

We believe now is the time to add defensive military aid, including weapons, to our support of Ukraine.

Russia's president says "attempts to blackmail Russia" are "imprudent" and claims neo-Nazism on the rise in Baltics in comments ahead of Italy summit.

Obama backing indirect talks with Moscow aimed at cutting U.S. non-strategic nukes in Europe.

'We are reaching the end game in Europe. If they don’t launch real QE soon, the consequences are too awful to contemplate,' warns RBS.

The U.S. air campaign is failing to achieve the minimal aim of stopping the expansion of the Islamic State — much less “degrading” and “destroying” it.

But today that choice is under threat, and Central Europe is once again on the frontline in the fight to protect our security and values. And today, that fight is once again both external and internal.

Hong Kong's crisis comes at a treacherous moment, up to its neck in China's credit bubble.

Mr. Jens Stoltenberg took up his post as NATO Secretary General on Wednesday (1 October 2014). He will chair his first meeting of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) later today.