Thais and tourists have headed warily into the main part of a big holiday weekend as authorities hunted for suspects and a motive behind a series of blasts that struck resort towns across the south in some of the worst violence since a military coup two years ago.

Russia has warned it could break diplomatic ties with Ukraine over reported security incidents in Crimea, something it did not do even after annexing the disputed territory or throwing its support behind separatist rebels in the east.

ONE of the valid accusations made by those who wanted Britain to quit the EU before last Thursday’s epoch-defining vote was that the union had become far less democratic than is necessary to sustain a union of almost 30 countries, big or small, affluent or less so. 

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has dented EU hopes of an end to hard times for many farmers by saying Russia plans to extend its embargo on Western food products by a year and a half.

World and regional powers have agreed to try and turn a fragile truce in Syria into a comprehensive ceasefire.

The US and other world powers have said they are ready to supply Libya’s internationally recognised government with weapons to counter Islamic State and other terrorists.

Russia has accused the Ukrainian government of dragging its feet on implementing last year’s cease-fire agreement.

German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier believes changing the way we live in fear of terrorist attacks would be giving them exactly what they wanted

Canada will issue thousands of more visas to Syrian refugees before the end of this year by accelerating the processing of applications.

‘Poor old Germany,’ said Kissinger. ‘Too big for Europe, too small for the world.’ That maxim is still proving true today, writes Wolfgang Ischinger

German chancellor Angela Merkel’s popularity has dropped abruptly over her handling of Europe’s refugee crisis, a poll for ARD television network has shown.

Germany will pull two Patriot missile batteries, and 250 troops, from southern Turkey by the start of next year, after a reassessment of the threats from the conflict in neighboring Syria.

A senior US official acknowledged that Iran nuclear talks will go past tomorrow’s target date, as Iran’s foreign minister prepared to head home Sunday for consultations before returning to push for a breakthrough.

Germany was fooling itself if it believed the peaceful post-WW2 neighbourhood it helped create transcended the logic of brute force, as the Ukraine crisis reveals, writes Lucian Kim.

Talks resumed over Iran’s nuclear programme hours after negotiators abandoned a deadline to reach the outline of a deal.

The foreign ministers of Iran and six world powers met in a final push for a preliminary nuclear accord before their deadline today as Tehran showed signs of backing away from previous compromise offers.

ROMANIA: Romania’s foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu has apologised to his visiting German counterpart for handing him a booklet during a televised news conference that mixed up a map of Germany with one of France on the cover.

The European Union has decided to hold off temporarily on imposing sanctions on more Russians and Ukrainian separatists and await the outcome of possible peace talks later this week.

A top-level summit to discuss the crisis in Ukraine is being planned for the coming week.

The leaders of Germany and France have announced a new peace plan for Ukraine, flying together to Kiev and then Moscow with a proposal to resolve the conflict that could be “acceptable to all”.

French president Francois Hollande has said he is taking a new peace initiative to Ukraine alongside German chancellor Angela Merkel.

Europe showed a willingness yesterday to give Athens more time to pay its debts, but little sign that it would yield to the new Greek government’s demands for debt forgiveness.

Thirteen people were killed when a bus in Ukraine was hit by a rocket earlier this month, but it barely registered as news outside a country still fighting on all sides, writes Lucian Kim

At least seven people are reported to have been killed when a city bus was hit by an artillery shell in a separatist stronghold in east Ukraine.

Diplomats from Russia and Ukraine agreed on a dividing line from where both sides should pull back their heavy weapons.

US Secretary of State John Kerry is consulting with allies on how to overcome deep obstacles to reach a nuclear deal with Iran, three days before the deadline.

The foreign ministers of Germany and Britain said they would not be taking part in air strikes in Syria against the Islamic State militant group.

Clashes have broken out outside the main rebel-held city in eastern Ukraine, throwing the freshly forged ceasefire agreement between government troops and Russian-backed separatists into further doubt.

Ukraine called yesterday for full membership in Nato, its strongest plea yet for Western military help, after accusing Russia of sending in armoured columns that have driven back its forces on behalf of pro-Moscow rebels.

Germany has said it is prepared to arm Kurdish fighters battling Sunni insurgents in northern Iraq.

The European Union yesterday forged a unified response to the rapid advance of Islamic militants in Iraq and the resulting refugee crisis, allowing direct arms deliveries to Kurdish fighters battling the Sunni insurgents. Several EU nations pledged more humanitarian aid.

The European Union has sought to forge a unified response to the rapid advance of Islamic militants in Iraq and the resulting refugee crisis.

Germany, France and Britain have proposed reactivating a European Union mission on the Egypt-Gaza border to help stabilise the Palestinian enclave after a month-long war, a German diplomatic source said.

France’s Socialist government will not resign and will press forward with tax cuts and other reforms despite a record victory for the French far right in European parliament elections, the prime minister said today.

Germany is pushing for a second round of diplomatic talks in Geneva in an effort to halt the violence in Ukraine.

Nato’s foreign ministers have ordered an end to civilian and military co-operation with Russia and told their generals and admirals to quickly devise ways to better protect alliance members that feel threatened by Moscow.

Shots have been fired at a Ukrainian air force base in Crimea that has been blocked off by Russian forces.

What happens now to Ukrainian forces in Crimea is one of many unanswered questions, write Aleksandar Vasovic and Mike Collett-White.

Russian forces controlling the strategic region of Crimea have demanded that the crew of two Ukrainian warships must surrender, according to Ukrainian sources.

By Ann Cahill, Europe Correspondent

A tense standoff was in place in the Crimea crisis tonight as Russian forces continued to surround a Ukrainian army base.