Western government

It was December in northern Syria and the temperature was dropping fast. Local militias fighting the Islamic State had suffered heavy casualties after a tough battle, and U.S. special operations forces urgently needed to get blankets to their partners. They turned to a small charity run by Jim Hake, a former venture capitalist who made his fortune on tech startups in California.

The European Union's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini will travel to Tehran on July 28 following the West's historic nuclear deal with Iran, also going to Saudi Arabia in her first official visit to the two regional powers.

Russia may toughen its response to sanctions imposed by the European Union over the crisis in Ukraine if the bloc extends its measures against Moscow, a Kremlin aide said on June 18.