John Kerry

Protesting opposition lawmakers released tear gas for the sixth time in Kosovo's parliament on Dec. 14, in an effort to foil a vote on the government's 2016 budget, forcing MPs into a side room where the measure was adopted. 

United States Secretary of State John Kerry met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on Dec. 15 to talk about the a way out to end the war in Syria. 

US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov began talks in Moscow on Dec. 15 in an effort to keep the brittle Syrian peace process on track.

Syrian troops recaptured a military airport and nearby town east of Damascus on Dec. 14, more than three years after they were overrun by rebel groups, a military source said. 

"The Syrian army has taken full control of the town of Marj al-Sultan and its airport in Eastern Ghouta," a rebel bastion east of the capital, the military source said, according to Reuters. 

Global powers on Dec. 13 backed the formation of a national unity government in Libya, pledging economic and security support to help stabilise the chaotic North African country where Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants have a foothold.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius presented a landmark global climate accord on Dec. 12, a "historic" measure for transforming the world's fossil fuel-driven economy within decades and turn the tide on global warming.

In a move to diffuse tension with Baghdad over the deployment of Turkish troops to northern Iraq's Bashiqa camp, Turkey has been working on a formula to bring the training camp under the status of the coalition forces, sources told Hürriyet Daily News.

The United States warned on Dec. 11 that some problems remain to be solved in a pact between Syrian opposition forces if U.N.-backed peace talks are to resume next week.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he would talk with his Saudi counterpart about how to fix problems in the deal reached Dec. 10 by Syrian rebel groups meeting in Riyadh.

Efforts to craft a global accord to combat climate change stumbled early on Dec. 11 after a "hard night" of talks, forcing host nation France to extend the U.N. summit by a day to overcome stubborn divisions. 

Bulgaria and Greece's Energy Ministers are to sign on Thursday the investment agreement to build a gas interconnector that will help bring supplies from Azerbaijan to Bulgaria and further north.

The project has been in limbo for months after the signing, scheduled for July, was postponed, with Athens citing obstacles due to the political situation in the summer.