Lawyers

• Putin uses Assad visit to talk up Kremlin role as Syria broker

  Vladimir Putin used a rare visit to Moscow by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to talk up the Kremlin's potential to help broker a political settlement to the crisis as he tried to show the West Russia has become a major player in the Middle East.

• German foreign minister rejects calls to invite Putin to G7 talks

  German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier dismissed on Sunday calls from the radical Left party to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to this year's summit of the Group of Seven industrial powers.

• Iran, powers push for nuclear deal as clock ticks toward deadline

  With a deadline hours away, Iran and six world powers ramped up the pace on Tuesday in negotiations over a preliminary deal on Tehran's nuclear program, while officials cautioned that any agreement would likely be fragile and incomplete.

• Iran calls Obama's 10-year nuclear demand 'unacceptable'

  Iran on Tuesday rejected as "unacceptable" U.S. President Barack Obama's demand that it freeze sensitive nuclear activities for at least 10 years, but said it would continue talks aimed at securing a deal, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported.

• Germany hints at fresh Russia sanctions over Mariupol

  Germany's foreign minister hinted at further sanctions on Russia on Monday, saying the European Union would have to react if pro-Russian separatists launched a broad offensive on the east Ukrainian port city of Mariupol.

• Germany's Merkel plays down expectations as new Ukraine talks start

  Germany's Angela Merkel said on Wednesday she hoped a new round of talks with Ukraine and Russia in Berlin could help implement an elusive ceasefire in eastern Ukraine but warned against expecting too much, given another upsurge in the violence.

• Ukraine summit blocked by failure to implement truce fully

  Germany, Russia, Ukraine and France have decided not to hold a summit on the conflict in Ukraine on Thursday because of a lack of progress in implementing a four-month-old ceasefire agreement.

• Germany: We've never been so close to nuclear deal with Iran

  Six world power have never been so close to a deal with Iran that would resolve the decade-long nuclear standoff once and for all, but the final phase of the negotiations will be the hardest, Germany's foreign minister said on Thursday.