ESA mission controllers have confirmed Rosetta is on track for a critical 250-km Mars swingby on 25 February. Engineers have started final preparations for the delicate operation, which includes an eclipse, a signal blackout, precise navigation and complex ground tracking.

Russia, China, and India today said greater cooperation between the three countries aims to promote peace and is not directed against any other nation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Armenian counterpart Robert Kocharian met in Sochi yesterday to discuss trade and regional issues.

The European Union and China begin negotiations this week on a comprehensive treaty that will include passages on climate change and energy security. The EU says cooperation by energy-hungry and heavily polluting China is crucial to any progress on the climate issues. Daniel Schearf reports from Beijing.

Elsevier is pleased to announce a cooperation with the Chinese Academy of Sciences to publish China Particuology, the only English bi-monthly publication on the science and technology of particles in China.

US policy in South Caucasus is aimed at promoting regional cooperation and normalization of relations instead of isolation, says a statement by US congressmen, co-chairs of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues Frank Pallone and Joe Knollenberg, addressed to the Armenian Assembly of America (AAA).

Today the European Commission tabled a proposal for a Council Regulation adopting the new bilateral agreement between the European Union and the Russian Federation on co-operation in fisheries and the conservation of the living marine resources in the Baltic Sea.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is in Kyiv for a working visit and talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yushchenko and other leaders.

At the invitation of Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran Manouchehr Mottaki, the delegation of Republic of Armenia's Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan visited Iran on December 17.