Congress

China passed a wide-ranging new national security law on July 1, expanding its legal reach over the Internet and even outer space as concerns grow about ever-tighter limits on rights.

Japan and the United States are likely to resolve outstanding bilateral issues so that a 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal can be struck at a multilateral ministerial meeting expected in July, a senior Japanese official said on June 26.

U.S. lawmakers approved legislation key to securing a hallmark Pacific trade deal by a comfortable margin on June 24, advancing President Barack Obama's efforts to strengthen U.S. economic ties with Asia. 

President Barack Obama said June 22 that Americans stand united in rejecting the targeting of any religious or ethnic group as he marked Islam's holy month of Ramadan.

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is in an "initial exploratory phase" in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said in a report to Congress, noting the Taliban retained its resilience in the war-torn country.
 
ISIL extremists have never formally acknowledged having a presence in Afghanistan, but fears are growing that the group is making inroads there.
 

The leader of the French National Front Marine Le Pen announced in Brussels on Tuesday the establishment of a new far-right political group in the European Parliament.

The group bears the name Europe of Nations and Freedoms (ENF) and its co-presidents will be Le Pen and Marcel Graaff from Dutch Party for Freedom (PVV), EUobserver reports.

Montenegro's ruling party congress, scheduled for next week, is expected to reaffirm Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic's position as leader and tighten party discipline.

Djukanovic, a former communist, has led Montenegro for almost 25 years. He is seeking his seventh mandate as leader of a party that has been in power without interruption since the beginning of the nineties.

Do you know why the ruling party had a serious loss of votes in the elections? Turkey's enemies have staged a conspiracy; they have mislead the "national will;" that is why. The domestic and international "evil centers" have set traps against the "blessed walk" of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). All the Israeli and Jewish lobbies, all their "foreign powers" have been mobilized? 

Republicans aimed for a vote on Friday to hand President Barack Obama the coveted "fast-track" trade negotiating authority he needs to complete his signature Pacific trade pact after concessions to Democrats appeared to smooth the way forward. 

Gazprom Deputy Director Alexander Medvedev said in Moscow on June 9 that talks with Serbia on the Turkish Stream were continuing - but did not specify details.

"Do you think we were just drinking brandy there?" Medvedev asked, referring to the Russian delegation's last visit to Serbia.