Chinese President Xi Jinping said Saturday he hopes to open a "new chapter" in relations with Iran after the lifting of international sanctions under a historic nuclear deal, as he paid the first visit by a Chinese leader to the Islamic Republic in 14 years.

This has been a fantastic week for Irish cinema. The achievements of directors, scriptwriters, actors and producers in nabbing seven Oscar nominations is the equivalent of the Irish football team getting to the World Cup final.

More than 1,000 Palestinian families took possession of new apartments Saturday as part of a large Qatari-funded housing project in the Gaza Strip. The units are the first batch of a 3,000-apartment complex that was announced when the former Qatari ruler, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, became the first head of state to visit Hamas-ruled Gaza in 2012.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today launched the new "Start-Up India" scheme to promote and nurse entrepreneurship in the country ensuring minimum interference from the government with attractive tax incentives.

Italy has called on China to contribute more to the fight against terrorism and help stabilise the Middle East and Northern Africa, as the world’s number two economy shows an increasing interest and exposure in the region, its ambassador to Beijing says.

The Philippines' decision to join China's multilateral development bank marks Manila's renewed effort to befriend Beijing via “economic diplomacy” despite the South China Sea dispute, an analyst said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's drop-by diplomacy in Lahore has set a new paradigm in summitry: doing away with sherpas. It is designed to catalyse the peace process, grounded over ego and who sets the agenda. 

The link between the business of diplomacy and the diplomacy of business is as old as the link between trade and flag. More recent diplomatic history is replete with examples of businessmen building bridges between leaders of adversarial nations.[...] business has helped oil the wheels of diplomacy, just as diplomacy seeks to oil those of commerce.