China's crackdown on risky lending has driven borrowers into an even darker place in their search for capital - underground banking.

• January 31, 2014

President Vladimir Putin raised the pressure on Ukraine on Wednesday, saying Russia would wait until it forms a new government before fully implementing a $15 billion bailout deal that Kiev urgently needs.

• January 30, 2014

Optimism in the euro zone about its economic prospects continued to improve in January with a jump in morale in the bloc's two largest economies, Germany and France.

• January 30, 2014

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich went on sick leave on Thursday with an acute respiratory ailment, leaving a political vacuum in a country destabilized by anti-government protests.

• January 30, 2014

Russia will honor its pledge to lend Ukraine $15 billion and reduce the price of gas it supplies to its neighbor even if the opposition forms the next government, President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.

• January 29, 2014

Ukraine's interim prime minister pledged on Wednesday to work to limit damage to the economy from more than two months of turmoil and said he expected Russia to disburse a further $2 billion of aid "very soon".

• January 29, 2014

South Korea approved on Wednesday a $7 billion project to build two nuclear plants, a boost for an industry struggling to emerge from the shadow of Japan's Fukushima disaster and the first approval since a policy review sparked by a safety scandal at domestic reactors.

• January 29, 2014

Russian President Vladimir Putin and the European Union's top two officials were set to hold "clear the air" talks in Brussels on Tuesday after months of growing tension over Ukraine and trade and energy disputes.

• January 28, 2014