European Union leaders are unlikely to tighten sanctions on Russia when they meet next week but will haggle over whether they need to act now to prolong economic sanctions on Russia expiring in July, diplomats said on Thursday.

• March 12, 2015

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras tried to reassure euro zone partners on Thursday that Greece would stick to an extended bailout agreement with its international creditors even as a war of words rumbled on between Athens and Berlin.

• March 12, 2015

The foreign ministers of China, Japan and South Korea are preparing to meet this month for their first talks in nearly three years, in a bid to resolve tension over Japan's wartime past and discuss a three-way summit.

• March 12, 2015

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused European Council President Donald Tusk and Brussels bureaucrats on Tuesday of stirring up tensions between Moscow and the bloc over the crisis in Ukraine.

• March 10, 2015

Russian tanks and heavy military equipment have crossed the Ukrainian border in the last few days in breach of a European-brokered ceasefire agreed on Feb. 12, a senior U.S. State Department official said on Tuesday.

• March 10, 2015

Warning Greece it had "no time to lose", euro zone ministers agreed technical talks between finance experts from Athens and its international creditors would start on Wednesday with the aim of unlocking further funding.

• March 10, 2015

China plans to enact specific legislation to fight corruption, the head of the country's parliament said on Sunday, as the government continues its campaign against graft.

• March 8, 2015

The European Union is ready to step up sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine conflict, but its priority is to bolster a fragile ceasefire agreed in Minsk, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said on Friday.

• March 6, 2015