Russia questioned on Friday the legality of U.S. and Arab air strikes in Syria to target Islamic State militants because the action was taken without the approval and cooperation of Moscow's ally Damascus.

• September 27, 2014

New U.S.-led air strikes against Islamic State fighters failed to stop them from pressing their assault on a strategic Syrian town near the Turkish border on Saturday, hitting it with shell fire for the first time.

• September 27, 2014

U.S. companies are increasingly less optimistic about the business outlook in China, and see growing competition from local rivals who get preferential treatment as a key challenge, a survey showed on Friday.

• September 27, 2014

Talks began on Friday to mark out a 30-km (19-mile) buffer zone between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists in the country's east, but Moscow was coy about its role and denied that Russian military officials had taken part.

• September 26, 2014

While most Russian oil tycoons and Kremlin energy officials are calculating billions of losses that could result from Western sanctions, one of them is counting his blessings.

• September 26, 2014

The European Union is likely to keep sanctions on Russia in place for now when ambassadors meet next week to assess progress in implementing Ukraine's peace process, diplomats said.

• September 25, 2014

Russian courts could get the green light to seize foreign assets on Russian territory under a draft law intended as a response to Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis.

• September 25, 2014

Japan said on Wednesday it was imposing additional sanctions on Russia because of its involvement in the Ukraine conflict and that it had also formally protested at the visit to a contested island by an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

• September 24, 2014