Italy's Monte dei Paschi di Siena, (BMPS.MI), which is scrambling to put together a privately backed bailout, suffered a setback on Thursday when three banks turned down a request to back a planned 5 billion euro ($5.5 bln) cash call.

• July 28, 2016

President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday blamed a shadowy campaign for unfairly stripping some Russian sports people of the right to compete at the Rio Olympics over doping allegations, hitting out at what he called short-sighted political schemers.

• July 27, 2016

Turkey's Capital Markets Board on Wednesday canceled the license of the head of research at brokerage AK Investment and called for him to face charges over a report he wrote analyzing the July 15 coup attempt.

• July 27, 2016

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday he supported the resumption of talks between China and the Philippines over the South China Sea, following an international court ruling against Beijing over the dispute earlier this month.

• July 27, 2016

Bulgaria toned down its criticism of Moscow on Tuesday, saying Russian aircraft had not been involved in violations of its air space but once again blamed Russia for not observing international norms in aviation.

• July 26, 2016

The United States said on Tuesday it hoped to announce in early August details of planned military cooperation and intelligence sharing with Russia on Syria, and a U.N. envoy said he would also aim to resume peace talks next month.

• July 26, 2016

Hidden in the forests of Aluksne, near Latvia's north-eastern border with Russia, the remains of a former Soviet nuclear missile base are a magnet for tourists now rather than a top-secret site manned by soldiers.

• July 25, 2016

Britain does not want a return to border controls in Northern Ireland, Prime Minister Theresa May said on Monday on her first visit to the British province following the United Kingdom's vote to leave the European Union.

• July 25, 2016