The Russian government's sale of a controlling stake in mid-sized oil firm Bashneft to the country's largest oil producer Rosneft should give momentum to Russia's privatization drive, President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.

• October 12, 2016

Oil prices jumped as much as 3 percent on Monday, with Brent hitting one-year highs, after Russia said it was ready to join OPEC in curbing crude output and Algeria called for similar commitments from other non-OPEC producers.

• October 10, 2016

China's Commerce Ministry has expressed concern and regret after the European Union set provisional import duties on two types of Chinese steel coming into the bloc, calling its investigation methods "unfair".

• October 9, 2016

China hopes to see progress at next month's summit in Peru of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) bloc in pushing ahead with a Chinese-backed trade liberalization framework, China's foreign minister said while on a trip to Lima.

• October 5, 2016

Few noticed, but when Prime Minister Theresa May said Britain would once again decide alone how "we label our food" after quitting the European Union it was what many of her pro-Brexit lawmakers had dreamt of.

• October 4, 2016

Russia said on Friday that it was resuming the shelved privatisation of oil firm Bashneft, in a sign of how anxious the Kremlin is to raise money to fill holes in the budget left by the economic slump.

• October 3, 2016

Agreeing Britain's post-Brexit membership terms with the World Trade Organization will not be simple but should be done in a way that causes minimal disruption to global trade, trade minister Liam Fox said on Sunday.

• October 2, 2016

Russia said on Friday that it was resuming the shelved privatisation of oil firm Bashneft, in a sign of how anxious the Kremlin is to raise money to fill holes in the budget left by the economic slump.

• October 1, 2016