Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he ordered officials to start work on taking control of Crimea weeks before a referendum which, the Kremlin has asserted until now, prompted the region's annexation from Ukraine.

• March 9, 2015

About 750 U.S. Army tanks, fighting vehicles and other pieces of military equipment arrived in Latvia on Monday as a part of a training mission to reassure NATO allies worried about potential Russian aggression due to the Ukraine crisis, the Pentagon said.

• March 9, 2015

China's long-awaited international payment system to process cross-border yuan transactions is ready, and may be launched as early as September or October, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

• March 9, 2015

China's cooling growth prospects and an interest rate decision in Russia will shift the economic agenda away from the euro zone next week, although Greece remains firmly in the spotlight because of its precarious funding outlook.

• March 8, 2015

The European Union needs its own army to face up to Russia and other threats as well as restore the bloc's foreign policy standing around the world, EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told a German newspaper on Sunday.

• March 8, 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

Greece sent its euro zone partners an augmented list of proposed reforms on Friday but EU officials said several more steps were required before any release of aid funds to a country that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras says has a noose around its neck.

• March 6, 2015