China will soon rate the performance of local governments partly by how much debt they incur, as Beijing tries to wean the country off heavy government investment, state media said.

• December 9, 2013

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, facing mass street protests over his policy U-turn away from the European Union towards Russia, backed on Monday a call for talks involving the opposition to work out a compromise, his website said.

• December 9, 2013

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has invited euro zone officials to a meeting in Berlin on Friday in a bid to come closer to a solution on a planned European resolution mechanism to deal with troubled banks, a German newspaper said on Friday.

• December 6, 2013

A $6.4 billion gas project being built by Chevron CVN.X in China is facing further delays due to disagreements with partner PetroChina (0857.HK) over how to develop the technically tricky fields, three industry sources said.

• December 6, 2013

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich is stopping off in Russia to have talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on his way back home from an official visit to China, Ukraine's UNIAN news agency said on Friday.

• December 6, 2013

China's Foreign Ministry made a noncommittal response on Wednesday to a query whether Beijing would provide any more aid to Ukraine, as President Viktor Yanukovich arrived in the country from his crisis-torn homeland.

• December 4, 2013

Rising prices and an economic slowdown helped drive President Vladimir Putin's public approval rating to its lowest level in more than 13 years last month, a Russian polling agency said on Tuesday.

• December 4, 2013

Hundreds of people marched through the capital of Armenia on Monday to denounce visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin and protest against plans to join a Moscow-led customs union.

• December 3, 2013