EU leaders will urge Russia at a summit this week to do more to stabilize Ukraine, according to a draft statement seen by Reuters, but diplomats expect no change in sanctions on Moscow in the near future.

• October 22, 2014

Waiting for a lull in fighting between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian rebels, Nikolai Batyshchev ventures out with his chainsaw and wheelbarrow to collect firewood to fend off the damp autumn chill.

• October 21, 2014

Christophe de Margerie, the charismatic and outspoken chief executive of the French oil company Total (TOTF.PA), was killed when his private jet hit a snow plow as it was taking off from Moscow's Vnukovo airport on Monday night.

• October 21, 2014

Russia and Ukraine aim to resolve an impasse over natural gas supplies as their energy ministers meet in Brussels for talks brokered by the European Union's energy commissioner.

• October 21, 2014

Australian police have agreed to assist China in the extradition and seizure of assets of corrupt Chinese officials who have fled with hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit funds, the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reported on Monday.

• October 20, 2014

When Europe announced its latest health check of top banks early last year it promised a "comprehensive assessment" of how well prepared they were to withstand another financial crisis.

• October 20, 2014

China's ruling Communist Party will likely never open all the files on its recent painful past, including the Cultural Revolution and Great Leap Forward, and sees no need to reassess those periods, a senior party historian said on Monday.

• October 20, 2014

Ukraine's and Russia's leaders have reached a preliminary agreement on a price for gas supplies this winter but Kiev may need international help to pay, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Saturday.

• October 19, 2014