European Union ambassadors reached a preliminary agreement on Friday to push ahead with hard-hitting economic sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis but details remained to be worked out, diplomats said.

• July 25, 2014

China's factory activity expanded at its fastest in 18 months in July, while the euro zone's private sector also perked up, but the pace of U.S. manufacturing expansion slowed.

• July 25, 2014

EU leaders seeking to agree sanctions against Russia over its actions in Ukraine are expected to include oil technology but exclude technology for Russia's all-important gas sector, EU sources said on Friday.

• July 25, 2014

Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini, a candidate to become the European Union's next foreign policy chief, reiterated on Thursday that she supports additional sanctions against Russia over the crisis in Ukraine.

• July 24, 2014

The European Union would target state-owned Russian banks vital to financing Moscow's faltering economy in the most serious sanctions so far over the Ukraine crisis under proposals considered by EU governments on Thursday.

• July 24, 2014

The latest U.S. sanctions against Russia violate World Trade Organization rules and may force Moscow into a destabilizing trade dispute, Russia's ambassador told the Geneva-based trade body on Thursday.

• July 24, 2014

The cost of petrol has risen in Crimea for the first time since Russia seized the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine in March, despite a promise by Moscow to reduce the price.

• July 23, 2014

Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuri Prodan said on Wednesday reverse gas flows from the European Union to Ukraine had fallen because of opposition from Russian gas producer Gazprom.

• July 23, 2014