Baltic leaders said on Saturday they would back further sanctions against Russia at a European Union summit next week unless there was a de-escalation in eastern Ukraine where Kiev is trying to quell a pro-Russian insurgency.

• June 23, 2014

Manufacturing in China and Japan returned to growth in June after months of decline but an unexpectedly sharp fall in French business activity dragged on the wider euro zone, surveys showed on Monday.

• June 23, 2014

Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague warned Russia on Monday that the EU was ready to impose tougher sanctions over the crisis in Ukraine if it is not satisfied with Moscow's response to Kiev's peace plan.

• June 23, 2014

China, involved in a growing dispute with its neighbors over the energy-rich South China Sea, wants to promote peaceful development of the oceans, Premier Li Keqiang said, warning conflicts in the past had only brought "disaster for humanity".

• June 21, 2014

Pro-Russian separatists attacked Ukrainian posts on the border with Russia and a military base, and tried to storm an airforce base overnight into Saturday, government forces said, putting a Ukrainian unilateral ceasefire under pressure.

• June 21, 2014

Baltic leaders said on Saturday they would back further sanctions against Russia at a European Union summit next week unless there was a de-escalation in eastern Ukraine where Kiev is trying to quell a pro-Russian insurgency.

• June 21, 2014

NATO countries, wary of antagonizing Russia, are unlikely to grant former Soviet republic Georgia a formal step towards membership of the alliance at a summit in September, NATO diplomats say.

• June 20, 2014

The United States blacklisted seven separatists in Ukraine on Friday and threatened "scalpel" sanctions on Russia's financial, defense and high-tech industries as more Russian military material has flowed into Ukraine.

• June 20, 2014