South Korea approved on Wednesday a $7 billion project to build two nuclear plants, a boost for an industry struggling to emerge from the shadow of Japan's Fukushima disaster and the first approval since a policy review sparked by a safety scandal at domestic reactors.

• January 29, 2014

Russian President Vladimir Putin and the European Union's top two officials were set to hold "clear the air" talks in Brussels on Tuesday after months of growing tension over Ukraine and trade and energy disputes.

• January 28, 2014

Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov offered his resignation to President Viktor Yanukovich on Tuesday, saying he hoped his departure would help towards a peaceful settlement to two months of unrest which has convulsed the former Soviet republic.

• January 28, 2014

Ukraine is borrowing another $2 billion from Russia on the same terms as a $3 billion Eurobond sold in December, in a sign that Moscow is pushing on with a $15 billion bailout despite concern about violence at anti-government protests in Kiev.

• January 28, 2014

European Union and Russian leaders will trade recriminations over Ukraine at a summit on Tuesday, as the former Soviet republic reels from violent unrest after spurning the EU's embrace and lurching back towards Moscow.

• January 27, 2014

Bankers expect a thorough European Central Bank (ECB) health check of the euro zone's largest banks to reignite domestic and cross-border merger activity by rebuilding confidence among lenders.

• January 27, 2014

Hungary's development minister said on Sunday the government should soon complete talks with Russia on a multi-billion dollar sovereign loan that would enable it to start work on two new nuclear reactors.

• January 27, 2014

Russia will tap into a rainy-day fund for most of the $15 billion bailout it promised Ukraine after Kiev scrapped plans for European Union deals that would have pulled it further from Moscow's orbit, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said.

• January 25, 2014