China shut down 8,347 heavily polluting companies last year in northern Hebei province, which has the worst air in the country, state news agency Xinhua said on Thursday, as the government moves to tackle a problem that has been a source of discontent.

• January 16, 2014

Greece expects the euro zone to provide some debt relief to Athens later this year but the impact on its vast liabilities will be little more than symbolic.

• January 15, 2014

China has granted licenses to import gold to two foreign banks for the first time, sources said, as moves to open the world's biggest physical bullion market gather pace

• January 15, 2014

China called on the IMF on Wednesday to stick to a commitment to give emerging markets more power at the world body after U.S. lawmakers set back historic reforms that would give developing countries a greater say.

• January 15, 2014

A U.S. journalist and author critical of President Vladimir Putin says he has been barred from Russia, a move that has echoes of the Cold War and could strain relations with the United States.

• January 14, 2014

Euro zone industrial production rose in November at its fastest pace in nearly four years, in an encouraging signal that the bloc's economic recovery strengthened in the final quarter of 2013.

• January 14, 2014

Less than a month before the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russian investigators appealed to civilians on Tuesday to be more vigilant and help avert the threat of "terrorist" attacks.

• January 14, 2014

China reported one more death from the H7N9 strain of bird flu in southwestern Guizhou province, state news agency Xinhua said on Monday, in the second death from the virus in the past week.

• January 13, 2014