Syria pays for Russian weapons to boost ties with Moscow
More than two years into Syria's civil war, President Bashar al-Assad is settling his bills for Russian arms orders through the Russian banking system to try to shore up ties with his most powerful ally, according to a Russian arms industry source.
Euro zone, IMF to press Greece for foreign agency to sell assets
Greece's international lenders will press Athens next month to transfer state-owned real estate to a holding company managed by the euro zone to spur flagging privatization efforts, officials said on Thursday.
Forward guidance is providing some security to markets
Major central banks' reassurances that interest rates will stay low for some time are giving markets "a certain security", a European Central Bank policymaker said on Thursday.
China sees no basis for Japan talks as islands dispute simmers
China on Tuesday brushed aside calls from Japan to hold a leaders' summit as "grandstanding", while Japan's finance minister said Tokyo should make clear it would use its navy to defend islands at the core of a dispute with Beijing.
Bring on euro debate, Merkel aide tells rivals before TV duel
Angela Merkel is relishing the chance to debate the euro zone crisis with challenger Peer Steinbrueck in their only TV duel of the election campaign, despite a row over Greek aid that has put her government on the defensive, her campaign chief said.
Russia says too early for U.N. resolution on Syria attack
The U.N. Security Council should wait for inspectors to present their report on an alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria before considering a response, a senior Russian diplomat said on Wednesday.
EU says China guilty of giving illegal aid to solar industry
The European Union has warned Beijing it has evidence Chinese solar companies benefit from illegal subsidies, people close to the issue said on Tuesday, but Brussels says it will not take action for now following a deal to defuse the row.
Russia-Belarus potash dispute ignites diplomatic row
Russia demanded on Tuesday the release of the head of Russian company Uralkali, whose arrest in Belarus threatens to turn a business dispute that shook the $20-billion global potash market into a major diplomatic row.
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