EU foreign ministers formally agreed to prolong to January 2016 damaging economic sanctions against Russia to ensure it fully implements Ukraine peace accords.
An 87-year-old Hungarian woman aims this weekend to set a world record by beating 1920s Cuban chess grandmaster Jose Raul Capablanca at his own game: simultaneous play.
His ratings are still in the doldrums and the economy is still stagnant, yet French President Francois Hollande looks ever more determined to run for re-election two years from now.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country was open to the world and would cooperate with the West despite persistent tensions over the Ukraine crisis.
Moscow warned that state-linked foreign firms in Russia could be targeted for retaliation to the freezing of Russian official assets in Western Europe over legal claims from former Yukos shareholders.
European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker voiced frustration with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in a media report amid the deepening debt crisis.
IMF chief Christine Lagarde warned that a resolution to five months of tortuous debt talks with Greece required "adults in the room" in an apparent sideswipe at Greek officials.
Ukraine's parliament fired the powerful head of the SBU state security service after he fell foul of President Petro Poroshenko and became embroiled in a conflict with the nation's chief prosecutor.
France's Le Monde newspaper used 200th anniversary of Napoleon's defeat to issue a warning to Britain -- in English -- saying: "Beware, Brexit could be your Waterloo!"
Russian officials tried to play down fears about the country's economic crisis as tensions with the West over Ukraine cast a pall over its showcase investment forum.