The country’s holdings rose by more than $5 billion over a two-week period, official data shows Russia has continued to boost its foreign currency reserves, which reached $598.5 billion as of January 5, according to the country’s central bank. This represents an increase of $5.1 billion in the two-week period since December 22.

Discussions about outright seizure of Moscow’s withheld assets have recently become more frequent in Western capitals Russia is preparing to mount a legal battle to prevent its reserves frozen in the West from being seized, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. An estimated $300 billion worth of Russian assets were frozen last March as part of…

Beijing reiterates its goal of “complete reunification” with the self-governing island The Chinese military has warned that it would “crush” any attempt by Taiwan to formally declare independence, saying that nothing would stop reunification with the island – including US arms sales.