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Washington / AFP A Russian military jet came within 30 feet of a US destroyer in international waters in the Baltic Sea, US officials say, but Russia on Thursday defended the maneuver as safe. Russian aircraft repeatedly buzzed the USS Donald Cook this week, including an incident on Tuesday in which a Russian Su-24 flew 30 feet (nine meters) above ...

Berlin / AFP German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition agreed on Thursday on tough measures to spur the integration of migrants and refugees, including sanctions for failing to take part in programmes such as language classes. The deal, hammered out in six hours of late-night talks between Merkel’s conservative Christian Union bloc and the Social Democrats (SPD), also included plans ...

BLOOMBERG Global stocks rallied for a fifth day and oil climbed, while the dollar reversed gains, and Singapore’s currency dropped as the city state unexpectedly loosened monetary policy. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose as Nestle SA led a surge in food companies, after Asian equities posted their longest rally in a year, while Standard & Poor’s Index futures were ...

  DUBAI / WAM Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin RashidAl  Maktoum, received on Wednesday afternoon at Zabeel Palace, Valentina Matviyenko, Speaker of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, and her accompanying delegation. HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, and HH Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy ...

  Dubai / WAM The UAE and Georgia have called for signing an economic and technical cooperation agreement between the two countries to establish a joint economic committee to strengthen communication and facilitate entry of the UAE and Georgian businessmen and investors to both markets. This came during the meeting between Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy and Georgia’s ...

  Sharjah / WAM Sharjah Investment Centre recently signed a AED126.5 million deal with Scan Electromechanical Contracting Company for the installation of a power plant over an area of 32 million square feet in a strategic location in Al Arqoub near Sharjah International Airport. According to the provisions of the agreement, Scan Electromechanical Contracting Company will install and commission a ...

  Beijing / AFP Chinese exports surged in March, the first gain in nine months and the latest positive data out of the world’s number two economy, but analysts warned on Wednesday’s headline figure masked ongoing weakness in overseas demand. Official figures showing a better-than-expected jump in shipments abroad come just days after another strong inflation reading and last week’s ...

Brazil / AFP Brazilian President DilmaRousseff took off the gloves, branding her vice president a traitor and coup-plotter ahead of an impeachment vote in Congress, with a party once in the ruling coalition set to cast a ballot against her. In a blistering speech, Rousseff, 68, charged: “If there were any doubts about my reporting that a coup is under ...

Bloomberg Greek PM Alexis Tsipras will seek help from French President Francois Hollande after talks between his government and its creditors failed — again — to produce the approval needed to release funds from his country’s third bailout. Tsipras will meet his French counterpart in the Elysee Palace with Greek officials still struggling to convince inspectors from the European Commission, ...

  Bloomberg Some of the world’s top agricultural commodities traders say the era of slumping prices and low volatility isn’t over yet. Crop prices that slid in the past three years still aren’t low enough to encourage output cuts, Matt Jansen, the chief executive officer of trader Cofco Agri, said on Tuesday at the Financial Times Commodities Global Summit in ...