International News

  Beijing / AP China will “facilitate” the planting of genetically modified corn and other plants on an industrial scale in the next five years, officials said, after not authorising any new commercial GM crops for a decade. The controversial science is a key trade issue with the US, whose biotechnology giant Monsanto is a global leader in the field, ...

  Tokyo / Bloomberg Nikkei Inc.’s chief executive officer is taking the long view — the very long view — on the Japanese publisher’s $1.2 billion purchase of the Financial Times last year. While the deal took just five weeks to come together, Tsuneo Kita says it may take as long as 20 years to judge Nikkei’s investment in the ...

  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 ...

  New Delhi / Reuters India’s 2016/17 wheat imports are expected to surge more than five-fold to the highest in a decade, as a severe drought linked to an El Nino weather event and unseasonal rains push domestic output down to the lowest since 2011, a Reuters survey shows. A spike in overseas purchases by India, the world’s second largest ...

  Islamabad / Reuters Pakistan’s government will guarantee 100 billion rupees ($955 million) worth of Islamic bonds to fund what would become the country’s fourth largest hydropower plant, aiming to address power shortages that have hindered economic growth. The deal would be one of largest infrastructure sukuk sold to date, helping expand a funding format that has largely been confined ...

  TOKYO / Reuters Japan’s Mori Building Co said on Wednesday it would spend about 400 billion yen ($3.7 billion) on constructing three high-rise towers as part of a grand plan to redevelop a central Tokyo district, and may seek a partner to fund the project. The development is part of Mori’s 1 trillion yen plan to redevelop the Toranomon ...

  MANILA / WAM Emerging risks and destabilisers as diverse as widening income inequality, slower growth, and climate change, are reshaping Asia’s economic landscape at such a rapid pace that governments must build far greater resilience into their national plans, says the Independent Evaluation at Asian Development Bank (ADB). “The urgency for countries to adapt to the new environment is ...

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, ...

  Frankfurt / AFP Volkswagen announced on Wednesday that its top executives were willing to accept “sharp reductions” in their annual bonuses as the embattled carmaker struggles to stem the fallout from its massive engine-rigging scandal. “The supervisory and executive boards are in agreement that given the current situation, a signal should be sent regarding the issue of management board pay,” ...

  Paris / AFP France said on Wednesday it was on track for modest growth this year at the same rate as earlier projections and also left its public deficit forecast untouched. Gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the eurozone’s second biggest economy is expected to be 1.5 percent in 2016 and the same next year, the finance ministry said. That’s ...