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Tokyo / AFP The yen picked up on Tuesday as another fall in oil prices dented sentiment, while the pound was under pressure over worries that Britain may vote to leave the European Union this year. Traders pushed into the Japanese unit — widely seen as a safe investment in times of turmoil — after another drop in crude prices, ...

Sydney / AFP A Chinese investor was given the green light to buy Australia’s largest dairy farm company, with the finance minister saying he welcomed foreign investment “not contrary to our national interests”. The sale of farmland to foreigners including to Australia’s biggest trading partner China has been a sensitive issue, with Canberra in November blocking the sale of one ...

Kathmandu / AFP Nepal has lifted its months-long rationing of fuel following the end this month of a border blockade by people protesting against a new constitution, officials said on Tuesday. The months-long blockade caused a crippling shortage of fuel and other vital supplies in the landlocked Himalayan country. But members of Nepal’s ethnic Madhesi community decided to call off ...

New York / AP Argentina has reached a settlement with several bondholders for $250 million and 185 million euros, a court-appointed mediator said as the country continues work toward ending a debt crisis that has damaged its ability to maneuver financially abroad. The latest deals boost to more than $1.5 billion the amount Argentina has committed in deals since President ...

Washington / AP U.S. officials say the Pentagon’s long-awaited plan to shut down the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and transfer the remaining detainees to a facility in the United States calls for up to $475 million in construction costs that would ultimately be offset by as much as $180 million per year in operating cost savings. The plan, ...

Washington / AP President Barack Obama sent lawmakers an official $1.9 billion request to combat the spread of the Zika virus in Latin America and the U.S. He is also requesting flexibility to use a limited portion of leftover funds provided in 2014 to fight Ebola to take on Zika, which has been linked to severe birth defects. Top House ...

New York / AP Starbucks is changing the terms of its rewards program so that people who spend around $5 or less per visit won’t get as many freebies. The Seattle-based coffee chain says its loyalty program will award stars based on the dollars spent starting in April. Currently, people earn a star for each transaction, regardless of how much ...

Bloomberg The sea stretched toward the horizon last New Year’s Eve as the Theo T, a red-and-white tug at her side, slipped quietly beneath the Corpus Christi Harbor Bridge in Texas. Few Americans knew she was sailing into history. Inside the Panamax oil tanker was a cargo that some on Capitol Hill had dubbed “Liquid American Freedom” — the first ...

ANKARA / EMIRATES BUSINESS Kuwaiti investors will have a unique opportunity to discover Turkey’s diverse real estate landscape and meet with leading local and international developers and market experts at next month’s inaugural Cityscape Turkey exhibition, which will be held from 24-26 March, 2016 at the Istanbul Congress Center. The latest addition to the Cityscape portfolio of global events, the ...

Bloomberg Dream Office Real Estate Investment Trust, Canada’s biggest office REIT, jumped the most in more than seven years after it said it would sell about C$1.2 billion ($870 million) of property and reduce its payout to weather the energy downturn. Dream Office rallied as much as 14 percent to C$18.60 in Toronto, the most since December 2008. The REIT ...