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Tokyo / AFP Japanese exports to China rose for the first time in seven months in February, the government announced on Thursday, though analysts said the gain was distorted by the timing of the Lunar New Year holiday. China is Japan’s top trading partner, but the Asian giant’s economic growth has been slowing as Beijing tries to pull off a ...

Washington / AFP US President Barack Obama signed an order implementing UN-backed sanctions on North Korea after a nuclear test and missile launch this year, as Pyongyang promised reprisals. The White House said Obama had signed an executive order targeting the volatile hermit state’s energy, financial and shipping assets. The measures were agreed to at the United Nations in response ...

Maputo / AFP Mozambique’s arterial north-south highway has earned the moniker of a “ghost road” with former rebels staging regular raids ahead of a threatened power grab in the country’s centre this month. “We registered eight attacks by Renamo gunmen last week, which caused a total of three deaths—including a three-year-old—and 23 injured,” police spokesman Inacio Dina told a news ...

ABU DHABI / WAM His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, discussed with President of the Republic of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, ways to strengthen the friendly relations between the two countries, as well as regional and international issues of mutual interest. This came when Sheikh Mohamed ...

Bloomberg Hillary Clinton took a monumental step towards clinching the Democratic party’s White House nomination, while Donald Trump’s seemingly unstoppable rush to victory hit a bump in Ohio. Trump on Tuesday won key Republican primaries in Illinois, North Carolina and Florida—where he thumped home state Senator Marco Rubio, who immediately announced he was suspending his presidential campaign. “This was an ...

Washington / AFP Barack Obama has warned that the 2016 White House race is damaging America’s image abroad, sounding the alarm on harsh campaigning that risks eroding gains made during his presidency. Lashing out at “vulgar and divisive rhetoric” in the race to replace him, Obama told a bipartisan group of lawmakers: “This is also about the American brand.” “We ...

Brussels / AFP A vast police operation was under way in Brussels on Wednesday after a Kalashnikov-wielding assailant was killed and four officers wounded during an anti-terror search linked to the Paris attacks. Federal prosecutors were to hold a news conference at 0930 GMT amid widespread media reports that two suspects were either arrested or still on the run, possibly ...

Bloomberg Gazprom PJSC, the world’s largest natural-gas producer, is tapping the Swiss capital markets with the first foreign benchmark bond sale from Russia this year. The state-run gas monopoly is offering 500 million Swiss francs ($505 million) of notes due Nov. 30, 2018 with a coupon of 3.375 percent, according to a person familiar with the deal who asked not ...

Bloomberg Deutsche Boerse AG succeeded in its third attempt to acquire London Stock Exchange Group Plc. The deal would create a titan of European trading as long as regulators give it their blessing and rival suitors don’t scupper the agreement. While the companies declared it a merger of equals, Deutsche Boerse stockholders will get 54.4 percent of the enlarged group ...

Brussels / AFP European leaders launch a charm offensive to win backing for a migrant deal with Turkey on Wednesday, seeking to heal rifts between member states on the eve of a key summit with Ankara. EU president Donald Tusk warned that hard work lay ahead to finalise the deal, after Cyprus threatened to derail it over long-standing disagreements with ...