DUBAI / Reuters Egypt’s stock market rose sharply on Thursday after the finance minister said he would propose only a gradual introduction of a stamp duty on transactions, while stocks going ex-dividend dragged down Dubai. The Egyptian index climbed 2.6 percent as blue chip Global Telecom jumped 7.6 percent. Amr al-Garhy told Reuters on Wednesday that he would propose …

  KUALA LUMPUR / AP A North Korean envoy rejected a Malaysian autopsy finding that VX nerve agent killed Kim Jong Nam, saying on Thursday the man probably died of a heart attack because he suffered from heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure. Malaysia dismissed the claim. The death of Kim, the estranged half brother of North Korea’s ruler, …

  Bloomberg French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen was stripped of her European Parliament immunity from prosecution because of a judicial investigation in France into the posting on her Twitter account of images of murders by IS. The European Union assembly voted by a show of hands on Thursday in Brussels to make the move against Len Pen, who leads …