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 …

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 …