BEIJING / AP China has banned most imports of North Korean coal and iron ore, the country’s main exports, in a significant increase in pressure on the North under UN sanctions against its nuclear and missile tests. China buys an estimated two-thirds of impoverished North Korea’s exports, making Beijing’s cooperation essential for trade penalties approved by the UN Security Council ...

Tokyo / DPA Japan’s Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry is set to strengthen its efforts to develop its own technology for genome editing, by allocating 8.6 billion yen (US$77 million) over five years from fiscal 2016 to 2020. The technology enables cut-and-paste work in gene modifications as desired. The government intends to efficiently mass-produce medicinal products or fragrance elements by ...

KUALA LUMPUR / AP The chief executive of Malaysia Airlines said on Wednesday that the carrier recorded a profit in February, its first positive monthly result in years, and is on track to return to the black by 2018. In an interview, CEO Christoph Mueller described the airline as a “ship that has many leaks,” but said the monthly profit ...