Bloomberg Developer Bo San had already sold all the units in his 12-story high-rise in Yangon in Myanmar when he was forced to halt construction. Three months later he faces the task of having to remove two floors to comply with new height regulations, at a cost of $8 million. Since May, the regional government of Aung San Suu ...

  Bloomberg Japan’s Renesas Electronics Corp. is in talks to acquire U.S. chipmaker Intersil Corp. for about 300 billion yen ($3 billion), a person with knowledge of the matter said. No agreement has been reached, and the discussions may not result in a deal, the person said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. Renesas shares erased ...

  Seoul / AFP South Korea and the United States kicked off large-scale military exercises on Monday, triggering condemnation and threats of a pre-emptive nuclear strike from North Korea. The two-week annual Ulchi Freedom drill, which plays out a scenario of full-scale invasion by the nuclear-armed North, is largely computer-simulated but still involves around 50,000 Korean and 25,000 US soldiers. ...

  Tokyo / AFP The wife of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has visited Pearl Harbor, bombed by Japanese planes nearly 75 years ago in an attack that brought the United States into World War II. It was not clear exactly when Akie Abe made the visit. But she posted 11 pictures on her official Facebook page, apparently early Monday. “I offered ...

  Tokyo / AFP A mother in Japan is under investigation for murder after her four children, including a girl as young as three, were found dead at home, Japanese media reports and police said on Monday. Local media reported the victims were killed by their mother before she tried to take her own life. A 10-year-old boy, two six-year-old girls, ...

  London / AFP Voting starts on Monday to decide if veteran leftist Jeremy Corbyn will remain leader of Britain’s Labour party, with an ill-tempered campaign deepening divisions that threaten the party’s future. Ballots and online voting forms were being sent to party members, who have until September 21 to decide whether to replace Corbyn with MP Owen Smith, previously ...

  Tokyo / AFP The foreign ministers of Japan, China and South Korea will meet this week in Tokyo, with their countries at odds over territorial disputes and a US missile defence system. Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, China’s Wang Yi and South Korea’s Yun Byung-Se will have dinner on Tuesday before formal talks on Wednesday, Japan’s foreign ministry said in ...

Oslo/ AFP The Philippine government said Monday it hoped to reach a peace deal with communist guerrillas within a year, as the two sides kicked off talks in Norway aimed at ending one of Asia’s longest insurgencies. “On the part of the (government) panel, we have imposed a timeline of nine to 12 months,” Silvestre Bello, the government delegation’s head of ...

  Dubai / Reuters Gulf stock markets fell early on Monday after oil and Asian equities dropped because of the threat of a U.S. interest rate hike, while Dubai builder Drake & Scull declined sharply because of concern about its financial situation. Brent crude dropped back to just above $50 a barrel in Asian trade amid talk that a U.S. ...

  London / AFP Eurozone stock markets rose on Monday looking ahead to a key meeting of central bankers at the end of the week, but London retreated on heavy falls for heavyweight mining shares. Around 1000 GMT, London’s benchmark FTSE 100 was down 0.4 percent compared with the close on Friday. In the eurozone, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 rose 0.3 ...