Washington / AFP US President Barack Obama said he expects Iraq’s second city Mosul to be retaken from the IS group “eventually”. Obama’s comments in an interview with CBS News came on the same day that Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Washington would send Apache attack helicopters and more troops to Iraq. “As we see the Iraqis willing to ...

  Sydney / AFP Investigators were on Tuesday examining two more pieces of debris for clues to the fate of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, along with marine life found on two other items which “almost certainly” came from the lost jet. The latest two pieces—one found in South Africa and another on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius—were brought to ...

  BEIRUT / AP Fighting intensified on Tuesday in northern and central Syria as government forces sought to repel rebel advances on a government stronghold. A chief opposition negotiator meanwhile said the conditions on the ground were not conducive to political talks. Rebels and activists reported fighting in rural parts of northern Latakia province, a government stronghold, one day after ...

  London / AFP A replica of one of the most iconic monuments destroyed by IS extremists in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra was being unveiled in London’s Trafalgar Square on Tuesday. The six-metre-tall scale recreation of the Triumphal Arch is made of Egyptian marble and was carved in the northern Italian region of Tuscany using precision digital technology ...

  Seoul / Reuters South Korea’s central bank kept interest rates untouched on Tuesday for a 10th straight month, and its governor stressed that the current rate level supports economic growth, although a lowered growth forecast for this year kept expectations of a rate cut alive. The Bank of Korea (BOK) committee held its base rate steady at 1.50 percent, ...

  Bloomberg The strengthening krona may force Sweden’s central bank to add stimulus again as criticism mounts that its unprecedented policy moves are threatening stability in the largest Nordic economy. While all 20 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg predict that the main rate will be kept unchanged at a record low of minus 0.5 percent, the Riksbank may extend its government ...

  Reuters Samba Financial Group, Saudi Arabia’s third-largest bank by assets, reported a 1.4 percent drop in first-quarter net profit on Tuesday, in line with analyst forecasts. The bank made a profit of 1.26 billion riyals ($336.1 million) in the three months to March 31, down from 1.28 billion riyals in the same period a year earlier, it said in ...

  Bloomberg Citigroup Inc. said it has named Gerald Keefe as its Hong Kong-based head of corporate banking for the Asia-Pacific region, a newly created role. Keefe, currently head of corporate banking for Japan, will take on responsibilities for Citigroup bankers in the region dealing with companies, financial institutions and public-sector entities, according to a press release. Agnes Liew, another ...

  Moscow / Reuters The New Development Bank (NDB), formed by the BRICS group of emerging nations, has approved its first loans — $811 million for renewable energy projects in Brazil, China, India and South Africa, Russian news agencies reported last week. The BRICS bank, with authorised capital of $100 billion, started work last year on funding initiatives for infrastructure ...

  SINGAPORE / Reuters Asian skies are getting busier and the impact is set to be felt in the jet fuel market as brisk demand for air travel, due to rising incomes and more flights, cuts the region’s aviation fuel surplus in 2017 by the most in at least five years. About 100 million new passengers take to the Asian ...