WASHINGTON / AP Cuba’s government said it plans to do away with a penalty on converting U.S. dollars, but warned the Obama administration not to expect more changes until the U.S. trade embargo is lifted. Three days before President Barack Obama visits the island, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez dismisses Obama’s lofty rhetoric about using his visit to speak directly ...

Bloomberg Colombia’s central bank raised its benchmark interest rate for a seventh straight month as the inflation outlook continued to worsen and economic growth unexpectedly accelerated. In a split decision, the seven-member board voted to lift the key rate by a quarter point to 6.5 percent, bank Governor Jose Dario Uribe told reporters after the meeting in Bogota. Policy makers ...

Bloomberg Brazil is moving closer to unwinding a measure designed to shore up the nation’s currency as speculation President Dilma Rousseff will be impeached sparks a rally in the real. On Friday, the central bank said it will offer up to 20,000 foreign-exchange reverse swap contracts, which are equivalent to buying dollars in the futures market. The auction, which will ...

Bloomberg The dollar’s third straight weekly decline is triggering signals that U.S. currency weakness may be overdone. The greenback has gone from beating its major peers last year to losses against every one of those currencies this month. That’s pushed one measure of dollar momentum, the relative strength index, to its most extreme in almost four years as the Federal ...

AP A state body that invests in the Iron Range poured $17 million into a money-losing ski resort, gave financial assistance to businesses that may not have needed it and failed to require job creation in return for many of the loans it doled out, according to an audit of its activities released on Friday. The Office of the Legislative ...

Rostov-on-Don / AFP A flydubai passenger jet crashed in southern Russia early Saturday, killing all 62 people on board as it tried to land in bad weather in the city of Rostov-on-Don, officials said. The plane, which came from Dubai, was making its second attempt to land when it missed the runway, erupting in a huge fireball as it crashed, ...

Baikonur / AFP A suicide bombing rocked a major shopping street in Istanbul on Saturday, killing four people and wounding 20 others just six days after a deadly attack in Ankara, Turkish authorities said. The attack took place on Istiklal Caddesi, a pedestrian street that was relatively quiet Saturday morning but is usually thronged with shoppers, strollers and buskers later ...

Brussels / Belgium Top Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam, who was captured in a dramatic raid in Brussels, was to be questioned by Belgian police on Saturday ahead of his speedy transfer to France. Following his release from hospital where he was treated for a slight gunshot wound to the leg sustained during his arrest, Abdeslam was to be quizzed ...

WASHINGTON / AP The US and the Philippines announced five locations where American forces will have access under a new defense pact, including one facing disputed islands in the South China Sea. The announcement came at strategic talks in Washington, where the allies reiterated their opposition to the militarization of outposts in those waters, where six Asian governments have competing ...

United Nations / AFP The UN Security Council strongly condemned North Korea over its ballistic missile launches and demanded Pyongyang to refrain from further violations of UN resolutions. Backed by China, Pyongyang’s ally, the council said in a unanimous statement that “all these launches were unacceptable” and “constituted a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions.” The statement was adopted ...