Bloomberg Hillary Clinton took a monumental step towards clinching the Democratic party’s White House nomination, while Donald Trump’s seemingly unstoppable rush to victory hit a bump in Ohio. Trump on Tuesday won key Republican primaries in Illinois, North Carolina and Florida—where he thumped home state Senator Marco Rubio, who immediately announced he was suspending his presidential campaign. “This was an …

Washington / AFP Barack Obama has warned that the 2016 White House race is damaging America’s image abroad, sounding the alarm on harsh campaigning that risks eroding gains made during his presidency. Lashing out at “vulgar and divisive rhetoric” in the race to replace him, Obama told a bipartisan group of lawmakers: “This is also about the American brand.” “We …

Los Angeles / AFP “Scandal” showrunner Shonda Rhimes revealed her writers had been forced to change sections of dramatic dialogue after seeing their lines spoken for real in the US presidential debates. The ABC political thriller features a presidential race which mirrors the current battle for the Republican and Democratic nominations—and a White House hopeful in upcoming episodes who bears …

Naypyidaw / AFP Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi thanked her supporters on Wednesday and sounded a hopeful note for the future, in her first comments after lawmakers approved her chosen proxy to become the nation’s first civilian president in decades. The veteran activist said she was proud of MPs from her National League for Democracy for rallying around Htin Kyaw, …

Brussels / AFP A vast police operation was under way in Brussels on Wednesday after a Kalashnikov-wielding assailant was killed and four officers wounded during an anti-terror search linked to the Paris attacks. Federal prosecutors were to hold a news conference at 0930 GMT amid widespread media reports that two suspects were either arrested or still on the run, possibly …

Bloomberg Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced a further cut in the main rate of U.K. company tax and put a levy on sugary drinks as he warned the U.K. economy will grow less quickly in each of the next five years than previously forecast. In his annual budget speech to the House of Commons, Osborne said corporation tax …

Bloomberg The pound weakened for a third day as U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne lowered the nation’s growth outlook in his annual budget. The U.K. currency dropped the most in three weeks against the dollar on Tuesday. Osborne said Wednesday the Office for Budget Responsibility revised its forecast for U.K. economic growth this year to 2 percent from …

Bloomberg Gazprom PJSC, the world’s largest natural-gas producer, is tapping the Swiss capital markets with the first foreign benchmark bond sale from Russia this year. The state-run gas monopoly is offering 500 million Swiss francs ($505 million) of notes due Nov. 30, 2018 with a coupon of 3.375 percent, according to a person familiar with the deal who asked not …

Bloomberg Germany’s government bonds underperformed their higher-yielding euro-area peers as the nation sold 4 billion euros ($4.4 billion) of 10-year debt. Italy’s sovereign bonds advanced, along with most major euro-region securities, while German 10-year bunds were little changed. The yield on Europe’s benchmark securities has climbed about seven basis points since the day before the European Central Bank’s policy decision …

Bloomberg Deutsche Boerse AG succeeded in its third attempt to acquire London Stock Exchange Group Plc. The deal would create a titan of European trading as long as regulators give it their blessing and rival suitors don’t scupper the agreement. While the companies declared it a merger of equals, Deutsche Boerse stockholders will get 54.4 percent of the enlarged group …