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Bloomberg U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne is sticking to his guns. Tripped up by an economy proving weaker than forecast and with lower tax revenues as a result, Osborne is set to use his budget on March 16 to deliver even more austerity to meet a legally binding pledge of a fiscal surplus by the end of the ...

TEXAS / Bloomberg President Barack Obama said that smartphones — like the iPhone the FBI is trying to force Apple Inc. to help it hack — can’t be allowed to be “black boxes,” inaccessible to the government. The technology industry, he said, should work with the government instead of leaving the issue to Congress. “You cannot take an absolutist view ...

BLOOMBERG U.S. gas drillers battered by the lowest prices in 17 years have found another release valve for their output: Canada. Over the past five years, the shale boom that unlocked vast supplies of natural gas across North America has tripled pipeline shipments from the U.S. to Mexico, and spurred the first seaborne exports from the lower 48 states. Now, ...

BEIRUT / AP After five years of bloodshed — after a quarter of a million deaths, and the flight of millions of refugees — Syria has arrived at a critical juncture: A diplomatic framework is in place to end the carnage, a two-week-old partial ceasefire is holding, and peace talks are set to resume in coming days. “The indicators from ...

Seoul/ AP North Korea said on Saturday its military is ready to pre-emptively attack and “liberate” the South if it sees signs that American and South Korean troops involved in annual joint military drills are attempting to invade the North. The declaration from General Staff of the North’s Korean People’s Army on state media is the latest outburst over the ...

BEIJING/ Bloomberg China’s industrial production and retail sales both slowed in the first two months of the year, highlighting the pressure leaders will face to meet this year’s annual growth target even as the central bank governor said major stimulus wasn’t needed. Industrial output rose 5.4 percent from a year earlier in January and February, the National Bureau of Statistics ...

Riyadh / WAM The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, alongside a number of defence leaders and officials from allied countries, on Thursday witnessed the conclusion of the Northern Thunder Exercise, which began on February 14, ...

Bloomberg With just over 100 days to go until Britain’s referendum on leaving the EU, Queen Elizabeth II and Bank of England Governor Mark Carney have both been dragged into the debate, showing that personalities will play a crucial role in the outcome. Supporters of a so-called Brexit called for Carney to resign after he identified a vote to leave ...

Bloomberg President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced steps to limit methane emissions from existing oil and natural gas wells, a move intended to underscore their commitment to combat climate change. Canada and the U.S. are agreeing to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas by as much as 45 percent below 2012 amounts by 2025, according ...

Beijing / AFP China’s consumer inflation jumped to 2.3 percent in February, its highest in nearly two years, official data showed on Thursday, in a positive sign for demand in the world’s second-largest economy. Food prices surged during the annual Lunar New Year holiday, with vegetable prices jumping 30.6 percent year-on. The rise in the consumer price index (CPI) released ...