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  SEOSAN / AP Chung Young-chul takes a drag on his cigarette and watches as wild ducks fly across rice fields and land on a reservoir in this remote farming village. He’s among nearly 2,000 people — ex-gangsters, ex-convicts, orphans — who were once held here, forced to work without pay for years and are now largely forgotten. “Some died after ...

  Bloomberg China National Chemical Corp. won European Union antitrust approval for its $43 billion takeover of Swiss pesticide maker Syngenta AG, a day after the US gave its blessing, bringing China’s largest foreign acquisition closer to the finish line. ChemChina’s offer to divest some pesticides and other agricultural products will remove “problematic overlaps” and allow EU regulators to clear ...

  Bloomberg Australian regulators may take further steps to rein in mortgage lending amid growing concern booming home prices pose a risk to the financial system. Restrictions on interest-only loans announced last week were a “tactical response” to growth in lending to property investors, Australian Prudential Regulation Authority Chairman Wayne Byres said in a speech in Sydney on Wednesday. The ...

  Bloomberg Britain is looking for ways to scrap its 2020 clean energy targets while maintaining everyday trade in Europe’s energy market, an early sign of the kind of cherry-picking that threatens to sour Brexit negotiations. Officials in the Treasury and the business department are looking for a way to abandon the national goal of getting 15 percent renewable energy ...

  Bloomberg The UK’s services sector grew faster than expected in March and surging costs prompted companies to raise their prices at the quickest pace in 8 1/2 years. The momentum in IHS Markit’s monthly Purchasing Managers’ Index was accompanied by stronger growth in new business. Even so, the survey reflected gathering storm clouds for the UK economy as hiring ...

  Bloomberg Dan Ivascyn’s Pimco Income Fund keeps raking in money. The fund, co-managed by Ivascyn and Alfred Murata, celebrates its 10th anniversary this week by becoming the largest actively managed fixed-income mutual fund with $79.1 billion, according to Pimco’s website. Pimco Income passed Metropolitan West Total Return Bond Fund as investors added approximately $3 billion in March, a monthly ...

  Bloomberg Cyprus wants investors to see it as a comeback kid. With an accelerating economy, the island nation that was forced to seek a bailout and impose a levy on bank deposits in 2013 is betting on an end to its junk rating. That should make it an attractive place for investors, the country’s leaders are saying. “What has ...

  Bloomberg To get in on the hottest equity trade in China right now, you’ll have to be quick. Dividends are emerging as a key lure for investors in the world’s second-largest share market, with stocks of companies that consistently hand out the most cash outperforming the Shanghai Composite Index by the most since 2013. The catch? These plays are ...

  DUBAI / Reuters Stock markets in the Middle East firmed on Wednesday with Abu Dhabi outperforming its peers for a second day as institutional investors targeted blue chips, while crude oil near a one month high boosted Saudi Arabia. Abu Dhabi’s index climbed 2.0 percent on the back of a 4.1 percent jump in shares of newly merged lender ...

  Bloomberg Indian shares touched a new high a day before the central bank’s monetary policy meeting, boosted by a rally in property developers. The benchmark Sensex and the NSE Nifty 50 indexes, which reopened after a holiday, extended Monday’s record levels. The Sensex climbed 0.2 percent and the Nifty gained 0.3 percent at the close in Mumbai, while an ...