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  MOGADISHU / AP Somalia’s electoral commission says the presidential election will be Feb. 8, after four delays and amid allegations of bribery, fraud and voter intimidation. Opposition candidates have accused the government of monopolizing the electoral process. The electoral commission said late Wednesday that registration of presidential candidates starts Thursday. The development comes shortly after this Horn of Africa ...

  WASHINGTON / AP President Donald Trump declared on Wednesday that he is ordering a “major investigation” into widespread voter fraud, raising the prospect of a federal government probe into a widely debunked claim and sparking alarm among experts and Democrats. Trump announced in a pair of tweets early Wednesday that the investigation will look at those registered to vote ...

  BEIJING / AP China has released a new list of items banned for export to North Korea, ranging from wind tunnels to plutonium, following a new round of United Nations sanctions and complaints from U.S. President Donald Trump that Beijing was not doing enough to pressure its communist neighbor. The step was seen by one leading expert on North ...

  Yangon / AP Twenty-two humanitarian and development groups have called for a halt to fighting between Myanmar’s government and ethnic rebels in the country’s north and for the protection of civilians affected by the conflict. The groups signing the statement, circulated Thursday, include the International Rescue Committee, Oxfam, Plan International and Save the Children. “We are alarmed about incidents ...

  Bloomberg President Donald Trump’s pledge to ease environmental regulations hands automakers a second chance to amend the US vehicle efficiency standards that the Obama administration sought to finalize in its final days. In a White House meeting, with the chief executives of General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, Trump called environmental regulations “out of ...

  Bloomberg Unilever shares fell after saying it will get off to a slow start in 2017, casting gloom over the European consumer-staples industry as the sector’s earnings season kicks off. Fourth-quarter underlying sales rose 2.2 percent, the maker of Dove soap said in a statement, the worst result in two years and below the 2.6 percent gain seen by ...

  Bloomberg Spanish unemployment fell to a seven-year low in the fourth quarter in a boost for Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who has made job creation the centerpiece of his administration. The jobless rate dropped to 18.6 percent in the three months through December, the National Statistics Office said in Madrid on Thursday. That’s down from 18.9 percent in the ...

  Bloomberg The UK economy is maintaining its stellar performance since the Brexit vote, but the reasons may be cause for concern. Growth beat expectations again in the fourth quarter, coming in at 0.6 percent, but the make-up of the performance hints at ongoing weak links. The expansion is still being almost entirely driven by services and consumer spending, continuing ...

  Bloomberg After at least 12 years together, Alphabet Inc., the parent of Google, won’t be represented by one of Washington’s most prominent lobbying groups, a firm with long-standing ties to the Democratic party and Hillary Clinton. The Podesta Group — whose chairman, Tony Podesta, is a major Democratic fundraiser and the brother of Clinton’s former campaign manager — is ...

  AP Apple Inc. has filed suit in China challenging Qualcomm Inc.’s fees for technology used in smartphones two years after Chinese regulators fined the chipmaker for its licensing practices. Two lawsuits filed by the iPhone maker accuse Qualcomm of abusing its control over essential technology to charge excessive licensing fees, a Beijing court said on its microblog. It said ...