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  AFP Tehran officials shut schools on Monday as the first of the wint- er’s heavy pollution hit the Iran- ian capital. A blanket of choking brown-white smog descended on the city on Sunday, blocking out the view of the mountains that line its northern edge and leading many of its 14 million residents to retreat indoors or don face ...

  Bloomberg A Vietnamese village has become “a supermarket for illegal wildlife trafficking” raking in millions of dollars, a special hearing was told on Monday. The two-day public hearing in The Hague is laying out the findings of a year-long undercover investigation by the new Wildlife Justice Commission. The probe has provided “clear and irrefutable evidence of an industrial-scale crime ...

  Bloomberg China National Petroleum Corp. plans to spin off most non-energy assets — a portfolio comprising roughly 10 percent of its workforce — as low oil prices force the state-run behemoth to streamline, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Under a plan detailed at an internal meeting in Beijing last month, CNPC would bundle businesses employing about ...

  Bloomberg China’s largest theater operator said a slump in box-office sales nation- wide leaves the company, which has bucked the trend at its own cinemas, in position to buy rivals at cheaper valuations. Wanda Cinema Line Co., the film exhibitor arm of billionaire Wang Jianlin’s Wanda Group, is maintaining its target to use acquisitions and organic growth to add ...

  Bloomberg Japan’s economy grew more than forecast in the three months through September, as a rebound in exports compensated for continued weak spending at home by people and companies. Gross domestic product expanded by an annualized 2.2 percent, according to data released by the Cabinet Office on Monday (median estimate of economists +0.8 percent). Private consumption rose 0.1 percent ...

  Reuters Profit-taking hit stocks in Egypt and Saudi Arabia on Monday following strong rallies in both markets, while general weakness in emerging markets dragged down the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. Cairo’s blue chip index, which had soared 28.1 percent since the Egyptian pound was floated on Nov. 3, fell 2.0 percent ending 12 consecutive sessions of gains. The ...

  London / AFP European stock markets rallied on Monday and the dollar surged to multi-month highs, with traders shrugging off concerns over the Trump presidency and weak Chinese economic data. In foreign exchange, the euro struck a ten-month low at $1.0728, while the dollar reached also a five-month peak versus the yen. “European shares are trading higher… despite disappointing ...

  Soultz-sous-Forêts / DPA France and Germany could hardly be more different in their attitudes to tapping the free heat from deep under the earth. The French have enthusiastically sunk bores and exploited the heat, which is invitingly close to the surface at a hot spot which straddles the two countries’ border, whereas residents on the German side are squabbling ...

  Goiania / AFP Brazil may be the land of samba and bossa nova, but lately its hips are swaying to a different rhythm. In cowboy hats and plaid shirts, with touches of bling, new-wave country singers are conquering the airwaves and the dance floors. A world away from the soft jazz and Latin rhythms that Brazil crafted from the ...

  Bloomberg UK businesses have delayed or canceled investments worth 65.5 billion pounds ($82 billion) since the vote to leave the European Union, with more than 40 percent of large companies scaling back, according to a new survey. Executives have been reluctant to follow through on spending plans because of a plunge in the pound and a lack of clarity ...