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  ST. PETERSBURG / AP EU Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker warned Russia on Thursday that the 28-nation bloc will only lift its sanctions if the Kremlin fully implements a Ukraine peace deal. “The next step is clear, full implementation of the agreement—no more, no less,” Juncker told Russia’s main economic forum in Saint Petersburg ahead of a meeting with President ...

  Seoul / AFP South Korea said on Thursday it would resume salvage operations on the Sewol ferry next week, but underlined the enormous challenges posed by raising the vessel that sank in 2014 with massive loss of life. The Sewol was carrying 476 people when it went down off the southwestern island of Jindo, leaving 304—mostly school children—dead in ...

  Seoul / AFP South Korea on Thursday kicked off a live-fire naval exercise near its disputed sea border with North Korea — a move likely to fan already elevated military tensions with Pyongyang. The three-day exercise in the Yellow Sea is aimed at practising responses to simulated incursions by North Korean vessels and aircraft, the South’s navy said in ...

  Beijing / AFP China criticised US President Barack Obama on Thursday for hosting the Dalai Lama at the White House, despite efforts to avoid irking Beijing by holding the meeting off-camera and out of the public eye. Obama carried out what has become a political rite in Washington, spiriting the exiled Tibetan religious leader into the White House through ...

  Manila / AFP Incoming Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte will resume stalled peace talks with communist rebels next month, negotiators said, a step towards ending one of Asia’s longest insurgencies that has killed tens of thousands of people. The long-running talks collapsed in 2013, but Duterte had made a campaign pledge to revive the negotiations aimed at bringing a swift ...

  Washington / AFP Senate Democrats claimed a small victory early Thursday, forcing the US upper house to consider legislation to help keep guns out of the hands of terrorism suspects. The move, which could break a years-long logjam on gun control, follows demands for action after the weekend massacre of 49 people at a gay nightclub in Florida. Democrats ...

  Bloomberg The Swiss National Bank kept interest rates unchanged, conserving ammunition ahead of a British vote on European Union membership that has the potential to complicate monetary policy-making the world over. The SNB, whose currency is sought by investors at times of crisis, held its deposit rate at minus 0.75 percent, as forecast by economists in a survey. Saying ...

  Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG Chairman Paul Achleitner has become the latest global banking leader to warn about the potential fallout if UK voters decide to leave the European Union. A yes vote next week on the so-called Brexit would be an “economic disaster for the UK and a political disaster for the EU,” Achleitner said at a dinner Wednesday ...

  Bloomberg Airbnb Inc secured a US$1 billion debt facility from some of the largest U.S. banks to help the home-sharing company develop new services and fund growth initiatives, people familiar with the matter said. The debt deal was led by JPMorgan Chase & Co, Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp Morgan Stanley also participated, according to the people, ...

  Bloomberg State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur and State Bank of Mysore shares surged for a second day as India approved the merger of the lenders with their parent, amid a government push to strengthen the nation’s fragmented banking industry. Bikaner Bank rose 18 percent in Mumbai to a five-month high, while SBM climbed 20 percent to the highest ...