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Bloomberg At the Plymouth Energy LLC plant in the heart of the U.S. corn belt — where home-grown fuel from grain was supposed to ease American dependence on foreign oil — every drop of ethanol goes to motorists in Brazil. Like many Midwest distillers, Plymouth’s Merrill, Iowa, plant was built a decade ago for a U.S. market that was importing ...

Kabul / AFP US Secretary of State John Kerry landed in Kabul on Saturday on an unannounced visit to show support for the Afghan unity government and its attempts to revive peace talks with the Taliban. His visit comes as the extremist group is experiencing a resurgence following the withdrawal of US-led combat troops in 2014, announcing recently it was ...

SAN FRANCISCO/ AP President Barack Obama praised Democratic lawmakers for having his back through some politically tough votes and encouraged supporters to help elect more of them in November. “A Democratic Congress is good for America,” he said Friday. Obama also criticized Senate Republicans for refusing to consider his Supreme Court nominee and said GOP presidential candidates Donald Trump and ...

Philippines / AFP A retired Italian priest held hostage for six months by suspected militants left a Philippine hospital on Saturday a day after his ordeal ended, looking frail though officials said he was in good health. His face partly hidden by a red baseball cap, Rolando Del Torchio stroked his grey beard and waved briefly before getting into an ...

Hanoi / AFP Vietnam’s rubber-stamp parliament approved 21 new minister positions on Saturday, state media reported, finishing off a leadership reshuffle among Communist top brass ahead of a visit by US President Barack Obama next month. The National Assembly approved three new deputy prime ministers and 18 other cabinet members, according to the legislature’s official website, concluding a change in ...

Washington / AFP Donald Trump may have a difficult but not improbable route to the Republican presidential nomination. When it comes to ultimate victory in November’s general election, however, the real estate tycoon faces a far more forbidding path. He still needs to repel the late revolt by rival Ted Cruz as the two gallop toward the campaign season’s final ...

Sudan / AFP Sudan’s conflict-hit Darfur region starts voting on Monday on whether to unify its five states, a long-standing demand of rebels seeking greater autonomy, but ongoing instability means insurgents are boycotting the referendum. The three-day vote is expected to maintain the five-state system, which President Omar Al Bashir’s ruling party says is more efficient but which observers say ...

Bloomberg Home prices are surging in London’s outer districts as improvements to rail networks and lower prices lure Londoners further out of the expensive city center. Home values in West Ealing, where the commute time to London Liverpool Street will fall by half when a Crossrail train station opens in 2019, climbed 29 percent in the 12 months through February, ...

Bloomberg Marriott International Inc.’s $12.4 billion acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Inc. was approved by shareholders of both companies, cementing a deal to create the world’s largest hotel operator following a tumultuous bidding war. Holders of more than 97 percent of Marriott shares voting at a company meeting, representing more than 79 percent of outstanding shares, voted in favor ...

MADRID / Reuters The sale of hundreds of subsidised flats by Madrid’s former city council to private equity investors such as Blackstone was riddled with flaws, a preliminary report from a local auditing body said. The 2013 sale has long been a target of public anger in Spain at a time when the economy is still recovering from a deep ...