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  Tokyo / AFP Japan sidestepped a recession after its economy grew in the first quarter, preliminary data showed on Wednesday, but efforts to cement recovery in the world’s number three economy were gaining little traction. Gross domestic product expanded by 0.4 percent between January and March — or 1.7 percent at an annualised rate — after a contraction in ...

Tokyo / Bloomberg Suzuki Motor Corp. said it used fuel-economy testing methods that weren’t compliant with Japan regulations on about 2.1 million vehicles sold locally. The automaker said it won’t need to revise the ratings, as proper testing showed earlier results were within an acceptable range of deviation. Suzuki used a tunnel to test the fuel efficiency of its vehicles ...

  Tokyo / Bloomberg Mitsubishi Motors Corp. President Tetsuro Aikawa will step down as the Japanese automaker looks to regroup from its widening fuel economy testing scandal with the backing of Nissan Motor Co. Aikawa, 62, and Executive Vice President Ryugo Nakao will leave their positions effective June 24, according to a statement Wednesday. Mitsubishi Motors used “desktop calculations” to ...

  Washington / Bloomberg Microsoft Corp. agreed to sell its feature phone business to FIH Mobile Ltd. and HMD Global for $350 million, exiting a business that once dominated the mobile market under the Nokia name before Apple Inc.’s iPhone. FIH, part of Foxconn Technology Group, will also acquire a manufacturing facility in Hanoi, Microsoft said in a statement on ...

  Tokyo / AFP Finance ministers and central bankers from the G7 meet in Japan this week for talks likely to highlight a sharp divide over currency policy and how to breathe life into the wheezing global economy. The group — including US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi — converge at a hot spring ...

  CAIRO/ AP A leading international rights group on Wednesday released a report documenting atrocities by Libya’s IS affiliate — including instances of “crucifixions” and shooting a man to death for “cursing God” — in the coastal city of Sirte, a stronghold of the militants. Human Rights Watch recounts “scenes of horror” that followed the city’s seizure by IS militants ...

  ISTANBULI / AP Turkey’s state-run news agency says Turkish fighter jets have killed 10 Kurdish rebels during bombing runs in the country’s southeast. Citing a military source, the Anadolu Agency said on Wednesday that the Monday air raids targeted the mainly Kurdish province of Hakkari, which borders with Iraq. The Turkish military is engaged in renewed conflict with rebels linked ...

  The Hague / AFP War crimes prosecutors on Wednesday called for former Congolese vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba to be sentenced “to at least 25 years” in prison for a slew of rapes and murders in the Central African Republic over a decade ago. Bemba sat stony-faced at the end of three days of hearings at the International Criminal Court ...

  RAMSTEIN AIR BASE / AP A series of deadly attacks by IS operatives in and around Baghdad may be a sign that the militants are “reverting to their roots” as a terrorist organization, the top US commander for the Middle East said on Wednesday. Army Gen. Joseph Votel, the head of US Central Command, said this does not mean ...

  Jerusalem / AFP Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is close to agreeing a unity government with the main opposition leader, Israeli media said on Wednesday, in a move that could help revive peace talks with the Palestinians. The head of the rightwing Likud has reportedly been engaged in intense negotiations with Labour Party chief Isaac Herzog in recent weeks in ...