Modi embarks on visits to Maldives and Sri Lanka

NEW DELHI - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday left for his maiden overseas visit, after beginning his second consecutive term last month, to the Maldives and Sri Lanka.

Spain: Unfinished Gaudi church gets building permit after 137 years

BARCELONA, Spain - Property owners have a new yardstick by way of Spain for measuring frustration over building permit requests they suspect got lost in a local government bureaucracy.

Federal Reserve may cut interest rates

The US Federal Reserve may cut interest rates to boost the economy amid a slowdown in domestic hiring, sluggish global growth and continuing trade tensions with other countries.

W. African 'bootcamp' gets green entrepreneurs into shape

TORI-BOSSITO, Benin - Machetes in hand and wearing a straw hat against the sun, the participants of an "agro-bootcamp" in the farmlands of the West African nation of Benin harvest maize, cowpeas and rice.

World's water security melts away

Water security is fast becoming a major issue for countries around the world where long-term drought and nonseasonal rainfall are becoming the norm, making reliable water supply uncertain. Many of the world's glacier systems are melting at a much faster rate than scientists had anticipated, and the cause is global warming.

G20 finance chiefs pledge to protect global growth

FUKUOKA, Japan - Finance ministers and central bank chiefs from the Group of 20 major economies wrapped up a meeting in Japan on Sunday with a pledge to use all the policies they can to protect global growth from disruptions due to trade and other tensions.

Trump and Lopez Obrador declare US-Mexico agreement to avert tariffs

TIJUANA, Mexico - US Presidents Donald Trump and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador each declared the deal averting US tariffs on Mexico a win on Saturday, as markets breathed a sigh of relief - though rights groups condemned what they called a draconian crackdown on migration.

Mounting uncertainty for Chinese investors

A new US law that tightens scrutiny of foreign investment has created a "much more hostile environment" for Chinese investors, and its definition of what is sensitive has increased uncertainties, two former senior officials said on Thursday at the launch of a report on China's outbound capital flows.

IN BRIEF (Page 12)

BROTHERS IN ARMS:

Adorned in their different uniforms, some leaning slightly, others standing with the help of their walkers and sticks, all eight veterans aged between their mid-80s and late-90s, stood with pride and solemnity as the national anthems of the United States and China rang out.

The hi-tech recipe for success

Artificial intelligence has in the past few years completely reshaped how businesses operate. Financial institutes use it to forecast trends in the stock markets. Law enforcement use it to identify suspects.

A HISTORY OF SHANGHAI FASHION

Shanghai fashion may have evolved over the centuries, but it has till this day always retained its philosophy of being delicate, refined and inclusive.