FRANKFURT (AFP) ― German industrial output rose sharply in March driven by a strong showing in construction, official data showed on Tuesday, after cold winter weather hit production in February.Industrial production increased by 2.8 percent from February, the economy ministry said in a statement, providing a sunnier outlook for output in the coming months, as analysts said it eased recession fears for Europe’s top economy.The result was much bigger than expected by analysts polled by Dow Jones

TOKYO (AFP) -- Internet auction giant eBay and mobile phone operator Softbank said Wednesday they were teaming up to bring the U.S. firm‘s PayPal online billing system to Japan for the first time.The PayPal Here offering will let retailers accept payments by credit or debit card via a thumb-sized device on retailers’ smartphones, with Softbank President Masayoshi Son saying the pair “will seek to become number one” in online settlements in Japan.Despite being a major force in online billing worl

CANBERRA (AP) ― Australia’s government said it will rein in defense spending and scale back promised increases in foreign aid as it tries to become the first major developed economy to balance its books after the global economic crisis.Treasurer and Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan on Tuesday outlined big spending cuts to achieve a 1.5 billion Australian dollar ($1.5 billion) budget surplus in the fiscal year beginning July 1.The budget deficit for the current year has almost doubled from the le

BERLIN (AFP) ― A member of the European Central Bank’s board warned France and Greece Tuesday in a newspaper interview not to waver from their fiscal commitments after voters rewarded anti-austerity parties.Joerg Asmussen of Germany told the daily Handelsblatt that France’s Socialist president-elect Francois Hollande should uphold the country’s pledge to get its public finances under control.“I expect France to implement the fiscal pact unchanged,” he said, in an interview to be published Wednes

KHARTOUM (AFP) ― Rebels in Sudan’s Darfur region said on Tuesday they had seized control of a town from government troops, the latest in a reported upsurge of fighting in a region that has seen nearly a decade of unrest.“Today our joint troops took control of Girayda after fighting with SAF,” the Sudanese Armed Forces, said Abdullah Moursal, spokesman for the Sudan Liberation Army-Minni Minnawi faction.Girayda is about 100 kilometers south of Nyala, the South Darfur state capital.“From our side

YANGON (AP) -- Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi received her first passport in 24 years on Tuesday ahead of a planned trip to Norway and Britain.An aide to Suu Kyi, Htin Kyaw, said the passport was received from the Home Ministry. Suu Kyi applied for the passport following recent political reforms that culminated in her election to parliament last month. Last year, a long-ruling military junta handed over power to an elected, nominally civilian government. Suu Kyi‘s National League for

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― The man ordered by al-Qaida’s branch in Yemen to blow up a U.S.-bound airliner was a double agent who infiltrated the group and volunteered for the suicide attack, with Saudi intelligence likely playing a key role, U.S. media reported Tuesday.American officials leaked out details of the extraordinary intelligence coup two days after the White House announced a plot by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula had been successfully thwarted.The double agent managed to spend weeks with

Nine men of Pakistani and Afghan descent were convicted Tuesday for participating in a child sex ring in a case that touched off deep sensitivities about race in Britain and galvanized the far right.Prosecutors had told a jury that the men plied young, vulnerable girls -- many of whom were white -- with drugs and alcohol and then passed them around for sex. The girls -- some as young as 13 years old -- were assaulted, raped and sometimes forced to have sex with several men a day.“The details of

A mugger who attacked a woman in Japan fled empty-handed -- and with one finger missing -- after the intended victim chomped off his pinkie.The 59-year-old woman fought back after a man snatched her bag as she arrived at her apartment in the northern city of Sapporo, police said Tuesday.The woman gave chase as her attacker made his getaway on a bike, wrenching the stolen tote from his grasp and bi