CHINA: Volkswagen and Shanghai’s SAIC Motor said today they have agreed to sell a factory in China’s western Xinjiang region.

The companies also said they were extending their 40-year-old car making joint venture until 2040, ahead of schedule, and that the JV will step up its shift to electric vehicles.

The company said the joint venture site in Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi will be sold to the Shanghai Motor Vehicle Inspection Centre, while preserving the jobs of around 170 workers. 

FRANCE: Paris said today that it intends to continue to work in close collaboration with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu despite an arrest warrant issued for him by the world’s top war crimes court.

The International Criminal Court issued warrants last week for Mr Netanyahu, his former defence minister and Hamas’s military chief, accusing them of crimes against humanity.

MALI: Authorities have arrested four senior employees of a Canadian mining company as the military regime in the west African nation continues to detain execs to press companies in its crucial mining sector to pay millions in additional taxes.

Barrick Gold confirmed on Tuesday that four employees at its Loulo-Gounkoto mining complex had been charged after their arrests on Monday evening.

RUSSIA: The Foreign Ministry said today it has revoked the accreditation of two employees with the German ARD broadcaster and ordered them to leave the country in what it described as a retaliation to German authorities’ move targeting two journalists from Russian TV.

The ministry’s spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Russia may issue accreditation to other ARD employees if German authorities allow journalists from Russia’s Channel One to work in Berlin.