
United States president Donald Trump's former campaign chief Paul Manafort was sentenced to 47 months in prison on Thursday for tax crimes and bank fraud. It was the stiffest sentence yet given to an associate of the president in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election meddling - but significantly lighter than many expected for the 69-year-old political consultant.

The US trade gap with the rest of the world jumped to a 10-year high of US$ 621bn last year, dealing a blow to President Donald Trump's deficit reduction plan. The trade deficit is the difference between how much goods and services the US imports from other countries and how much it exports.

Huawei has filed a lawsuit against the US government over a ban that restricts government agencies from using its products. In a statement, the firm said the US Congress has failed to produce any evidence to support its restrictions.

Jeff Bezos remains the world's richest person, ahead of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, according to the latest Forbes list of the ultra wealthy, while far behind President Donald Trump jumped 51 spots in the ranking.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will pay his first official visits to the United States, Chile and Israel this month, in a clear sign of the alliances the far-right leader wants to shore up, official sources said.

Asian shares stepped back on Tuesday after China cut its economic growth target and pledged measures to support the economy amid growing challenges from rising debt and a dispute over trade and technology with the United States. Australian shares dropped 0.6% while South Korea's Kospi lost 0.5%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.2% and Japan's Nikkei dropped 0.3%.

The Trump administration announced Monday that it is tightening the six-decade trade embargo on Cuba by allowing lawsuits against Cuban companies using properties confiscated after its 1959 revolution.

The UK will not lower food standards to secure a post-Brexit trade deal with the US, the government says. It comes after Washington published its objectives for a US-UK trade pact. The US wants comprehensive market access for its farmers' products that would see more US-made food on British supermarket shelves.

The United States on Friday welcomed the blocking of a proposal to add a group of countries, including four American territories, to the EU money-laundering blacklist after almost all member states opposed it. The US ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, hit out at the dogmatic posturing of the European Commission, the bloc's executive arm.

The United States and Russia clashed on Friday over how to assist ailing Venezuela, with Moscow pledging new relief channelled through President Nicolas Maduro and Washington slapping sanctions over the blocking of US aid it tried to force through the border.