OTTAWA  – Canada’s Liberals put red-hot real estate markets squarely in their sights on Thursday, laying out a budget geared at boosting housing affordability amid soaring inflation, while promising modest new spending to encourage medium-term growth.

BEIJING – Dozens of Chinese firms have built software that uses artificial intelligence to sort data collected on residents, amid high demand from authorities seeking to upgrade their surveillance tools, a Reuters review of government documents shows.

ZURICH – Switzerland has so far frozen some 7.5 billion Swiss francs ($8.03 billion) in funds and assets under sanctions against Russians to punish Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, government official Erwin Bollinger said on Thursday.

SANTIAGO – Chile’s President Gabriel Boric announced on Thursday a $3.7 billion economic recovery plan that includes a hike in the minimum wage, subsidies and financing for sectors of the economy still battling fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

CHICAGO – It will take $15 billion in grants this year and another $10 billion annually after that to establish and maintain an adequate toolkit to respond to COVID-19 and address future pandemic threats, according to four organizations focused on global health and the economy.

An order by Myanmar’s central bank that all foreign currency in bank accounts must be converted into the local currency has many in the military-ruled country worried over potential losses.

VALLETTA – Malta rebuffed EU calls to stop selling citizenship on Wednesday, telling the European Commission that the granting of citizenship falls within the national competence of a member state “and it should remain as such”.

India and Australia’s trade ministers say a shared security partnership with the United States and Japan has helped them strike a trade deal that Australia hopes will reduce its dependence on exports to China.

WELLINGTON – The New Zealand government said on Wednesday it was introducing a 35% tariff on all imports from Russia and would extend existing export prohibitions to industrial products closely connected to strategic Russian industries.

MEXICO CITY – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday invited Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to take part in an event supporting Ukrainian victims of the conflict with Russia, amid criticism that Mexico has been too accommodating to Moscow.