TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese rocket on Monday lifted the United Arab Emirates’ first locally made satellite into orbit successfully from a space center in southern Japan.

The KhalifaSat Earth observation satellite was launched by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries from the Tanegashima Space Center.

The H-2A rocket also is carrying an Ibuki-2 greenhouse gas observation satellite for Japan.

Both the KhalifaSat and Ibuki-2 have since been released separately into targeted orbit, said MHI Launch Services.

New Delhi, Oct 28 (PTI) Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu has said India and the US have exchanged offers for a possible trade deal with a view to resolving issues related to bilateral commerce.

"The negotiations are ongoing. Of course, at this stage they have given an offer and we have also given a counter-offer and we are working on it," he said at an event here Saturday.

The statement assumes significance as India has deferred a notification for hiking import duties on as many as 29 US products.

BEIJING (AP) — China’s yuan sank to a 10-year low against the dollar on Monday, coming close to breaking the politically sensitive level of seven to the U.S. currency.

The yuan declined to 6.9644 per dollar at midday, passing its most recent low in 2016 before recovering slightly. It was the lowest level since May 2008.

The currency’s weakness is one of a series of elements fueling Washington’s trade complaints against Beijing. The U.S. Treasury Department declined this month to label China a currency manipulator but said it was closely watching Beijing.

Brasilia : Far-right politician Jair Bolsonaro has won the Brazilian presidential elections with over 55 percent of the vote beating leftist Fernando Haddad who scored 44.3 percent in the country's most polarized elections in decades.

According to the latest polls, support for Bolsonaro grew by six million votes, however, his opponent won an additional 13 million since the first-round elections earlier this month.

Some 21.17 percent of Brazilian abstained from the elections while another 7.43 percent of the ballots were marked null.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — U.S. Attorney Scott Brady says federal prosecutors are seeking approval to pursue the death penalty against Pittsburgh synagogue shooting suspect Robert Bowers.

Brady says he has begun the process to get Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ approval as required by law to pursue a capital case against Bowers.

Brady says multiple search warrants have been issued in the investigation of Bowers, a long-haul trucker who worked as an independent contractor.

BERLIN, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday she will not run for chairman of her party, the Christian Democratic Party (CDU).

The move was considered unexpected since Merkel had always insisted the post of party leader and chancellor should be filled by the same person.

Merkel's statement came in a party meeting a day after the state election in Hesse, where the CDU suffered a severe setback by garnering only 27 percent of the vote, a sharp decline from the record of 38.3 percent five years ago.

Colombo, Oct 28 (PTI) Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Sunday said that Ranil Wickremesinghe was sacked due to his "arrogant" behaviour, and asserted that former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa has been made the new premier in strict accordance with the Constitution.

In his first address to the nation after the dramatic move to sack Wickremesinghe on Friday night, Sirisena said Wickremsinghe's political conduct since the victory in 2015 was unbecoming.

Jakarta, Oct 29 (AP) Indonesia's disaster agency says a Lion Air passenger jet crashed into the sea shortly after takeoff from Jakarta and was carrying 188 passengers and crew.

Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho posted photos on Twitter of debris including a crushed smartphone, books, bags and parts of the aircraft fuselage that had been collected by search and rescue vessels that have converged on the area.

He said the flight was carrying 181 passengers, including one child and two babies, and seven crew members.

LONDON (AP) — Shares in HSBC are rallying after Europe’s biggest bank posted a 32 percent increase in third-quarter earnings.

The London-based bank, which gets most of its profit from Asia, said net income advanced to $3.90 billion from $2.96 billion in the same quarter last year. HSBC shares rose 4 percent to 629.20 pence in early London trading.

Beijing, Oct 29 (PTI) Six more Chinese workers trapped in a coal mine in east China's Shandong Province have died, taking the death toll from the accident to 19, officials said on Monday.

The bodies of six workers trapped in the coal mine were found on Sunday, state-run Xinhua news agency reported, citing the rescue operations.

The accident occurred at Longyun Coal Mining Co. Ltd. in Yuncheng County on October 20.

Ghaziabad/Dehradun, Oct 29 (PTI) The Editor-in-Chief and CEO of a news channel in Uttarakhand was arrested from his Ghaziabad residence on Sunday for allegedly putting pressure on one of his employees to do a sting operation on prominent politicians including the state chief minister with an intent to blackmail them, police said.

Samachar Plus CEO Umesh Kumar Sharma was arrested from his Ghaziabad residence after raids were conducted at his office in Noida and residence in Ghaziabad, ADG (law and order) Ashok Kumar said.

Barasat (WB), Oct 29 (PTI) A man has been arrested for allegedly selling off his twin daughters to two childless couples in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district, police said Monday.

Ratan Brahma(38) of Bahaduria village had allegedly sold his two-month-old twin daughters to a rice trader for Rs 1 lakh and to a couple of Ramchandrapur village for Rs 80,000, they said.

Brahma and his wife also have a 10-year-old daughter.