Russian President Vladimir Putin has met with Chinese premier Li Qiang, hailing growing trade relations as Moscow becomes increasingly dependent on Beijing for political and economic support.

"Our trade relations are developing, developing successfully ... The attention that the governments of the two countries on both sides are paying to trade and economic ties is yielding results," Putin said at the meeting in the Kremlin Wednesday.

Businesses across a variety of industries are bracing for freight trains to stop moving Thursday at both major Canadian freight railroads if they can't resolve a contract dispute with the union that represents engineers, conductors and dispatchers.

The impact will be widespread because so many companies rely on Canadian National and CPKC railroads to deliver their raw materials and finished products. Railroads carry more than $1 billion Canadian (US$730 million) worth of goods each day and delivered more than 375 million tons of freight last year.

Japan racked up a 621 billion yen ($4.3 billion) trade deficit in July, as prices of imports surged, according to government data released Wednesday.

Japan's imports grew nearly 17% from a year ago to 10.2 trillion yen ($70.6 billion), while exports grew 10% to 9.6 trillion yen ($66 billion), the Finance Ministry said.

A flood of Chinese products into Indonesia has hit local manufacturers hard, prompting the government to look for ways to placate domestic producers while avoiding angering the country's biggest trading partner.

Garment makers — both home-based piece work producers and factories — have appealed for help as they lose market share to low-cost apparel and textiles from China. A surge of products bought online has added to the problem.

BMW is recalling more than 720,000 vehicles due to an issue with the water pump's electrical connector that could potentially lead to a fire.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that the recall includes some X1, X3 and X5 vehicles as well as some other models.

Specialist divers on Tuesday launched a fresh search for six people, including UK tech tycoon Mike Lynch and the chairman of Morgan Stanley International, missing since their yacht capsized off the Italian island of Sicily.

The European Commission said Tuesday it plans to slap five-year import duties of up to 36 percent on Chinese electric cars, unless Beijing can offer an alternative solution to the damaging trade row over state subsidies.

World stocks mostly rose Tuesday after Wall Street pushed closer to record highs following its roller coaster of a summer.

Global stocks were mixed Monday as investors pondered the upcoming meeting of the Federal Reserve, following Wall Street's best week since November that ended with a slight uptick in U.S. stocks Friday.

Libya's central bank said Monday it was resuming its operations following the release of a bank official who had been abducted earlier.