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  Dubai / WAM The Ministry of Community Development launched a contest to design the best innovative educational tools and applications for people with disabilities as part of the ministry’s programme for UAE Innovation Week 2016. The contest was announced at a ceremony at the Ministry’s Dubai office which was attended by Sana Mohammed Suhail, Under-Secretary of the Ministry, along with ...

  Dubai / WAM Dubai will launch the US$27 billion Green Energy Fund to support local, national and international projects, according to the Third Dubai Declaration issued at the conclusion of the World Green Economy Summit (WGES) on Thursday. The third edition of the WGES, organised under the theme of “Driving Global Green Economy”, gathered more than 80 prominent speakers from ...

  Bloomberg German Chancellor Angela Merkel signalled a growing reluctance to grant any special trade relations to the U.K. once it leaves the European Union, saying that allowing exemptions to EU rules on migration would lead to a free-for-all across the bloc. Merkel’s comments to Germany’s BDI industry lobby in Berlin on Thursday are a further indication that the U.K. ...

  Frankfurt / AFP The potential implications of Brexit will not play a role in the EU’s probe of a proposed mega-merger between the London stock exchange and its Frankfurt rival, competition chief Margrethe Vestager said on Thursday. The European Commission last week announced an in-depth investigation into the LSE-Deutsche Boerse tie-up, which would create a financial behemoth linking the ...

  London / AFP Britain on Thursday approved a shale gas fracking project in the north of England, overruling a local council’s decision to prevent the controversial scheme which is also opposed by environmentalists. Communities Secretary Sajid Javid gave the green light for the drilling of up to four wells by energy group Cuadrilla at the Preston New Road site. ...

  Frankfurt / AFP German industrial firms recorded a sharp uptick in orders in August, official data showed on Thursday, outdoing analyst forecasts and reducing fears of an autumn slowdown in Europe’s biggest economy. Firms saw a 1.0-percent increase in their order books in August compared with July, correcting for price, seasonal and calendar effects, the federal statistics office Destatis ...

  Bloomberg Norway is ratcheting up withdrawals from its $890 billion sovereign wealth fund to support a recovery as it foresees a continued slump for the nation’s petroleum industry. The government is boosting oil wealth spending by 10 percent to 225.6 billion kroner ($28 billion) next year, according to the 2017 budget released in Oslo Thursday. It will withdraw 121.2 ...

  Washington / AFP Another week of low claims for unemployment insurance pointed on Thursday to a likely solid report on the US jobs market this week. The Labor Department said that initial US jobless claims, an indicator of the pace of layoffs, fell again last week to 249,000, down 5,000 from the previous week. “This marks 83 consecutive weeks ...

  Bloomberg Volkswagen AG’s namesake car brand plans a four-door fastback model more expensive than its mid-sized Passat but cheaper than the Phaeton luxury sedan that it axed last year, pushing further to revive profit and rebound from its diesel-emissions scandal. The addition to VW’s line-up will be inspired by the Sport Coupe Concept GTE unveiled at the Geneva auto ...

  NEW DELHI / AP Indian police arrested 70 people and are questioning hundreds more after uncovering a massive scam to cheat thousands of Americans out of millions of dollars by posing as US tax authorities and demanding unpaid taxes, a police officer said on Thursday. According to police in Mumbai, the yearlong scam involved running fake call centers which ...