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  AFP Jordan said on Monday it had chosen five international consortiums to build the first phase of a multi-million-dollar canal linking the Red Sea to the shrinking Dead Sea. The ambitious $1.1 billion project has been in the works for more than a decade and aims to provide much-needed water to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories. It moved ...

  Riyadh / AFP Arid Saudi Arabia could need more than $53 billion in water sector investment supported by private funds as demand grows, officials said on Sunday. The world’s largest oil exporter, whose petroleum revenues fell 51 percent last year on declining crude prices, is pushing to diversify its economy through greater private sector investment and development of new ...

  AFP China could waste as much as half a trillion dollars on unnecessary new coal-fired power stations, a climate campaign group said on Monday, arguing the world’s top carbon polluter already has more than enough such facilities. The Asian giant’s rise to become the world’s second largest economy was largely powered by cheap, dirty coal. But as growth slows, ...

  Bloomberg India is set to clear the ride-hailing services of Uber Technologies Inc. and Ola by issuing guidelines to make them legal, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The companies will need to get the software used to calculate fares validated while keeping their luxury car category outside tariff rules, the person said, asking to not ...

  Bloomberg Japan’s economy will grow 1 percent next year before slowing to a 0.8 percent expansion in 2018, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said in a global economic outlook released on Monday. A rebound in international trade will help drive Japan’s export growth higher over the next two years, supporting business investment as fiscal stimulus fades, the ...

  Bloomberg India’s biggest tractor maker said it will extend assistance to farmers affected by the banknote crisis to tide them over the planting season. Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. will help farmers with servicing for their tractors, buying of seeds and give some leeway on loans and advances, Managing Director Pawan Goenka said in an interview last week. “While loss ...

  AFP Foreigners in Australia on working holidays face paying a 15 percent levy on every dollar they earn after the government on Monday compromised on a controversial “backpacker tax”, dumping plans for a higher rate. Canberra had initially sought a revenue-raising 32.5 percent tax for seasonal workers from January 1 under a proposal first flagged in the 2015 budget, ...

  Bloomberg Brexit is going to cause the British economy to slow less than originally thought, according to the OECD. The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development revised up its UK growth forecasts to 2 percent from 1.8 percent this year, and to 1.2 percent from 1 percent in 2017, according to its November Economic Outlook. An inflation-induced pinch ...

  London / AFP India’s Tata Steel said on Monday that it has agreed to start exclusive talks for the sale of its speciality steel assets to metal processing firm Liberty House. The unit, which has activities mostly in Britain but also in China, employs 1,700 people and produces specialised steel for the aerospace and automotive industries, as well as ...

  London / AFP Riders for the British food courier service Deliveroo are taking legal action on Monday to demand workers’ rights in a new challenge to the so-called gig economy. In a test case that follows a court victory by Uber cab drivers, the application is being made by the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain on behalf of ...