Reuters Saudi Arabia’s main sovereign wealth fund, Public Investment Fund (PIF), is considering buying a stake in Riyadh-based ACWA Power, which operates power and water plants around the world, sources familiar with the matter said. PIF, which already owns a 13.7 percent stake in ACWA indirectly through a subsidiary, invited investment banks last month to pitch for the role …

  AFP Israel will on Tuesday launch a bidding process for oil-and-gas exploration licences off its coast in the Mediterranean, the first such offers in four years. The government has high hopes for the new blocks being offered following the discoveries of the Tamar and Leviathan natural gas fields off its coast since 2009. Israel hopes the Leviathan field will …

  AFP Tehran officials shut schools on Monday as the first of the wint- er’s heavy pollution hit the Iran- ian capital. A blanket of choking brown-white smog descended on the city on Sunday, blocking out the view of the mountains that line its northern edge and leading many of its 14 million residents to retreat indoors or don face …