Sydney / AFP Severe coral bleaching on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef could cost it more than a million visitors a year and huge sums in lost tourism revenue, a survey said on Tuesday. The World Heritage-listed reef which teems with marine life experienced an unprecedented bleaching earlier this year that saw much of it whiten and almost a quarter ...

New Delhi / Bloomberg India retained restrictions that prevent overseas airlines from raising stakes in local carriers even as it unveiled new rules to attract foreign investors into the world’s fastest growing major aviation market. The government will allow foreign entities such as funds and portfolio investors to fully own local airlines, removing an earlier cap of 49 percent, it ...

  Tehran / Bloomberg Iran Air, the Islamic Republic’s state carrier, signed a memorandum of understanding with Boeing Co. for narrow- and wide-body aircraft in the first transaction by the US planemaker since sanctions were lifted in January. The purchase includes a mix of 737 and 777 models, Iran Air said in a statement on its website. The carrier will ...