Bloomberg Australian real estate loans are bucking a slump in the syndicated lending market and have nearly quadrupled in 2016 from last year, buoyed by continuing demand for residential and commercial assets. Asian banks are taking notice. Fifteen syndicated loan deals for constructions, land development and property acquisitions worth $3.37 billion were signed so far this year, the highest …

  Bloomberg Australia’s economy recorded its biggest monthly jobs gain this year, led by full-time employment, while a higher participation rate also signaled a healthier labor market. Employment jumped 39,100 from October, more than double economists’ forecast for a 17,500 gain October jobs gain was upwardly revised to 15,200 from 9,800. Jobless rate rose to 5.7 percent from 5.6 percent; …

  Bloomberg If you think air pollution in China has been bad, just look at Mongolia. Levels of particulate matter in the air have risen to almost 80 times the recommended safety level set by the World Health Organization — and five times worse than Beijing during the past week’s bout with the worst smog of the year. Mongolian power …

  MINEVILLE, N.Y. / AP Some look at an abandoned, centuries-old iron mine in New York’s Adirondacks and see a relic. An ambitious group of engineers sees the shafts in Mineville as a new way to provide a steady flow of electricity in a growing market for renewable energy. They are pitching a plan to circulate some of the millions …

  Bloomberg China is reducing the amount of money it pays to newly completed solar and wind power generators for their electricity, in order to reflect declines in construction costs, the country’s price regulator and economic planner said on Monday. The nation will cut tariffs paid to solar farms by as much as 19 percent in 2017 from this year’s …

  RHOURD NOUSS / Reuters Algeria has launched a programme to rejuvenate its ageing oil and gas wells and boost production as part of efforts to address a crash in oil earnings, a senior Sonatrach manager told Reuters. Low prices have slashed the OPEC member’s energy earnings roughly in half, with revenues expected at about $35 billion in 2016 compared …

  Bloomberg Israeli courts could demand that companies such as Facebook Inc. remove content deemed as incitement, under a bill that that will head for parliamentary approval amid concerns about free speech. The law would give Israel the tools “to have content liable to lead to murder and terror removed immediately,” Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said via text message …

  DENVER / AP A budget ski resort in western Colorado came up with an eye-popping offer — a $700 lift ticket, the most expensive in the nation. Only this lift ticket comes with a sweet bonus: a pair of handcrafted skis made from Colorado wood. Gimmicky? Sure. But Sunlight Mountain Resort says that in an era of increasing ski-industry …

  MINNEAPOLIS / AP Minnesota’s first-in-the nation ban on soaps containing the once ubiquitous germ-killer triclosan takes effect Jan. 1, but the people who spearheaded the law say it’s already having its desired effect on a national level. The federal government caught up to Minnesota’s 2014 decision with its own ban that takes effect in September 2017. Major manufacturers have …

  HOUSTON / AP Houston’s first underground drinking water reservoir — a decades-old collection of more than 200 concrete columns inside a cavernous space near downtown — had been unused for years and was set for demolition when a nonprofit group reimagined it as something new: a public space. The 87,500-square-foot-space, dubbed the “Cistern” and reminiscent of ancient European water …