Bloomberg India’s coal ministry, at the urging of state miner Coal India Ltd., is asking the government to levy an environmental tax on a competing fuel in effort to maintain coal’s cost-competitiveness, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Petcoke, an oil-refining by product and a coal substitute, is more polluting than coal and should be subject to …

  Bloomberg An apartment-construction boom in Brooklyn is putting a cap on rents in the New York borough as a surge of new units erodes landlords’ pricing power. The median monthly rent declined last month for the first time this year, dropping 0.8 percent from last July to $2,826, according to a report Thursday by appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and …

  Bloomberg Billionaire Hui Ka Yan’s China Evergrande Group, which last week made a surprise entry into an ownership tussle for the nation’s largest residential developer, signaled its ambition to obtain control in another Chinese firm. Evergrande, which boosted its stake in Shanghai-traded Langfang Development Co. to 15 percent in the past four months, plans to further increase its holdings …

  Bloomberg Brexit is undermining the near-term outlook for the UK housing market, with both demand and sales dropping in July, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. The London-based group said new buyer inquiries fell for a fourth month, while its index of sales is pointing to the fastest decline in transactions since the global financial crisis in …

  Bloomberg According to real-estate website StreetEasy, 12 of the condos in Manhattan currently listed at over $20 million have had their prices cut by 5 percent or more in recent months, while only 2 of them have seen any increase in their listing price. Among the cuts is a condo at 1 Central Park South. It’s been on the …

  Bloomberg New Jersey’s Local Finance Board approved a plan to use an out-of-state lending agency that specializes in risky securities to finance an $800 million bond sale to resurrect American Dream, the unfinished mega mall begun more than a decade ago. The project in East Rutherford, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) west of Manhattan, has failed to fulfill several …

  Dubai / Emirates Business Azizi Developments, a leading UAE-based real estate developer with an influence in many international markets, has on Wednesday announced the launch of its 271-unit, “Roy–Mediterranean” services apartment project – a high-end residential offering, with hotel facilities, located in the Al Furjan district of Dubai. Farhad Azizi, CEO of Azizi Developments, said: “Al Furjan, Dubai, is …

  DUBAI / WAM The UAE prominently featured major developments in its e-services and ranked high in the latest UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs’ (DESA) E-Government Development Index (EDGI) Survey 2016, according to UN DESA’s Vincenzo Aquaro, Chief E-Government Branch, Division for Public Administration and Development Management. The statement reflects the huge success and progress in the country’s …

  Dubai / Emirates Business The Dubai Airport Freezone Authority (DAFZA) discussed ways to develop mutual economic cooperation with the Spanish Business Council in order to enable Spanish companies to benefit from the available growth potentials at the Freezone, which provides an ideal gateway to the emerging markets in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asian regions (MENASA). This …

  SHARJAH / WAM In the first half of 2016, Sharjah Charity International (SCI) spent AED60.4 million in humanitarian, charitable, developmental and services projects for the benefit of poor people in a number of countries across the world. A report on SCI’s foreign aid said that these humanitarian initiatives were carried out as part of the UAE’s policy to support underprivileged …