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  Istanbul / AFP Iraq’s parliament on Saturday voted to accord full legal status to government-sanctioned Shiite militias as a “back-up and reserve” force for the military and police and empower them to “deter” security and terror threats facing the country, like the IS group. The legislation, supported by 208 of the chamber’s 327 members, was promptly rejected by Sunni ...

  Havana / AFP Cuba’s historic revolutionary leader Fidel Castro died late Friday aged 90, after defying the United States during a half-century of iron-fisted rule and surviving the eclipse of global communism. One of the world’s longest-serving rulers and modern history’s most singular characters, Castro defied 11 US administrations and hundreds of assassination attempts. His younger brother, President Raul ...

  Bloomberg Smothered by increasingly toxic air, India is moving to the forefront of a global push to use more of cleaner natural gas in vehicles. The country’s state-run gas companies are charting ambitious plans to extend the use of natural gas to trucks and scooters, and build infrastructure for long-haul travel on the fuel. Their optimism is reflected in ...

  Bloomberg Japan’s consumer prices fell for an eighth straight month — the longest streak of declines since 2009-2011, underlining how distant the nation is from achieving its 2 percent inflat- ion target. Consumer prices excluding fresh food, the Bank of Japan’s primary gauge of inflation, dropped 0.4 percent in October from a year earlier (forecast -0.4 percent.). Overall consumer ...

  Bloomberg Granola and oatmeal lovers in the US may need to prepare for some sticker shock. Oat production in Canada, the world’s biggest exporter, is set to plunge after rain and snow delayed harvests across the Prairie Provinces. Because the crop spent too much time in wet fields, grain quality declined, which means more will end up as livestock ...

  Geneva / AP Like other countries after the 2011 Fukushima disaster, Switzerland pledged to abandon nuclear power in coming years. But anti-nuclear advocacy groups say the Swiss government’s timetable isn’t fast enough, and have pushed for a referendum this weekend that would hasten the planned exit. Swiss voters cast ballots on an initiative championed by environmentalists and nuclear foes ...

  Geneva / AFP The head of the World Trade Organization said on Thursday he had received no indication the United States would move to leave the WTO under Donald Trump’s administration. “I haven’t had any indication from anybody that that could be the case,” WTO chief Roberto Azevedo told reporters. During his campaign, in which he repeatedly attacked global ...

  Berlin / AFP The German economy has shrugged off the shock election of Donald Trump as US president, with business confidence holding at a two-year high and consumption expected to rise in December. “The economic upturn in Germany remains intact. The German economy seems to be unfazed by the election of Donald Trump as US President,” said the Munich-based ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business A revamped 14th edition of the region’s only natural and organic products show, MENOPE 2016, under the patronage of the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment will run from November 29 to December 1 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre (DICEC) with a participation of over 140 companies from 27 countries including ...

  Dubai / WAM Dubai International Airport (DXB) welcomed 6.4 million passengers in October, according to the monthly traffic report issued today by operator, Dubai Airports. Passenger traffic at DXB reached 6,420,208 passengers compared to 6,250,810 in the corresponding month last year, an increase of 2.7 percent. The year to date traffic totalled 69,366,094, up 6.8 percent compared to 64,947,684 during ...