World’s largest iron-ore project hailed as Brazil recovery sign

  Bloomberg Vale SA is betting on the world’s biggest iron-ore project as a way to become more competitive with its largest rivals. For Brazil, the $14 billion S11D mine is a rare bright spot amid the country’s longest recession on record. “This is a confident affirmation that yes, Brazil will return to growth,” Minister of Mines & Energy Fernando ...

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Murdoch’s foes plan proposals to restrict Fox in Sky transaction

  Bloomberg Citizens who are campaigning against Rupert Murdoch’s plan to gain full control of Europe’s dominant pay-TV company are seeking to hamper the 11.7 billion-pound ($14.6 billion) deal through the UK Parliament. Hacked Off, a media accountability advocacy group formed during the phone-hacking scandal that thwarted Murdoch’s first takeover attempt for Sky Plc in 2011, is preparing to propose ...

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Denmark is open to sell stakes in state assets

  Bloomberg Denmark’s government, which owns stakes in 27 companies including Dong Energy A/S and SAS AB, is prepared to sell off everything that doesn’t affect its ability to protect critical infrastructure. Though there are currently no concrete plans to move ahead with a specific divestment, the administration is “clearly open” to selling, Finance Minister Kristian Jensen said in an ...

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UK clean energy sector shrinks after govt subsidy cuts

  Bloomberg The UK’s renewable and low-carbon energy sector shrank by 8.7 percent last year, partly because of cuts to subsidies. The sector, from wind farms to electric vehicles, turned over $52.5bn in 2015, provisional figures by Office for National Statistics showed. That’s lower than the 46.2 billion pound recorded in 2014. Acquisitions of capital assets fell by 39 percent ...

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Buses enter rebel Aleppo to resume evacuations

  Aleppo / AFP Buses began entering the last rebel-held parts of Aleppo on Sunday to resume the evacuation of thousands of increasingly desperate Syrian civilians and rebels trapped in the besieged enclave. As international alarm grew over the plight of the residents including women, children, the sick and wounded, the UN Security Council was to vote on whether to send ...

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NATO chief defends decision to stay out of Syrian war

  Berlin / AFP NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Sunday defended the alliance’s decision to refrain from stepping into the war in Syria, saying doing so would only make matters worse. All 28 NATO members belong to the US-led coalition battling the IS group but they are not directly involved in the Syrian conflict. “We are experiencing in Syria a horrible ...

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Iraqi tribal paramilitaries executed prisoners: HRW

  Baghdad / AFP Iraqi pro-government tribal militiamen summarily executed four men suspected of being members of the IS group in the country’s north, Human Rights Watch said on Sunday. The rights group said that the killings took place on November 29 near the village of Shayalat al-Imam, located some 70 kilometres (40 miles) south of Mosul, the last IS-held Iraqi ...

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48 Yemeni soldiers killed in IS extremist-claimed bombing

  Aden / AFP A suicide bomber from the IS group killed at least 48 Yemeni soldiers in Aden Sunday, the latest in a string of deadly attacks against recruits in the country’s second city. Military officials and medics said many others were wounded in the attack that targeted a crowd of servicemen who had gathered to collect their salaries near ...

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Cash crunch closing WHO clinics in Sudan war zones

  Khartoum / AFP Dozens of health facilities supported by the World Health Organization in strife-torn areas of Sudan risk closure due to a lack of funds, exposing one million people to likely epidemics. Eleven clinics have already been shut in Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan where years of fighting between government troops and black African rebels has forced tens ...

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Mali ‘may let’ Burkina troops chase extremists into its territory

  Ouagadougou / AFP Mali’s president said on Sunday he could let Burkina Faso forces pursue extremist fighters when they flee across the border into his country, days after militants massacred 12 Burkinabe soldiers. Around 40 fighters attacked a base some 30 kilometres (18 miles) from the Burkina-Mali border on Friday in what local authorities called the biggest ever extremist attack ...

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