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JEDDAH – More than 1 billion people, or about one in six worldwide do not have safe drinking water and more than 2 billion lack access to adequate sanitation, the United Nations Development Program said. If current water usage trends continue, by the year 2025 two-thirds of the worlds population wont have enough clean water.

As the World Water Day approaches (on Monday), now is the time for a global effort to support the widespread adoption of water reuse practices, which can be a key step toward quickly and effectively reversing the global threat of clean water scarcity.

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Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, middle, the United Arab Emirates Minister for Foreign Trade, with some of the participants in Women in the Arab World symposium on Monday organized by Barnard College, a premier liberal arts college for women in the US.

DUBAI – Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, the United Arab Emirates Minister for Foreign Trade, said significant achievements of Arab women today are influencing future generations to aspire to and reach greater heights.

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Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, middle, the United Arab Emirates Minister for Foreign Trade, with some of the participants in Women in the Arab World symposium on Monday organized by Barnard College, a premier liberal arts college for women in the US.

DUBAI – Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, the United Arab Emirates Minister for Foreign Trade, said significant achievements of Arab women today are influencing future generations to aspire to and reach greater heights.

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SEOUL – South Korean institutions are showing increasing interest in Islamic financing to diversify capital raising avenues.

This was the view of delegates at a seminar on Korean Sukuk held this week in Seoul by BNY Mellon, a leading provider of corporate trustee and agency services on Islamic transactions and other complex structured finance deals globally.

As the global financial markets recover from the financial crisis, Islamic finance is appealing as an alternative to conventional financial instruments. Sukuk share many features of conventional bonds, such as standardized transactions structures and documents, and similar trading, listing and ratings characteristics.

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LONDON – British finance minister Alistair Darling refused on Sunday to rule out future tax rises to cut a gaping budget deficit. Darling is due to publish the budget for the next financial year on March 24, the last major economic showpiece before an election widely expected on May 6 when the ruling Labour Party faces a tough fight to cling to power.

British media interpreted remarks by Darlings deputy, Liam Byrne, last week to mean the Labour government did not need further tax rises to meet its goal of halving Britains 178 billion pound ($270 billion) budget deficit in four years starting next year.

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FRANKFURT – German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble Friday voiced support for a proposed European monetary fund (EMF) to help eurozone nations in crisis but stressed such aid must carry a heavy price tag.

“Strict conditions and a prohibitive price tag must be attached so that aid is only drawn in the case of emergencies that present a threat to the financial stability of the whole euro area,” Schaeuble said.

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TOKYO – Japans economy grew less than initially estimated in the fourth quarter and a broad gauge of price trends posted the biggest negative reading on record, adding to pressure on the Bank of Japan to ease monetary policy further next week.

The BOJ is leaning towards doing exactly that at its policy meeting on March 16-17, sources familiar with the central banks thinking said, but there is disagreement among its seven board members on how to justify such a move.

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DUBAI – The United Arab Emirates pledged its support for Dubai on Tuesday but said the emirate had yet to ask for federal help, which analysts said would come reluctantly and with strings attached.

The UAE finance minister said the federal government would support the emirate as it negotiates a plan to restructure $26 billion in debt and said he expected a deal to be finalised soon.

State-owned conglomerate Dubai World is holding informal talks with major creditors, which include HSBC and Standard Chartered, in London this week as it finalises a deal.

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LONDON – HSBC Holdings missed expectations with a $7 billion annual profit after bad debts rose and risked a public backlash by paying three investment bankers over £9 million ($13.7 million) each.

Europes biggest bank said on Monday that Stuart Gulliver, head of investment banking, would receive £9.8 million ($14.9 million) for 2009, mostly in shares over the next three years. Another two unnamed bankers will get over 9 million pounds after record earnings from their unit.

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BRIGHTON, England – Cutting British taxes on company profits would cost £3.5 billion ($5.3 billion) each year, but it can be paid for by scrapping some business tax reliefs, the opposition Conservatives said on Sunday.

The revenue neutral move, which would take full effect by April 2011 at the latest if the Conservatives win an election due by June, must fit into the partys pledge to cut a record budget deficit faster than current Labour government plans.

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