­­­­­­­­­­­Bloomberg The Federal Emergency Management Agency is investigating a controversial $300 million contract to rebuild Puerto Rico’s power grid, a no-bid award that has spotlighted the agency’s poor record of policing similar grants and drawn scrutiny from its watchdog. Whitefish Energy Holdings LLC, a Montana-based company that had just two full-time employees prior to beginning its work in Puerto Rico, ...

Bloomberg The US imposed duties on imports of aluminum foil from China, ratcheting up trade tensions between the world’s largest economies before President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing next month. The Commerce Department said it would impose preliminary import duties in the range of 96.81 percent to 162.24 percent on Chinese aluminum foil, saying the goods are being sold at ...

Bloomberg Space Exploration Technologies Corp., Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Shopify Inc. and Tesla Inc. are the most appealing companies for technology workers, according to a survey by online jobs marketplace Hired. While big tech names topped the list, geographical breakdowns showed more diversity. Startups like SendGrid Inc., which does marketing email, had the highest ranking in Denver, while financial services like ...

Bloomberg Apple Inc. asked US securities regulators if it can exclude a shareholder proposal that pushes the iPhone maker to explore linking executive pay to performance on diversity and sustainability. In an October 9 letter made public this week by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Apple attorneys asked if it could exclude the proposal, from Zevin Asset Management, because similar ...

Bloomberg Uber Technologies Inc. appointed Tony West as chief legal officer, the first major hire for the new chief executive officer since taking over last month. West, the outgoing general counsel at PepsiCo Inc. and a former senior official at the US Justice Department, will join the ride-hailing company next month as it faces at least five federal criminal probes ...

Bloomberg When Toys “R” Us Inc. filed for bankruptcy last month, it vowed to keep operating stores, boosting investor optimism that the impact on the biggest toymakers this holiday season would be limited. But with Hasbro Inc.’s weaker-than-expected sales forecast and Mattel Inc.’s revenue trailing projections— and both companies citing Toys “R” Us as a key reason—the retailer’s struggles are ...

Bloomberg A post-earnings surge in Amazon.com Inc. shares on Friday pushed Jeff Bezos to the top of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index for the first time, vaulting him ahead of Bill Gates who had held the top spot as the richest person on Earth for more than four years. The founder and chief executive officer of the retail juggernaut added $10.4 ...

Bloomberg The European Union agreed to start internal preparations for the possibility of Brexit negotiations failing to reach a breakthrough at a crunch December summit, as the former British envoy to the EU said the UK’s trade goals were unrealistic. At a meeting in Brussels, the EU’s 27 governments without Britain approved work to start on their response to the ...

Bloomberg German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s effort to form a new government hit a snag as negotiators diverged on European policy and climate change, highlighting the complexity of the unprecedented multi-party talks. While Merkel’s Christian Democrats, her CSU Bavarian sister party, the pro-market Free Democratic Party and the Greens committed to a “strong and united Europe,” negotiators remained apart on the ...

Bloomberg Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi ordered the suspension of military operations in areas disputed with the country’s Kurdish minority, the first sign of a rapprochement since their vote for independence last month. The 24-hour ceasefire will allow a joint Iraqi and Kurdish team to deploy federal Iraqi forces to the areas, Abadi said in a statement on Twitter. The ...