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Bloomberg Canada’s jobs market blew past expectations for a second straight month, one more sign the nation’s economy is on the cusp of fully recovering from the pandemic. The economy added 303,100 jobs in March, Statistics Canada reported in Ottawa. That’s triple what economists were anticipating, and follows a gain of 259,200 in February. The two-month jump was led by ...

Bloomberg Spain’s government trimmed its 2021 annual economic growth forecast to 6.5% after renewed pandemic restrictions led to a worse-than-expected first quarter, Economy Minister Nadia Calvino said in a presentation. The government’s previous outlook, published in October, forecast a baseline economic expansion of 7.2% this year and as much as 9.8% if the European Union pandemic recovery funds were quickly ...

Bloomberg Italy eased lockdown restrictions, lifting some curbs that have been weighing on the economy in the region surrounding Milan and across the country as the latest virus resurgence slows. Health Minister Roberto Speranza signs a decree to shift six regions classified as high-risk “red” areas to medium-risk “orange” status, his office said in a statement. The development means that ...

Bloomberg Microsoft Corp.’s LinkedIn faces a probe by the Italian privacy watchdog after reports that the personal data of some 500 million users was scraped off the platform and posted online. The Italian authority said in a statement that it started an investigation following “the dissemination of user data, including IDs, full names, email addresses, telephone numbers.” The regulator said ...

Bloomberg Norway’s government, which oversees the world’s biggest sovereign-wealth fund, expects climate and social issues to dominate investment decisions in the coming decades. “There is a growing expectation, not only in Norway, but internationally that there will be a high level of ethical awareness,” Finance Minister Jan Tore Sanner said in an interview. “We must have the highest possible return ...

DUBAI / WAM The UAE Government announced that it will employ biometric face recognition (Facial ID) to register customers in the “UAE Pass” application, as part of its plan to launch the first safe digital national ID for citizens and residents. The UAE Pass app is the first national digital identity and signature solution that enables users to identify themselves ...

ABU DHABI / WAM Masdar has announced the signing of agreements to develop a utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) project in the Republic of Azerbaijan. The 230-megawatt (MW) project is the country’s first foreign investment-based independent solar project structured as a public-private partnership. Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, CEO of Masdar, signed the Investment Agreement for the project with Parviz Shahbazov, Minister ...

ABU DHABI / WAM Wizz Air Abu Dhabi, the newest UAE national airline, on Wednesday announced its first flight to Tel Aviv on April 18, following the announcement that Israel has been added to the green list. Tickets are already on sale on wizzair.com and the airline’s mobile app, which is also available in Arabic, with fares starting as low ...

CAIRO / WAM Adel Abdulrahman Al Asoomi, Speaker of the Arab Parliament, on Wednesday congratulated the UAE’s leadership, government and people on the start of the commercial operation of Unit 1 of Barakah Nuclear Power Plant, the first peaceful nuclear power plant in the Arab region. Al Asoomi stressed that the launch of the plant is a distinguished achievement to ...

ABU DHABI / WAM Mohammed Hilal Al Mheiri, Director-General of Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has held a video conference meeting with Dr Mohammed Shukri Mohammed Saeed, Chairman of the Investment Authority of the Kurdistan Regional Government and Ahmed Al Dhaheri, the UAE Consul General in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. They discussed ways of strengthening economic and ...