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Bloomberg Along with the usual files and spreadsheets, the European Union (EU) leaders traveling to Brussels this week to thrash out the bloc’s long-term budget are being advised to bring an extra change of clothes. Maybe two. The extraordinary summit to nail down a seven-year spending plan is scheduled to start on Thursday. But no end time has been set ...

Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc is denying a Pentagon cloud-computing contract valued at as much as $10 billion was unfairly tailored for the e-commerce giant. In a court filing made public on February 17, Amazon countered rival Oracle Corp’s claims that bidding for the lucrative cloud deal was tainted by relationships between its employees and former Pentagon officials. Oracle is appealing a ...

Bloomberg UK inflation picked up for the first time in six months in January, tempering expectations for a Bank of England (BOE) interest-rate cut later this year. Consumer prices rose a stronger-than-forecast 1.8% in January from a year earlier, the fastest since July, the Office for National Statistics said . Core inflation picked up to 1.6%. The pound erased a ...

Bloomberg Microsoft Corp tested for the first time in a live election security software that executives say will help restore the trust of voters shaken by claims of fraud, hacking and disinformation in the 2016 election. The company piloted its solution to verify results, a system called ElectionGuard, with voters in Fulton, Wisconsin, who chose candidates for state Supreme Court. ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump cast doubts over the likelihood of an anticipated trade deal with India, just days before a scheduled visit to the South Asian power. ”Well, we can have a trade deal with India, but I’m really saving the big deal for later on,” Trump told reporters as he left the White House for a trip to California. ...

Bloomberg Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has championed free trade in global forums over the years, but his record back home appears to be one of rising protectionism. The government has increased import tariffs over the last two years to curb cheap goods from abroad and support small- and medium-sized local manufacturers. In November, Modi pulled India out of the ...

Bloomberg The hotel development unit of Thailand’s richest man said room bookings have started to recover from the disruption caused by the novel coronavirus outbreak. The spread of the disease impacted some 60% of the hotel and retail properties in Asset World Corp’s portfolio by deterring tourism and sparking event cancellations, according to its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Wallapa Traisorat. ...

Bloomberg Tesla Inc’s financing arrangements in China may be the subject of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) inquiry that the electric-car maker disclosed last week, according to analysts at Evercore ISI. The financing Tesla lined up from local banks last year may have allowed the carmaker to delay recognition of capital expenditures, Chris McNally, who rates Tesla shares the ...

Bloomberg Pay increases across India’s organised sector will probably grow at the slowest pace since 2009 this year, according to a survey from Aon Plc. Companies will increase average pay by 9.1% in 2020, down from 9.3% in 2019 and 9.5% the previous year, Aon said in a report. The small increase reflects a deep slowdown in Asia’s third-largest economy, ...

Bloomberg Indonesia plans to impose excise duty on plastic bags, sugary drinks and vehicle emissions with the new levies expected to net the government about $1.7 billion in additional revenue annually. The new measures, apart from bolstering tax collections, are aimed at tackling climate change as well as a growing prevalence of chronic diseases, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati told ...