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Google, Facebook and Twitter race to hold Washington at bay

Bloomberg Google summoned about 200 policy staff from around the world last month for a debate on whether the company’s size has made it too attractive as a target for government regulators. The two-day retreat in Monterey, California, where employees from the $682 billion company plied Washington policy experts with questions about the pros and cons of its size, took ...

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Apple’s Cook meets Macron amid calls for tech taxes

Bloomberg Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook met Emmanuel Macron in Paris, and according to French officials he didn’t push back against calls by the French president and European allies to change rules in the region to get technology giants to pay more taxes. The two met at the French presidential palace at the request of Cook. Macron is ...

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Sweden faces ‘acute’ shortage of workers

Bloomberg The economic boom in Sweden is running into a familiar foe: a lack of skilled workers. Even after a record inflow of migrants over the past three years that boosted the Nordic country’s population to above 10 million, businesses are having a harder and harder time finding workers. The number of job vacancies per person seeking a job is ...

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Puerto Rico’s $74 billion burden left it helpless when Maria hit

Bloomberg Year after year, as Puerto Rico’s government drew ever closer to ruin, it cut hundreds of millions of dollars from roads, schools and other public works. It neglected the electricity system, leaving it dilapidated and prone to prolonged outages. The water utility, which was leaking untreated sewage, put a $1.4 billion construction plan on hold. At least 5,800 police ...

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Ireland braces for loss in fight for post-Brexit spoils

Bloomberg Irish authorities are bracing to lose out in the race to host the European Banking Authority and the European Medicines Agency following the UK’s departure from the EU, a person familiar with the matter said. Dublin is viewed as having little chance of winning either organisation, which are being forced from London after Brexit, in part due to Ireland’s ...

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Uber, Airbnb get dragged into Scandinavian welfare economics

Bloomberg Denmark wants to bring the so-called sharing economy into its legal codex so that companies like Uber and Airbnb can be absorbed into the Scandinavian welfare model. The Danish government sees little point in resisting the changes these companies represent. Instead, it’s putting forward a number of measures designed to fold the business concept into its tax and labour ...

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Fresh-food IPOs highlight healthy eating demand

Bloomberg Two European companies in the burgeoning business of fresh food are planning initial public offerings, underlining consumers’ quest for healthier diets as demand for packaged and processed foods wanes. HelloFresh SE, an unprofitable meal-kit startup controlled by Rocket Internet SE, plans to sell as much as $353 million of stock in Frankfurt even after US rival Blue Apron Holdings ...

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Aramco plans ‘mega investment’ in India

Bloomberg Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil giant has ‘mega investment’ plans for the world’s fastest growing oil market, according to Saudi Arabian Oil Co.’s chief executive officer. The company, popularly known as Saudi Aramco, plans to create a fully integrated business in India and is interested in partnering with Indian companies, including in a planned large refinery project on India’s west ...

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Emirats Islamic completes $200mn Islamic financing to Ajman Bank

Dubai / WAM Emirates Islamic announced the successful completion of a $200 million syndicated Murabaha term financing for Ajman Bank PJSC. Al Hilal Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank and Sharjah Islamic Bank joined the transaction as Initial Mandated Lead Arrangers & Bookrunners alongside Emirates Islamic. Emirates Islamic played a key role in coordinating the financing which carries a two year tenor. ...

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Ajman-IBM deal to help spur emirate’s digital transformation

AJMAN / WAM Digital Ajman Government signed a joint cooperation agreement with IBM, on the sidelines of its participation at GITEX Technology Week 2017. The agreement will see IBM providing consulting and strategic planning services and determining both the processes and the technology requirements for Ajman’s Digital Government implementations. The agreement also aims to strengthen cooperation and coordination in the ...

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