News

Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc. was hit by a European Union order to pay 250 million euros ($294 million) plus interest in back taxes to Luxembourg as the world’s biggest online retailer became the latest US giant to fall foul of the bloc’s state-aid rules. The European Commission also said it’s suing Ireland for foot-dragging in its efforts to recover “even part” ...

Bloomberg As part of a wide-ranging investigation into how Russian-linked operatives harnessed social media during the 2016 US election, lawmakers are homing in on Google services including YouTube and Gmail. The Senate has called Alphabet Inc.’s Google to testify on November 1, along with executives from Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. A US House of Representatives panel, which is running ...

Bloomberg Brexit could cost the UK its position as the leading data market in Europe, a government-funded digital innovation group warns. The British economy could miss out on as much as 67 billion euros ($79 billion) annually by failing to play its cards right in Brexit negotiations with the European Union over data market access, according to a report published ...

Bloomberg PSA Group, the French maker of Peugeot, Citroen and DS autos, is introducing its Free2Move ride-sharing app in Seattle, beginning an incremental push to re-enter the US that could eventually culminate in PSA importing cars to the country. “It’s so crowded here, the last thing you want is a billion-euro investment and not selling enough cars,” PSA’s North America ...

Bloomberg Uber Technologies Inc. will move forward with a major investment deal from SoftBank Group Corp. and approved a slate of governance reforms that will limit the influence of co-founder Travis Kalanick and early backers. The 11-person board voted unanimously to approve sweeping changes to the company’s power structure, the San Francisco-based company said. The plan would expand the size ...

DUBAI / Reuters Abu Dhabi sold its first ever 30-year sovereign bond on Tuesday as part of a $10 billion triple-tranche debt issue that drew heavy demand. The sale followed a $12.5 billion bond issue by Saudi Arabia last week – the largest emerging market bond sale in 2017 – and was the latest jumbo sovereign offering from Gulf states ...

DUBAI / Emirates Business UAE residents will soon be able to send remittances directly through their mobile phones, using a first-of-its-kind mobile wallet, which is set to launch at GITEX Technology Week 2017. The new service, which enables instant and secure transaction through a mobile application, has been developed by digital payments enabler Trriple. With a booming economy and an ...

DUBAI / WAM Despite softening slightly in September, growth in the UAE’s non-oil private sector remained sharp and marked the strongest quarter recorded for two years, according to the latest UAE PMI survey. It added, “The latest improvement in business conditions was driven by above-average expansions in both output and new orders. That said, new business from abroad slipped back ...

KHOBAR / Reuters Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) and EDF Energies Nouvelles have submitted the lowest bid to build the first utility-scale solar plant in Saudi Arabia, reports said. The 300-megawatt solar photovoltaic (PV) project is in Sakaka, the Al Jouf Province in the north of the kingdom. The two companies submitted a joint bid for a levelised cost ...

Dubai / WAM His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has ordered the creation of an air bridge to provide critical relief supplies for the Rohingya refugees fleeing from the conflict in Myanmar. The air bridge, which reaffirms Dubai’s commitment to support the emergency efforts of UN and Non-Govermental ...