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Bloomberg France is optimistic that the European Commission will sign off within days on an innovative plan for helping companies through the post-pandemic recovery, according to a finance ministry official, who asked not to be identified. The French government has proposed a program to partially guarantee billions of euros of so-called participatory loans to improve corporate balance sheets and encourage ...

Bloomberg The energy crisis crippling Texas’s power system continued to spread, with nearly 5 million people across the US plunged into darkness as authorities fought to avoid a total collapse of the grid. Homes and businesses from North Dakota to Texas are losing power in the middle of an unprecedented deep freeze that has broken daily temperature records in hundreds ...

Abu Dhabi / WAM Adnoc Distribution on Monday reported that its net profit for the fourth quarter of 2020 grew to AED851 million, with underlying Ebitda (Ebitda excluding one-offs and inventory gains and losses) of AED1.1 billion. For the year 2020, net profit was AED 2.4 billion, while underlying Ebitda stood at AED3.6 billion. Adnoc Distribution has maintained a strong ...

DUBAI / WAM DMCC – the world’s flagship Free Zone, business hub and Government of Dubai Authority on commodities trade and enterprise – announced record-breaking performance in 2020, despite the Covid-19 pandemic. Some 2,025 new companies joined the DMCC in 2020, the highest number of registrations in five years. Retention rate remained at an all-time high. This was primarily due ...

SHARJAH / WAM The Emirate of Sharjah has focused on exploring, developing, and implementing leading digital solutions to streamline services to UAE citizens, residents and visitors across Sharjah. Founded in 2018, the Sahab Smart Solutions is today spearheading the digital transformation journey of the emirate as part of the UAE’s wider national economic development and diversification efforts. Sahab Smart Solutions ...

Abu Dhabi / WAM The Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) announced that it conducted 162,774 additional Covid-19 tests over the past 24 hours, using state-of-the-art medical testing equipment. In a statement on Monday, the ministry stressed its aim to continue expanding the scope of testing nationwide to facilitate the early detection of coronavirus cases and carry out the necessary ...

Bloomberg A record year for renewable power in the UK showed the need for a broader suite of green technologies to balance the grid once fossil fuels fade away entirely. Green power exceeded coal and gas generation in the country’s energy mix for the first time in 2020. While this is a step in the right direction to hit strict ...

Bloomberg Myanmar’s junta strengthened its grip on power over the weekend, ordering an internet blackout overnight and making it easier for authorities to make arrests as it looks to quell surging protests against its February 1 coup. Protests continued on Monday after tens of thousands of people continued to demonstrate in defiance of the military even as the regime stepped ...

Bloomberg More than 10% of the UK workforce is out of a job and struggling to tap government benefits, exposing economic scars set to remain long after the coronavirus fades. About 3.8 million people including actors and musicians in London’s famous theaters don’t qualify for the most lucrative welfare payments, according to the Standard Life Foundation, which campaigns for those ...

Bloomberg Google and Facebook Inc. are nearing agreements to pay domestic media companies for news, in a sign a regulatory standoff may be softening, Australia’s government said Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg held talks with Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg and Google counterpart Sundar Pichai over the weekend. “We’re very close to some very significant commercial deals,” Frydenberg told the ...