December, 2020

• 6 December

  Microsoft takes on Amazon, Snowflake in cloud data services

  

  Bloomberg Microsoft Corp released one product and unveiled another designed to warehouse, analyse and keep track of data, taking on Amazon.com Inc and Snowflake Inc in a growing market for cloud-based tools that help companies do more with reams of information. Microsoft widely released its Azure Synapse Analytics tool and announced a preview of a new product called Purview, which …

  Read More »
• 6 December

  JD.com becomes China’s first online mall to test digital yuan

  

  Bloomberg JD.com Inc, China’s second-biggest online retailer, will become the country’s first virtual mall to use digital yuan, the cryptocurrency backed by the central bank. JD Digits, the e-commerce giant’s fintech affiliate, will launch a pilot program this month, and customers will pay for certain items with digital yuan, it said on its official WeChat account. About 100,000 digital cash …

  Read More »
• 6 December

  Car-sharing firm Turo returns to New York in limited form

  

  Bloomberg Car-sharing startup Turo Inc is returning to New York, seven years after leaving the state that was once its biggest market over a dispute with regulators about insurance rules. Turo, which allows vehicle owners to put their personal cars up for daily rentals through its website and smartphone app, aims to compete with traditional offerings from Avis Budget Group …

  Read More »
• 6 December

  Google to win EU nod for Fitbit takeover

  Bloomberg Google is set to win conditional European Union (EU) approval for its $2.1 billion takeover of health tracker Fitbit Inc this month, people familiar with the discussions said. The deal could be approved as soon as next week after national competition authorities give their opinion, said the people who asked not to be named because the procedure isn’t public. …

  Read More »
• 1 December

  UN lauds UAE support to airlift aid to Ethiopian refugees in Sudan

  GENEVA / WAM The UN refugee Agency has commended the UAE for supporting humanitarian efforts to airlift emergency aid and supplies to Ethiopian refugees in Sudan. Spokesperson of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Babar Baloch, told a news briefing in Geneva that a plane carrying 32 tons of UNHCR emergency aid from global stockpile in Dubai landed …

  Read More »
• 1 December

  Opec seeks compromise on plan to delay output hike

  

  Bloomberg Opec ministers started hashing out the size of the cartel’s oil-production cuts for next year, as the group’s president called for caution in a fragile market. The coalition that pumps half the world’s crude is debating whether to maintain supply at current levels or increase it as planned in January. Some members are concerned that global markets remain too …

  Read More »
• 1 December

  Japan buys 21.85 mmb of crude oil from UAE

  TOKYO / WAM Japan imported from the United Arab Emirates 21.850 million barrels of crude oil in October 2020, data released by the Agency of Energy and Natural Resource in Tokyo showed. This accounts for 31.2 percent of Japan’s total crude imports, the agency that belong to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, said. Saudi Arabia provided 29.761 mmb, …

  Read More »
• 1 December

  Eskom set to face charges for misleading regulator

  

  Bloomberg Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd, South Africa’s biggest polluter, said it will be charged with supplying misleading information to a government air quality officer, exceeding emission limits at the Kendal coal-fired power plant and breaching its Atmospheric Emission License. The 4,116-megawatt facility had its pollution abatement equipment damaged during a 2018 strike and has since been the subject of a …

  Read More »
• 1 December

  UK’s National Grid to trial gas network with hydrogen

  

  Bloomberg National Grid Plc is starting a hydrogen research facility to test how Britain’s gas transmission network can be used to transport hydrogen to heat homes or applied to industry. The 12.7 million-pound ($17 million) project will receive almost three quarters of its funding from Ofgem as part of the energy regulator’s Network Innovation Competition, announced on Monday, with the …

  Read More »
• 1 December

  US targets China oil giant after South China Sea row

  

  Bloomberg China’s third-biggest oil company faces a US blacklist, which could spur major outflows from its Hong Kong-listed unit, after years of involvement in offshore drilling in disputed South China Sea waters. China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC), the nation’s main deepwater explorer, is among four companies to be added to a list of firms owned or controlled by the …

  Read More »