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Bloomberg Afghanistan’s government and Taliban leaders began historic peace talks on Saturday in a bid to end two decades of war, in a meeting that was fraught with tension over what the insurgent group will demand in return for laying down its arms. Meeting in an enormous hotel conference room in Doha, Qatar, the two sides promised to negotiate in ...

Bloomberg The US government is paying less as it borrows more, one reason investors appear more comfortable than Congress about funding another leg of stimulus. Interest payments in the federal budget declined about 10% in the first 11 months of this fiscal year, when America was running up its biggest deficit since World War II. Over the next few years, ...

Bloomberg Rishi Sunak should extend wage support for UK workers in the hardest-hit sectors, lawmakers said amid warnings from economists, labour unions and opposition parties about a looming wave of job cuts. The chancellor of the exchequer must also devise a plan to help companies that plunged into debt as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, or risk prolonging the ...

Bloomberg Spain will seek to tax all companies that operate telecommunications services, such as calls and instant messaging, according to Telecommunications Secretary Roberto Sanchez. Under a new law proposed by the government, “all operators who provide telecommunication services without having to provide phone numbers, such as WhatsApp” and Telegram would have to register as telecommunications operators and would be taxed ...

Bloomberg Insurers battered by coronavirus are about to find out how much worse the damage could get. A London court is set to rule on Tuesday in a case involving about 370,000 policyholders, companies including Zurich Insurance Group AG and Hiscox Ltd. and potentially billions of pounds of claims. The UK markets watchdog brought the case after small businesses struggled ...

Abu Dhabi / WAM Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW) the global platform for accelerating sustainable development, will be held from January 18-21, 2021 and reimagined virtually. Ensuring the safety of all participants, ADSW 2021 and related high-level events during the week are set to take place virtually. In addition, partners including its host Masdar will collaborate on all events, including ...

Mokha / WAM A UAE ship carrying tons of food aid supplies has docked in the Yemeni port of Mokha, as part of the second phase of the UAE’s humanitarian drive in Yemen this year. The aid is being distributed by the UAE’s humanitarian arm, the Emirates Red Crescent (ERC), in districts that include Bayt Al Faqih, Al Hawak, Ad ...

DUBAI / WAM Dubai Economy has partnered with noon.com, the region’s leading homegrown digital marketplace, to connect local startups that have a Dubai Economy’s DED Trader licence with customers across the region through its Mahali digital store. The creation of Mahali on noon.com and the partnership with the Dubai Economy reflect the efforts of both entities to further drive digital ...

Bloomberg Quantafuel AS, a Norwegian company turning plastic waste into motor fuels, jumped the most ever in Oslo trading after finally starting operations at its first plant. The company, which was founded in 2014, has more than tripled in value since listing on Oslo’s Merkur Market in February. It’s now valued at more than $1 billion. Quantafuel started production at ...

Bloomberg The embattled Belarusian opposition lost contact with two more members of its coordination council as authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko targets the leaders of the biggest protests of his 26-year rule. Lawyers Maksim Znak and Ilya Saley were targeted in separate raids on Wednesday, opposition spokesman Gleb Germanchuk said. Znak managed to tell him that “someone came to visit us” ...