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Bloomberg China unveiled its latest slate of measures designed to bolster private-sector businesses as policy makers double down on efforts to support what is by far the country’s largest source of jobs. The steps announced by the State Council, China’s cabinet, aim to help private firms gain better market access and equal regulatory treatment as their state-owned peers. Among actions ...

Bloomberg UK grocery giant Tesco Plc suspended its supply of Christmas cards from a Chinese factory and said it was investigating a newspaper report that prison labour was used in their production. All the cards produced by the factory have been withdrawn from sale, Tesco said in a statement. If the investigation shows a breach of the company’s rule against ...

Bloomberg The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline should be completed in the second half of next year, despite the US sanctions that prompted one of the companies involved to halt operations, although costs will rise, a senior German official said. Switzerland’s AllSeas Group SA removed vessels that were laying the last section of the pipeline connecting Russia with Germany, which ...

Bloomberg The UK’s dismal productivity performance since the financial crisis has been named the country’s “statistics of the decade” by the Royal Statistical Society. The society chose “0.3%” — the estimated average annual increase in productivity in the past 10 years. That compares with the 2% average increase in hourly output in the years before 2008. The performance, the worst ...

Dubai / WAM Emirates Development Bank (EDB), on Sunday signed an agreement to launch an online empowerment platform that will provide free essential resources and content to help entrepreneurs at various stages of their business development. Powered by Potential.com, the online platform will provide visitors to EDB’s website, as well as the general public, access to business courses, templates and ...

Abu Dhabi / WAM The Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi has just been awarded with the Guinness World Records title for the ‘Largest Augmented Reality (AR), Screen’, as part of a pioneering augmented-reality advertising campaign to promote the UAE capital as a world-leading holiday destination. The latest marketing campaign utilised the famous 40-foot digital billboard known as ...

DUBAI / WAM The UAE federal export credit company, Etihad Credit Insurance (ECI), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), with the Export Credit Guarantee Agency of Oman (Credit Oman), to enhance trade and economic cooperation between the two countries. The signing took place during the 10th AMAN UNION General Assembly, held in Muscat. The MoU was signed by Massimo Falcioni, ...

ABU DHABI / WAM Hedayah, the International Centre of Excellence for Countering Violent Extremism (CVE), signed a memorandum of understanding on the margins of the Civil Society Workshop, with the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT). According to a statement released by the centre, the memorandum will further expand the reach of programmes to prevent radicalisation leading to violent extremism ...

Bloomberg Prime Minister Narendra Modi has staunchly defended India’s contentious new religion-based citizenship law in an address to a mass rally in the capital New Delhi, while elsewhere in the country the death toll from violent protests against the legislation crept higher. He asked voters to thank the parliament for pushing through the law last week and accused opposition parties ...

Bloomberg The personal data of about 100,000 Singapore defence personnel may have been leaked in yet another cyberattack in the city-state. Sensitive information held by two security force vendors, including full names, identification details, and a combination of contact numbers, email and residential addresses could be included in the potential data exposure, according to a statement published on the ministry’s ...