Sharecast - China has extended the olive branch to Western democracies and global capitalists alike, promising a new era of detente after the coercive “wolf warrior” diplomacy of the last five years. Vice-premier Liu He, the economic plenipotentiary of Xi Jinping’s China, told a gathering of business leaders and ministers in Davos that China is back inside the tent and eager to restore the money-making bonhomie of the golden years. – Guardian
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is preparing to axe thousands of jobs in the latest move by one of the world's biggest technology companies to reduce its workforce in the face of a slowing global economy. Sky News has learnt that the US software giant could announce plans to cull a significant number of posts around the world within a matter of days. – Sky News
About £260 million intended to support self-employed people during the pandemic was stolen, tax officials have told MPs. In the 2020-21 financial year, HM Revenue & Customs said that criminals accounted for a third of the “fraud and error” losses in an income support scheme for the self-employed. – The Times
Asda’s £600 million takeover of the Co-op’s petrol forecourts is being investigated by the competition watchdog. Asda, owned by the Lancashire-based billionaire Issa brothers and the private equity firm TDR Capital, agreed in August to buy 132 petrol stations and attached convenience stores from the Co-op. The deal was completed towards the end of last year and led to 2,300 workers moving to the supermarket giant. – The Times
