International News

Bloomberg The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said millions of courses of Merck & Co’s promising pill for Covid-19 could begin to reach lower-income nations early next year as the charity kicks in as much as $120 million to widen global access to the therapy. The funds will help spur generic-drug manufacturers, some of which have indicated they could produce ...

Bloomberg China tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile that circled the globe before speeding towards its target, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the event. The test in August showed China has made more progress on hypersonic weapons than US officials realised, according to the report, which didn’t identify the people familiar with the test. The missile missed its ...

Bloomberg President Joe Biden said he’d like to see his economic plan address a “whole range of issues,” even if funding for individual provisions must be pared back or timed to expire to keep the legislation’s cost down. “The question is how much of what is important can we get in the legislation,” Biden told reporters in Connecticut, after earlier ...

Bloomberg Elon Musk made a surprise appearance at a Volkswagen AG conference, addressing 200 executives of one of his biggest competitors about the German company’s pivot to electric vehicles, his management style, and supply chain and production issues. In a rare move by a corporate titan addressing a competitor, Tesla Inc’s chief executive officer spoke in the video conference at ...

Bloomberg Switzerland will warn major industrial users they could be forced to save electricity this winter in a bid to avoid large-scale blackouts, NZZ am Sonntag reported. About 30,000 companies that each consume more than 100,000 kilowatt hours per year are being sent a letter from Ostral, the crisis-management organisation for the sector. They could be asked to reduce consumption ...

Bloomberg Cost pressures, supply-chain chaos and a reopening letdown are set to plague Europe’s third-quarter earnings season, setting investors up for more disappointment than elation. While strong numbers from behemoths like LVMH and SAP SE reassured European stock investors last week, further good news may be needed to keep the rally alive. Rising inflation and a stalling global recovery pose ...

Bloomberg The photo-sharing app Instagram spent time focusing on how to retain and engage teenagers, New York Times reported, citing internal documents. Facebook Inc-owned Instagram was privately worried potentially losing teenage users to other social-media platforms, calling it an “existential threat,” according to a marketing presentation for 2018, the year it reached one billion users, the paper reported . Separately, ...

Bloomberg AstraZeneca Plc won a federal court ruling upholding a key patent for its diabetes drug Farxiga, staving off threats from cheaper versions. A trial without a jury in May centered on the validity of a patent that covers Farxiga’s active ingredient, dapagliflozin, its combination with a carrier and methods of treatment. Zydus Cadila conceded infringement before the trial, a ...

Bloomberg French President Emmanuel Macron unveiled a 30-billion-euro ($35 billion) plan to create the high-tech champions of the future and reverse years of industrial decline in the euro area’s second-largest economy. The plan, dubbed “France 2030,” foresees investing the funds over five years in sectors including nuclear and renewable energy sources, electric cars, semiconductors and robotics. “I want us to ...

Bloomberg Computer sales grew at the slowest rate since the start of the pandemic due to component shortages and logistics snarls, according to the latest report by IDC. The key US market shrunk for the first time since sales cratered in the first quarter of 2020 with the coronavirus outbreak, the market researcher said. Shipments there fell 7.5% in the ...