International News

Bloomberg Apple Inc’s iPhone shipments plunged more than 60% last month, according to official Chinese data, as the coronavirus forced the US technology giant to close stores in the world’s largest smartphone market. Shipments dropped to about 494,600 units from year-earlier levels, according to Bloomberg calculations based on monthly data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, a ...

Bloomberg German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government will invest an additional 12.4 billion euros ($14.1 billion) between 2021 and 2024 and take its first steps to help companies and workers affected by the fallout from the coronavirus outbreak. After more than seven hours of talks, Merkel’s coalition loosened rules for short-term work compensation. The changes will make it easier for companies ...

Bloomberg Boris Johnson will announce a 5 billion pound ($6.5 billion) investment in the UK’s next generation broadband internet services as he seeks to ensure that remote parts of the country can benefit. The British leader has made it his mission to “level up” regions that have been “left behind” economically, with investment in key infrastructure. On Wednesday, Finance Minister ...

Bloomberg Facebook Inc. is being sued in Australia by the nation’s privacy regulator, which claims the social media giant exposed the personal data of more than 300,000 users to the risk of being used for political profiling. In proceedings lodged in the Federal Court, the Australian Information Commissioner alleges Facebook repeatedly breached privacy laws by disclosing user information to the ...

Bloomberg Denmark needs to adopt a number of emergency measures, including higher carbon taxes, if it’s to reach a goal of drastically cutting emissions by 2030, a government-appointed climate council said in a new report. The country needs the additional steps to achieve target of reducing emissions by 70% compared with the level 40 years earlier, the council said on ...

Bloomberg Many Lyft Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc. drivers have seen a bump in business from the spreading coronavirus, but they’re also weighing the risks of staying safe versus continuing to earn a paycheck. A study shows that more than half of ride-hailing drivers said they were now “very concerned” about reduced earnings as a result of the virus and ...

Bloomberg US employment surged last month with the biggest gain since May 2018, indicating the labour market was on especially solid footing before the spread of the coronavirus intensified. Payrolls rose 273,000 after the prior month was revised up to also reflect a 273,000 gain, according to Labour Department data that beat all forecasts in Bloomberg’s survey calling for 175,000. ...

Bloomberg Singapore sees opportunities to win investments from companies whose supply chains have been disrupted by the coronavirus outbreak, according to Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing. Speaking after an interview with Bloomberg TV, Chan said the city-state is pursuing a strategy to be “the first one off the blocks” once global economies begin to rebound from the effects ...

Bloomberg An Indian state-run cotton buyer is boosting purchases from farmers to prevent them from making distressed sales as the spreading coronavirus curbs demand in key export markets and causes prices to slump. Cotton Corp of India Ltd has bought about 7.5 million bales (170 kilograms each) from farmers so far in 2019-20, and will buy more if growers offer ...

Bloomberg SoftBank Corp made official its plans for a fifth-generation cellular networking service, something all Japanese carriers are racing towards, in Tokyo. SoftBank, the reliable revenue stream underpinning Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Group Corp, will start by selling four 5G smartphones from March 27. It’s getting out ahead of incoming rival Rakuten Inc, whose 4G network will begin service on April ...