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Apple to pay $30mn over store staff security checks

Bloomberg Apple Inc agreed to pay $29.9 million to employees at its stores who were forced to submit to security bag checks — off the clock — when they left work after or during their shifts. Lawyers for the workers asked a federal judge to approve settlement, which was reached after a protracted eight-year legal battle. Apple Store employees filed ...

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Top Brazil investors shun local assets as recession threat looms

Bloomberg Brazil’s largest independent hedge funds have grown wary of local assets after the nation moved to ease its fiscal rules, fuelling fears of a sharp increase in interest rates and a potential recession ahead. Firms including Itau Unibanco now predict Brazil’s economy will contract next year after policy makers raise the benchmark rate to over 11%, the highest since ...

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Blackstone boosts Carrix stake

Bloomberg Blackstone Infrastructure Partners bought out the controlling shareholders of Carrix Inc., one of the world’s largest marine-terminal operators. The families had been weighing a sale of their holding in the Seattle-based firm, Bloomberg reported in June. The stake was expected to fetch $2.5 billion. “The Smith/Hemingway family sold its shares to Blackstone Infrastructure Partners,” Bob Watters, a Carrix spokesman, ...

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Euro area inflation diverging the most since debt crisis

Bloomberg Inflation is soaring across the euro area, but it’s also diverging by the most in years in a further complication for the European Central Bank’s ongoing Covid-19 pandemic stimulus. How quickly consumer prices are rising depends on where you are inside the 19-member currency bloc. In Estonia, where energy costs are surging, the 2021 rate is forecast to be ...

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Rise of the robots speeds up in pandemic with US labour scarce

Bloomberg American workers are hoping that the tight pandemic labour market will translate into better pay. It might just mean robots take their jobs instead. Labour shortages and rising wages are pushing US business to invest in automation. A recent Federal Reserve survey of chief financial officers found that at firms with difficulty hiring, one-third are implementing or exploring automation ...

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Southeast Asia’s digital economy set to double to $363bn by 2025

Bloomberg Southeast Asia’s booming internet economy is set to double to $363 billion by 2025, eclipsing the previous forecast of $300 billion, research from Google, Temasek Holdings Pte and Bain & Co. shows. E-commerce, travel, media, transport and food are driving the region’s digital growth, with online spending rising 49% in 2021 to $174 billion, the companies said in their ...

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Sweden’s Spotify acquires audiobook firm Findaway

Bloomberg Spotify Technology SA agreed to acquire Findaway, an audiobook company that gives the Swedish streaming giant additional products to market alongside music and podcasts. Findaway is a distributor for many audiobook services, publishers and authors, and will continue to serve them after the deal closes, the companies said. The purchase marks Spotify’s most significant investment in audiobooks, and is ...

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Nissan raises profit outlook despite parts shortages

Bloomberg Nissan Motor Co raised its annual operating profit outlook, a promising sign the automaker is still on track to climb out of the red this year despite parts shortages that have hammered production. The Japanese carmaker raised its forecast to an operating profit of $1.6 billion for the fiscal year through March, from 150 billion yen announced in July. ...

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Meta to remove ad-targeting options linked to race, religion

Bloomberg Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc will remove thousands of ad-targeting categories that helped marketers reach users of a particular race, ethnicity and religion — categories the social network says “may be perceived as sensitive.” Meta’s Facebook and Instagram don’t ask users to share their race or religion, and don’t allow marketers to target consumers based on those topics. But ...

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