Bloomberg Mike Ashley, the British billionaire behind embattled retailer Sports Direct International Plc, has grappled with declining growth, a plunging share price and a parliamentary grilling this year. Now he’s got another problem: Disappearing employees. Turnover among Sports Direct’s salaried U.K. staff rose by more than three percentage points last year to 22 percent, the company disclosed in its …

  Bloomberg Apple Inc. is preparing the first significant overhaul of its MacBook Pro laptop line in over four years, according to people familiar with the matter, using one of its older products to help reverse two quarters of sliding sales. The updated notebooks will be thinner, include a touch screen strip for function keys, and will be offered with …

  Relaxnews Bill Maris, founder and chief executive officer of Alphabet Inc.’s venture capital arm, will leave the company on Friday after building the firm GV into a Silicon Valley powerhouse. David Krane, a managing partner at the firm formerly known as Google Ventures, will succeed Maris as head of the group, a person familiar with the matter said. Krane, …

  Bloomberg Wahby Park in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, used to be a quiet spot for a dozen or so residents to go for a stroll around sunset. Then came hundreds of smartphone-wielding, garden-stomping Pokemon players. Now a couple in the lakeside neighborhood is suing Niantic Inc. and Nintendo Co. for allegedly turning the park into a nuisance and a …

  Bloomberg If you want an example of China’s rising consumer class, take a look at the burgeoning demand to play video games. Sales will jump an average 7.4 percent a year from 2016 to 2020, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. That’s higher than the 4.8 percent rate forecast for the industry worldwide, PwC said in its global entertainment and media …

  Bloomberg Urban rooftops are buzzing across France, but the fad for beekeeping from Montpellier to Lille to Paris — including atop AFP’s headquarters — will do little do reverse declining bee populations, experts say. The northern city of Lille was a pioneer in efforts to defend the bee by providing pesticide-free environments, and it was among the first to …

  DPA Friederike Kolb is 100 years old and never thought she’s be able to dance again. “When I was a young girl I used to love dancing and I still really love it,” she says. Every Wednesday morning social worker Gerburg Cartus gives quite a special dance lesson at the Frankenhoehe senior citizens home in Mainz, western Germany. The …

  Bloomberg Australia rejected bids for electricity network Ausgrid from Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing and State Grid Corp. of China, amid growing opposition to selling infrastructure assets to overseas investors. Treasurer Scott Morrison said it would be contrary to national security to allow the offers to proceed in their current form and said the bidders, which he didn’t name, …

  Bloomberg Egypt reached an initial agreement with the International Monetary Fund over a $12 billion package designed to restore the confidence of foreign investors and ease a crippling dollar shortage hampering economic growth. The three-year agreement aims to “improve the functioning of the foreign exchange markets, bring down the budget deficit and government debt, and to raise growth and …

  Bloomberg The top two US solar manufacturers are shifting away from the biggest domestic market because utilities aren’t signing as many deals to buy electricity from their giant power plants. SunPower Corp. the No. 2 US panelmaker, said it’s turning its attention to rooftop power, while First Solar Inc., the biggest producer, now expects more of its growth to …