May, 2019

• 6 May

  Qualcomm sees up to $4.7bn payment from Apple deal

  

  Bloomberg Apple Inc. will pay Qualcomm Inc. $4.5 billion to $4.7 billion to catch up on licensing fees accrued during a two-year legal battle between the companies settled last month. Qualcomm made the disclosure in its earnings report, while Apple declined to answer questions about the settlement during its own second-quarter earnings conference call. The figure was less than the ...

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• 6 May

  ‘EU limits on biofuel use will backfire’

  

  Bloomberg Franky Widjaja, head of one of the world’s biggest palm plantation companies, warned that the European Union’s plans to restrict use of the tropical oil in biofuel will misfire as the move will hurt growers and jeopardise future supplies of the vegetable oil. The world needs palm oil as supplies from alternative oilseeds just won’t be enough to meet ...

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• 6 May

  3M to buy Acelity in record $4.3bn pact

  

  Bloomberg 3M Co. agreed to buy medical-products maker Acelity Inc. for about $4.3 billion, its biggest acquisition ever, as new Chief Executive Officer Mike Roman takes a more aggressive approach to expanding the beleaguered company. The purchase, from a group of funds advised by Apax Partners, is spurring 3M to scale back share repurchases to conserve cash. 3M will cut ...

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• 6 May

  EU to begin probe of Apple in Spotify case

  

  Bloomberg The European Union will start a formal probe of Apple Inc. in the next few weeks following Spotify Technology SA’s antitrust complaint, the Financial Times reported. The music streaming giant had complained to the EU’s antitrust agency earlier this year that Apple’s 30 percent cut of revenue was effectively a tax on competitors. The feud came as the iPhone ...

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• 6 May

  IBM-backed project creates Wi-Fi network for natural disasters

  

  Bloomberg From a cramped living room in Brooklyn, New York, a handful of young computer nerds have developed a new way to use technology to help save lives in natural disasters. They have designed tiny electronic nodes inside baseball-sized rubber casings that create a special Wi-Fi network spanning more than 100 square miles that can be used to connect victims ...

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• 6 May

  Israel, Gaza silence guns after worst fighting since 2014

  

  Bloomberg The familiar ritual came full circle. Israel and Gaza Strip fighters reached a truce after the most intense round of fighting since their 2014 war, and life on both sides of the border returned to normal on Monday. The violence, which claimed the lives of 27 Palestinians and four Israelis, had threatened to undo months of Egyptian-brokered efforts to ...

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• 6 May

  US warships sail again in disputed South China Sea

  

  Bloomberg Two US warships sailed near disputed islands in the South China Sea on Monday, challenging Beijing’s claims for the third time this year amid simmering trade tensions. The guided-missile destroyers USS Preble and USS Chung-Hoon passed within 12 nautical miles of Gaven and Johnson reefs, said Commander Clay Doss, a spokesman for the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet. The China-occupied ...

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• 6 May

  ‘Venezuelan troops trained rebels to fire rockets’

  

  Bloomberg Venezuelan soldiers loyal to embattled President Nicolas Maduro have trained members of South America’s most dangerous guerrilla force to use heat-seeking anti-aircraft missiles, according to Colombian authorities. National Liberation Army fighters were instructed in how to use the Russian-manufactured IGLA surface-to-air missile system, according to General Luis Navarro, Colombia’s top-ranking soldier. The Marxist force known as the ELN has ...

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• 6 May

  Cortizo ‘virtual winner’ in Panama vote

  

  Bloomberg Texas-educated businessman Laurentino Cortizo will almost certainly be Panama’s next president, after winning a contested vote count, the electoral authority said. Cortizo is the “virtual victor” of the election, after winning the preliminary vote count by a narrow margin, the authority said in a post on Twitter. The final official results are scheduled to be published on Thursday. Cortizo’s ...

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• 6 May

  Portuguese PM stakes re-election claim as biggest fiscal hawk

  

  Bloomberg Portuguese PM Antonio Costa prodded two opposition parties into supporting fiscal discipline, staking his claim as a champion of responsible budgets ahead of a national election on October 6. The maneuvering reduces the likelihood of political turmoil in a euro-area country that required a bailout in 2011 and gives additional signals about the terms on which parties will contest ...

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