December, 2018

• 4 December

  Apple reassigns marketing staff to boost iPhone sales

  

  Bloomberg Apple Inc is experimenting with iPhone marketing strategies it rarely uses — such as discount promotions via generous device buyback terms — to help goose sales of its flagship product. Company executives moved some marketing staff from other projects to work on bolstering sales of the latest handsets in October, about a month after the iPhone XS went on ...

  Read More »
• 4 December

  Brexit: Europe drug regulator unplugs from UK

  

  Bloomberg Europe’s medicines watchdog is bracing to make do without one of its most trusted partners. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) stopped assigning work to the UK’s pharmaceutical regulator earlier this year, unsure whether the two organisations will need to stop collaborating after Britain leaves the European Union in March. Preparing for a potential split, the EU body has also ...

  Read More »
• 4 December

  Microsoft boosts rural broadband efforts

  

  Bloomberg Microsoft Corp, which last year announced a plan to bring broadband to 2 million people in the rural US, is boosting the program to reach another 1 million customers across more states. The Microsoft Airband Initiative will now be in 25 states by this time next year, more than doubling the program’s original reach and adding states including California, ...

  Read More »
• 4 December

  Pompeo to seek NATO aid to pressure Russia on N-treaty

  

  Bloomberg Secretary of State Michael Pompeo was expected to use a gathering of NATO leaders on Tuesday to ramp up pressure on Russia over what the US has long said is Moscow’s failure to comply with a 1987 treaty on nuclear weapons. The US wants to “stay in sync” with American allies over how to address Russia’s non-compliance, according to ...

  Read More »
• 4 December

  Ukraine says Russia partially unblocked its Azov Sea ports

  

  Bloomberg Ukraine said Russia had partially restored access to its ports on the Azov Sea following months of disruption and a week after its navy was fired on by its neighbour. As of Monday, ships were allowed to move in both directions through the Kerch Strait separating the Azov and Black Seas, according to Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan. Russia ...

  Read More »
• 4 December

  Macron reverses fuel-tax hike post protests

  

  Bloomberg French President Emmanuel Macron’s government reversed course and suspended a planned fuel-tax hike that had sent as many as 300,000 protesters into the streets for three weeks in sometimes violent clashes. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced the decision after detailing the plan in his regular meeting with governing party lawmakers. “No tax merits putting the nation in danger,” Philippe ...

  Read More »
• 4 December

  Sweden political crisis enters ‘new phase’: PM

  

  Bloomberg Social Democratic leader Stefan Lofven said Sweden’s political crisis has now entered a “new phase” as he prepares to start “sharp” negotiations with key opposition parties on forming a viable coalition. The Social Democrats will hold negotiations with the Center Party and the Liberals, as well as its ally the Green Party, he said. “We will make every effort ...

  Read More »
• 4 December

  UK can unilaterally end Brexit, EU top court indicates

  

  Bloomberg The UK should be allowed to reverse Brexit, according to an advisory opinion from the European Union’s top court that will fuel the campaign to thwart the divorce. The opinion, which isn’t binding, comes at a crucial moment for Prime Minister Theresa May who’s trying to convince Parliament to back the deal she brought back from Brussels but faces ...

  Read More »
• 4 December

  G-20 gives markets a short-term respite

  

  The G-20 Summit in Argentina ended without fireworks involving the US, which was appropriate in a way, given the pall cast by the death of President George H.W. Bush. The US went along with a watered-down communique rather than stand in the way of a consensus, as it recently did at the Apec summit and the G-7. And rather than ...

  Read More »
• 4 December

  Microsoft is ‘overtaking’ Apple

  

  If you don’t follow the regular trials and tribulations of technology companies or have been living in a cave for five years, it might be surprising that Microsoft Corp. is poised to surpass Apple Inc. as the world’s most valuable public company. While the baton was passed briefly last week, it most likely won’t be long until Microsoft is firmly ...

  Read More »