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For many consumers, this fall’s Apple Inc iPhone lineup may not be a “must have” with its modest improvements compared with last year’s big 5G upgrade. But the smartphone maker is doing something, well, smart. The company is focusing feature enhancements for its new models towards a key constituency: creators and influencers. And it will pay dividends. Last week, Bloomberg ...

New Zealand made the right call to shelve a widely anticipated interest-rate increase. The central bank should resist the temptation to merely delay by a month or two. The global recovery has probably peaked and the most consequential monetary authorities in the world are loath to contemplate tightening for at least a year. This isn’t the time for New Zealand ...

Tencent Holdings Ltd’s $223 billion portfolio of shares helped it post record earnings in the June quarter. But with regulators on the warpath, the Chinese games and social media company will be looking to profit from a different type of investment: contrition. While most famous for its WeChat messenger and booming online games business, almost half its profit last quarter ...

Bloomberg Walmart Inc’s pandemic-driven gains in e-commerce slowed last quarter and profit margin fell, raising questions about the retailer’s ability to maintain momentum even after it topped Wall Street’s sales expectations. The company’s US online sales rose 6% in the second quarter, the company said in a statement. That was down from earlier in the pandemic, when soaring e-commerce demand ...

Bloomberg US transportation and health agencies are extending the mask mandate for air passengers and other travellers until mid-January as the Delta variant of Covid-19 continues to surge. The sometimes controversial requirement for people to cover their faces on public forms of transportation had been set to expire on September 13. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said in an emailed ...

Bloomberg President Joe Biden’s rapid pullout from Afghanistan has left thousands of Afghans who worked as translators and guides for the US military in a desperate race to escape the country to avoid being targeted by the Taliban. Amid the chaotic US withdrawal, Afghan allies are having to navigate complicated logistics and an overburdened bureaucracy to get visa paperwork in ...

Bloomberg The US has said it remains committed to Taiwan and other allies, pushing back at concerns about its resolve after its departure from Afghanistan led to the Taliban taking over Kabul. “We believe that our commitments to our allies and partners are sacrosanct and always have been,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said during a press conference in Washington. ...

Bloomberg Malaysia’s Barisan Nasional alliance has chosen former deputy prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob as the bloc’s choice for prime minister, Ahmad Maslan, secretary general of the United Malays National Organisation said in a tweet. “Only one name as prime minister candidate was sent by UMNO/BN MPs on 17/8/21 which is Ismail Sabri, MP for Bera,” he wrote on Wednesday. ...

Bloomberg London private housing rents fell in July compared with a year earlier as the ability to work from home meant that being close to city center offices was no longer a priority for workers. The 0.1% decline set the UK capital apart from other regions, where rental prices climbed by almost 2% on average, Office for National Statistics (ONS) ...

Bloomberg Prime Minister Justin Trudeau can expect mostly good news from economic data during Canada’s five-week election campaign. But there’s one potential trouble spot for him: consumer prices. A Statistics Canada report is expected to show that price inflation accelerated in July to almost the fastest rate in two decades. Economists estimate that consumer prices jumped 3.4% last month on ...