Business

BEIJING - China's Foreign Ministry on Thursday condemned a joint statement by G7 foreign ministers that expressed support for Chinese-claimed Taiwan and cast Beijing as a bully, saying it was a gross interference in China's internal affairs. The G7 as a group should take concrete actions to boost the global economic recovery instead of disrupting it, spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters in Beijing.   (Reporting by David Kirton; Writing by Ben Blanchard; editing by John Stonestreet)...

LONDON (Bywire News) - With the budget tax high on the Chancellor's agenda. Labour and Tories are stressing about how tax should be used to pay down the debt from a year of pandemic. The bad news for both of them is, Britain is becoming increasingly reliant on tax from the wealthy to secure revenue and that money is likely to be going down.  Tax evasion continues to be a prime strategy for the world’s richest people and biggest corporations. So, at this time of national emergency, those individuals and organisations which commit to paying their full share should be celebrated.  The Sunday Time...

By Tim Barsoe COPENHAGEN - Pandora, the jewellery maker best know for its silver charm bracelets, will stop selling mined diamonds and focus on more affordable, sustainable, lab-grown gems, it said on Tuesday. "Diamonds are not only forever, but for everyone," Pandora Chief Executive Alexander Lacik said as the Danish company launched a new collection of man-made stones. Pandora, which made 85 million pieces of jewellery last year and sold 50,000 diamonds, said it aimed to "transform the market for diamond jewellery with affordable, sustainably created products". The growing acceptance of man-...

By Stephen Nellis - The lawsuit, which Epic brought last year in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, centers on two of Apple practices that have become cornerstones of its business: Apple's requirement that virtually all third-party software for the world's 1 billion iPhones be distributed through its App Store, and the requirement that developers use Apple's in-app purchase system, which charges commissions of up to 30%. Epic broke Apple's rules last year when it introduced its own in-app payment system in "Fornite" to circumnavigate Apple's commissions. In respon...

LONDON (Bywire News) - Just when you thought you got your head around one blockchain, along come a bunch of other ones operating in slightly different ways. Each of them is trying to lay a claim to the future, but history shows most of them will not succeed.  Generation game  The blockchain is all about generations. The first generation was Bitcoin which finally cracked how to deliver a digital currency. The second was spearheaded by Ethereum which set out to address some of Bitcoin’s flaws such as speed and scalability  Ethereum has earned itself a leading position in the blockchain marketpla...

LONDON (Bywire News) - Did newspapers, politicians, and the police collude to pervert the course of justice and ruin the lives of innocent people? That’s the question being asked by Campaign Group Hacked Off as it pushes for the government to allow the second part of the Leveson Inquiry to get the go-ahead. Launched in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal, by Lord Leveson, it was withering about standards of culture within the media and the press regulators.  However, this was only part one. Part two was intended to go deeper and probe possible connections between the media, politicians and t...

LONDON (Bywire News) - While much of the focus has been on the performance of bitcoin this year, EOS has been quietly making impressive strides of its own. Over the course of 2021, its price has rocketed by almost 250%. Could there be more to come?  EOS made headlines in 2018 when its parent company raised a record $4bn through an ICO to create the EOSIO software. Since then it has been trying to establish itself as one of the main altcoins to watch. However, while it’s always had promise it has really come into its own this year. In the first quarter of the year, its price nearly tripled to a...

Barclays has funded 1 million pounds ($1.4 million) worth of medical supplies for India in the last week, as British banks with big operations in the country increase support to their own staff and wider communities.

Heathrow, Britain's biggest airport, said on Thursday a first quarter loss of 329 million pounds ($459 million) has taken total losses during the COVID-19 pandemic to nearly 2.4 billion pounds ($3.4 billion) as travel continues to be hammered.

PARIS -French waste and water management firm Suez reported on Thursday rising sales and core profits for the first quarter, boosted by recycling activities, as it readies for a $15 billion takeover by bigger peer Veolia. The two companies struck a preliminary merger deal in mid-April after months of wrangling, and the deal also entails spinning off some Suez assets including much of its French water business into a separate new entity held by funds. Suez said revenues came in at 4.3 billion euros ($5.2 billion), up 5.9% year on year when stripping out acquisition...

BEIJING -The module, named "Tianhe", or "Harmony of the Heavens", was launched on the Long March 5B, China's largest carrier rocket, at 11:23 a.m. (0323 GMT) from the Wenchang Space Launch Centre on the southern island of Hainan. Tianhe is one of three main components of what would be China's first self-developed space station, rivalling the only other station in service - the International Space Station (ISS). The ISS is backed by major countries including the United States, Russia and Japan. China was barred from participating in the ISS by the United States. Tianhe will form the main living...

By Huw Jones LONDON - Britain was under "no illusions" that a post-Brexit "steady state" has been reached, in terms of banks settling on locations for their European operations, Katharine Braddick, head of financial services at Britain's finance ministry told an event held by the Peterson Institute for International Economics. "There is still a lot in play," she said. Banks in London face pressure from the European Central Bank to relocate staff and activities to the EU. "There is quite a lot of pressure to move quite a lot quite quickly. That is very much at the sharp end of where we are seei...

LONDON (Bywire News) - An innovative solution that allows users to create instant new online communities has scooped first prize at the Beyond the Blockchain Hackathon.  Dao Bull’s decentralised autonomous organisation platform enables any user to set up their own network within a few minutes.  The app is tailor-made for a post-COVID world in which organisations have had to pivot quickly to work in the digital world. Online communities have mushroomed, creating demand for apps that empower everyone, from developers to entrepreneurs and hobbyists to develop their online presence seamlessly. Dao...

PARIS -French media publisher Lagardere, whose assets Paris Match magazine and Europe 1 radio attracted the attention of France's richest businessmen, confirmed on Wednesday it would change its governance structure to end disputes with investors. "The supervisory board of Lagardere SCA has positively received the proposal presented by Arnaud Lagardere to submit the conversion of Lagardere SCA from a partnership limited by shares into a joint-stock company to the 30 June 2021 general meeting", the company said in a statement. Lagardere's run-ins with activist-invest...

LONDON (Bywire News) - The blockchain has long been seen as a potential way to improve cross-border payments. However, until now the volatility of cryptocurrencies, a lack of awareness, and insufficient regulation have stood in the way. Now, though, all that is changing. Awareness about cryptocurrencies is growing, technology is evolving and regulators are getting to grips with the concept.  Most importantly of all, a number of proof of concept vehicles have shown how it can be done.  This month Citi successfully used the blockchain to make a cross-border payment. Working with the Inter Americ...

By Helen Coster - News Corp had been exploring opportunities in the TV market for content from News UK, its British newspaper publisher, over the past 18 months News UK Chief Executive Rebekah Brooks said in the memo. It had hired David Rhodes, a former president of ViacomCBS owned CBS News, to consult on the process. "We determined early on in that review that it was not commercially viable to launch a traditional news channel on linear TV," Brooks said. "Whilst there is consumer demand for alternative news provision, the costs of running a rolling news channel are considerable, and it is our...

LONDON (Bywire News) - On Tuesday, the high-end British supermarket Waitrose said it plans to expand its delivery services with Deliveroo to a further 110 of its stores, bringing the total to 150 by the end of 2021. This would create around 400 new jobs, according to Waitrose. Waitrose a member of the John Lewis Partnership, which is employee-owned revealed that it has come to an agreement with Deliveroo for a two-year deal, following a successful trial run. (Reporting by James Davey and Klaudia Fior; Editing by Kate Holton)...

LONDON (Within the Law) - The UK legal sector was dealt a surprising blow this week when Brussels signalled it would oppose Britain joining the Lugano convention. A full decision is yet to be made and EU states are said to be split. However, the prospect of losing such access sent jitters throughout the legal profession.  The Lugano Convention provides for the recognition and enforcement of commercial judgements across borders. It’s mainly between EU and EFTA states but other states can join if there is unanimous agreement between all members.  The UK had applied to join and believed the Europ...

TENNESSEE (Bywire News) - A preliminary investigation into the high school shooting that took place in  Knoxville, Tennessee found that the police officer that was harmed during the incident was not in fact discharged from the gun of the young shooter, who was later shot and killed. Austin-East Magnet High School, was met with an open fire at the hands of a 17-year-old student on Monday. The student was fatally shot during a scuffle with the police. Upon arrival to the school, police officers located the shooter and tracked him to the school bathrooms, where they were met with more gunshots. ...

LONDON (Bywire News) - Fly by wire technology, of the kind normally seen in aircraft is being adapted for the UK’s next generation of submarines.  BAE Systems plans to use the innovative technology for the Dreadnought class of submarines. As in aircraft it will use electronic systems to control everything from the heading to the pitch, depth and buoyancy of the submarines.  Fly by wire technology was introduced to aircraft in the 70s. It revolutionised the industry making planes lighter, more fuel efficient, easier to fly and, above all, safer. Today the government hopes to spark the same revo...