SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - An Israeli start-up believes it can solve some of the tricky problems faced by self-driving cars by employing thermal cameras to detect heat from pedestrians, animals and objects, the latest technology being tested in the fast-growing industry. Start-up AdaSky announced on ...
Lawsuits against Equifax pile up
(Reuters) - More than two dozen lawsuits have been filed in the United States against Equifax Inc (EFX.N) after the credit reporting company said thieves may have stolen personal information for 143 million Americans in one of the largest hackings ever. At least 24 federal lawsuits had been filed by...
Volkswagen spends billions more on electric cars in search for mass market
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) is stepping up its shift to electric cars and plans to invest more than 20 billion euros ($24 billion) in zero-emission vehicles by 2030 to challenge pioneer Tesla (TSLA.O) in creating a mass market. The world’s largest automaker by sales said on Mo...
EU weighs strategy to compete in fintech with global rivals
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union finance ministers will discuss this week a plan to attract more financial-technology companies, in a bid to bridge the gap with global competitors and offset the loss of Europe’s main fintech market after Britain leaves the bloc. The EU fintech market is dwa...
Google challenges record EU antitrust fine in court
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Alphabet unit Google appealed against a record 2.4-billion-euro ($2.9 billion) EU antitrust fine on Monday, its chances of success boosted by Intel’s partial victory last week against an EU sanction. The move by the world’s most popular Internet search engine came tw...
Facebook fined 1.2 million euros by Spanish data watchdog
MADRID (Reuters) - Facebook has been fined 1.2 million euros ($1.4 million) for allegedly collecting personal information from users in Spain that could then be used for advertising, the national data protection watchdog said on Monday. The fine stemmed from an investigation into the social net...
Google says it has appealed to EU court against EU antitrust fine
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Google said on Monday it had launched an appeal against the European Commission’s decision to fine it a record 2.4 billion euro ($2.9 billion) for favoring its shopping service in internet searches. The Commission said on June 27 that Google had abused its dominance in Eur...
David v Goliath: Deezer seeks musical edge on Spotify
LONDON (Reuters) - From Brazilian gospel to Puerto Rican reggaeton and Dutch hip-hop, music streaming company Deezer is scouring the globe for gaps in the market where it can survive and thrive against Spotify and Apple. The French firm has little hope of success going toe-to-toe with its far bigger...
China's bitcoin exchanges await clarification, markets subdued for now
SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s largest bitcoin exchanges are awaiting clarification from the government following more media reports that Beijing is planning to ban trading of virtual currencies on domestic exchanges, but markets were largely subdued on Monday. Spokeswomen for the OkCoin...
Israel and China sign $300 million 'clean-tech' trade agreement
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel and China have signed a $300 million trade agreement meant to boost the export of Israeli environmental-friendly energy and agricultural technologies to China, Israel’s Finance Ministry said on Monday. Foreign Minister Moshe Kahlon was in Beijing to sign the &ldquo...
Elliott stake in Japan's Hitachi Kokusai complicates stalled KKR bid
TOKYO/HONG KONG (Reuters) - U.S. hedge fund Elliott Management Corp said on Monday it has a stake of just over 5 percent in Hitachi Kokusai Electric (6756.T), further complicating a stalled bid by U.S. buyout firm KKR & Co LP (KKR.N) to acquire the company. KKR agreed in April to buy the chip ma...
Lucky 8? $1,000 price tag dampens iPhone enthusiasm in China
BEIJING (Reuters) - Apple Inc (AAPL.O) will launch an expected “iPhone 8” on Tuesday, hoping the number’s auspicious connotations in China will help turn around fortunes in the world’s biggest smartphone market after six quarters of falling sales. Chinese shoppers, however, a...
Vodafone to invest 2 billion euros in German fiber connections
LONDON (Reuters) - Vodafone said it would spend about 2 billion euros ($2.4 billion) to provide around 13.7 million new ultrafast broadband connections to homes and businesses by the end of 2021 in Germany, its biggest European market. The British company said on Monday the additional spending on it...
Chinese EV shares surge as government mulls petrol car ban
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China’s new-energy auto firms saw shares surge in Monday morning trade, extending recent strong gains, after a government official said over the weekend that China had begun looking at a ban on traditional petrol-engine cars. Chinese electric-car maker BYD Co Ltd, backed b...
India's auto industry gears up for government's electric vehicles push
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India’s aggressive push to electrify all new vehicles by 2030 is compelling auto part manufacturers and carmakers to draw up early plans for electrification, company executives said. A new auto policy is in the works and will include a roadmap for electric vehicles, a gov...
PSA CEO says switch to electric cars must be profitable: paper
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - PSA Group will support newly acquired Opel introducing electric cars but the switch must be profitable for it to be successful, PSA Chief Executive Carlos Tavares told German paper Bild am Sonntag. Politicians and regulators across the globe are promoting electric cars after Vo...
France, Germany, Italy, Spain seek tax on digital giants' revenues
PARIS (Reuters) - France, Germany, Italy and Spain want digital multinationals like Amazon and Google to be taxed in Europe based on their revenues, rather than only profits as now, their finance ministers said in a joint letter. France is leading a push to clamp down on the taxation of such compani...
Bain, SK Hynix group ups bid for Toshiba chip unit to $22 billion: sources
TOKYO (Reuters) - A group including Bain Capital and South Korea’s SK Hynix (000660.KS) has raised its offer for Toshiba Corp’s (6502.T) chip business to 2.4 trillion yen ($22.3 billion) including a 200 billion yen investment in infrastructure, sources familiar with the matter said. The ...
Best Buy stops sale of Russia-based Kaspersky products
(Reuters) - U.S. electronics retailer Best Buy Co said on Friday it was pulling Kaspersky Lab’s cyber security products from its shelves and website, amid concerns that the firm may be vulnerable to Russian government influence. Best Buy felt there were "too many unanswered questions" and so d...
Bitcoin ETF idea still a little funky, experts say
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Demand for exchange-traded funds that would provide exposure to cryptocurrencies like bitcoin is strong, but regulators will likely wait until the underlying market matures more before approving such products, a panel of securities industry experts said on Friday. The U.S. Secur...
U.N. aviation agency to call for global drone registry
MONTREAL (Reuters) - The United Nations’ aviation agency is backing the creation of a single global drone registry, as part of broader efforts to come up with common rules for flying and tracking unmanned aircraft. While the International Civil Aviation Organization cannot impose regulations o...
Equifax Breach Response Turns Dumpster Fire
I cannot recall a previous data breach in which the breached company’s public outreach and response has been so haphazard and ill-conceived as the one coming right now from big-three credit bureau Equifax, which rather clumsily announced Thursday that an intrusion jeopardized Social security n...
Equifax Breach Response Turns Dumpster Fire
I cannot recall a previous data breach in which the breached company’s public outreach and response has been so haphazard and ill-conceived as the one coming right now from big-three credit bureau Equifax, which rather clumsily announced Thursday that an intrusion jeopardized Social security n...
Apple lawsuits against Qualcomm can proceed, U.S. judge rules
(Reuters) - Apple Inc’s (AAPL.O) 11 foreign lawsuits against Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O) can proceed while the company’s dispute plays out in the United States, a U.S. federal judge in San Diego ruled Sept. 7. Qualcomm and Apple are facing off in federal court over Qualcomm’s licensing f...
Two-thirds of American adults get news from social media: survey
(Reuters) - About two-thirds of American adults are getting “at least some of their news on social media” with two-in-ten doing so often, according to a Pew Research Center survey this week. About 67 percent of American adults somewhat rely on social media platforms such as Facebook Inc,...
Criticism of Equifax data breach response mounts, shares tumble
(Reuters) - Equifax Inc (EFX.N) faced a storm of criticism on Friday over a hack that may have compromised personal data for some 143 million Americans, with customers clamoring for answers and cyber security experts questioning the response to the massive breach. Lawmakers also joined the chorus, s...
Bitcoin tumbles on report China to shutter digital currency exchanges
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bitcoin fell sharply on Friday after a report from a Chinese news outlet said China was planning to shut down local crypto-currency exchanges, although analysts said this was just a temporary setback. Sources close to a cross regulators committee that oversees online finance act...
Criticism of Equifax's data breach response mounts, shares tumble
(Reuters) - Equifax Inc (EFX.N) shares tumbled as much as 18 percent on Friday as cyber security experts and customers criticized the consumer credit score provider’s response to a hack that may have stolen personal details of up to 143 million Americans. The hack, among the largest ever recor...
Russia to regulate Bitcoin market: finance minister
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia’s finance ministry wants to regulate the circulation of crypto-currencies involving Russian citizens and firms, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Friday. Russian financial authorities initially treated any sort of money issued by non-state approved institutions ...
Equifax shares slump after massive data breach
(Reuters) - Equifax Inc’s shares tumbled 18 percent on Friday after the provider of consumer credit scores revealed that hackers may have stolen personal details of nearly half of the American adult population in one of the largest data breaches. Equifax said on Thursday it discovered the brea...