Sep 30, 2022
Nike feels squeeze from strong dollar and discounts
Nike has warned that its profits will continue to be squeezed by the strong dollar and discounts aimed at cutting its stockpile of goods. The sportswear giant, which makes over half of its revenue outside North America, doubled how much it thinks the soaring dollar will hit its annual revenue to $4bn. Meanwhile, the firm's inventories rose more than 40% compared to a year ago. After the announcement Nike shares fell by more than 9% in extended trading. At the same time overall inventories...
Sep 30, 2022
Messages reveal how Musk and Twitter boss fell out
Messages between Elon Musk and Twitter boss Parag Agrawal have been published in a court filing. In late March, it became clear that Elon Musk was interested in purchasing shares in Twitter - and potentially sitting on Twitter's board. "You are free to tweet 'is Twitter dying?' or anything else about Twitter - but it's my responsibility to tell you that it's not helping me make Twitter better in the current context."Next time we speak, I'd like to you provide you [sic] perspective on the...
Sep 27, 2022
No good excuse for lack of women in tech - Apple boss
Apple chief executive Tim Cook says there are still "Not enough women at the table" at the world's tech firms - including his own. Apple has just launched its founders' development programme for female founders and app creators in the UK."I think the the essence of technology and its effect on humanity depends upon women being at the table," Mr Cook says. Apple had 35% female staff in the US in 2021, according to its own diversity figures. "Businesses can't cop out and say 'there's not enough...
Sep 23, 2022
Climate change: Spike in Amazon emissions linked to law enforcement
The scientists say that a "Collapse" in law enforcement in recent years has encouraged forest clearing. As home to the largest tropical forest on Earth, the Amazon plays a critical role in maintaining the Earth's climate by storing massive amounts of carbon in trees and soils. Last year researchers published data indicating that the eastern part of the forest was being cut down at such a rate that more carbon was being released than absorbed by the trees and vegetation. Now the same...
Sep 23, 2022
Subway murder sparks fury over South Korea’s stalking laws
The only person she confided in was her lawyer, who she last messaged on the morning of her murder, the day before her stalker's sentencing. Until last year, stalking was classed as a misdemeanour, punishable only by a small fine. Data from South Korea's National Police Agency shows that since the stalking law came into force last year, 7,152 stalking arrests have been made, but with only 5% of the suspects detained. South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol has acknowledged the country's...
Sep 23, 2022
Bosses think workers do less from home, says Microsoft
A major new survey from Microsoft shows that bosses and workers fundamentally disagree about productivity when working from home. While 87% of workers felt they worked as, or more efficiently, from home, 80% of managers disagreed. Microsoft employees can work from home up to 50% of the time as standard. A phenomenon Microsoft has dubbed "the great reshuffle", sees workers born after 1997 nearly twice as likely to switch jobs. Its new Viva software, for example, allows direct contact to senior...
Sep 20, 2022
iPhone 14: India man flies to Dubai to buy Apple gadget early
Dheeraj Palliyil flew abroad to buy the iPhone 14 Pro last week in a bid to become one of the first few in the world to own the new phone. Over the years, fans have gone to great lengths to buy its latest models - many also consider owning the phone to be a status symbol. 28, is no stranger to the hype - this is the fourth time that he has travelled to Dubai just to buy the phone ahead of others. The first time was in 2017, when the iPhone 8 was launched, followed by trips in 2019 and 2021.He...
Sep 17, 2022
Twitter sued by Dutch town Bodegraven-Reeuwijk over paedophilia rumour
A Dutch town has taken Twitter to court over the spread of a conspiracy theory claiming it was once home to a ring of Satan-worshipping paedophiles. The claims have prompted dozens of people to travel to the town's Vrederust cemetery to leave flowers and tributes at the graves of seemingly random dead children. Last year, the same court ordered the three original men to remove all tweets about the town, but the claims continue to circulate. The town's lawyer, Cees van de Sanden, said Twitter...
Sep 16, 2022
Uber investigating hack on its computer systems
Shortly before the Slack system was taken offline, Uber employees received a message that read: "I announce I am a hacker and Uber has suffered a data breach." Sam Curry, one of the bug bounty hunters, communicated with the Uber hacker. Mr Curry said he spoke to several Uber employees, who said they were "Working to lock down everything internally" to restrict the hacker's access. Chris Evans, chief hacking officer for HackerOne, told the BBC: "We're in close contact with Uber's security...
Sep 13, 2022
Twitter misleading the public, whistleblower says
Twitter's former head of security, Peiter Zatko, has told US lawmakers the firm is "Misleading the public" about how secure the platform really is. During his questioning he said that employees had expressed concerns to him that Twitter was carrying advertising from "Organisations which may or may not be associated with the Chinese government", a potential national security risk. The hearing is not connected with Mr Musk's attempt to pull out of his deal to buy Twitter for $44bn - that case...
Sep 13, 2022
Twitter shareholders approve $44bn Musk deal
Twitter's shareholders have voted to approve a deal with Elon Musk to buy the company for $44bn. In April, Twitter agreed to sell the company to the world's richest person, Elon Musk.However, the deal soured after Mr Musk alleged he was misled by Twitter about the number of spam and bot accounts on the platform. Twitter is currently valued at $32bn, considerably below the $44bn offer from Mr Musk.Today's vote could have spelled the end of Twitter's legal pursuit, but shareholders have now...
Sep 8, 2022
Apple reveals iPhone 14 Pro and Watch Ultra
Apple has unveiled the iPhone 14, with emergency satellite connectivity and car crash detection technology, at a launch event in the US.The company revealed four versions of the new handset at its Cupertino headquarters, with an audience attending in person for the first time since the pandemic. Apple Watch Series 8 has a number of new features, including car crash detection, temperature sensors for tracking ovulation cycles and a new low-power mode option. The Apple Watch Series 8 is priced...
Sep 8, 2022
Brazil bans sales of iPhones without USB power adapters
Brazilian consumer agency Senacon said Apple's decision not to include power adapters with new iPhones discriminates against consumers by selling an "Incomplete product". São Paulo's consumer protection agency fined Apple £2m last year, saying the sale of iPhone 12 and every model since then, violates consumer law because they don't come with chargers. Apple stopped including power adapters and headphones in iPhone boxes with the launch of iPhone 12 in 2020.It said the move, which came after...
Sep 6, 2022
Netflix: Saudi Arabia and GCC warn streaming giant over violating 'Islamic...
By David GrittenBBC News.Gulf states have demanded that Netflix remove all content deemed to violate "Islamic and societal values and principles", Saudi media report. Recent material, including that made for children, contravened regulations, Saudi and Gulf Co-operation Council media watchdogs warned in a statement. Although Sunni Muslim-ruled Saudi Arabia has no laws regarding sexual orientation or gender identity, sexual relations outside marriage, including homosexual sex, are strictly...
Sep 4, 2022
Barack Obama: Emmy win for narrating Netflix documentary
Former president Barack Obama won the best narrator Emmy Award on Saturday for his Netflix documentary series, Our Great National Parks. The Obamas' production company, Higher Ground, is behind the five-part series on national parks around the world. The Emmy joins Mr Obama's two Grammy awards putting him halfway to becoming an Egot - someone with an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony award. Mr Obama won Grammy Awards for audio versions of his memoirs "The Audacity of Hope" and "Dreams from My...
Sep 1, 2022
Indian Matchmaking on Netflix: ‘Sima aunty’ raises eyebrows - again
Indian Matchmaking - the "Cringeworthy" Netflix show that created a huge buzz in India and many parts of the globe two years ago - is back with a second season. The eight-part reality TV show - included in the list of the 50 most influential reality TV shows of all time by Time magazine - once again follows elite Indian matchmaker Sima Taparia as she tries to find suitable matches for her wealthy clients in India and the US.Here, everything happens for a reason - and that is to find a bride...
Aug 31, 2022
What a Pizza Hut ad says about Gorbachev - and Russia
Because the man in the black overcoat - the man, in effect, selling American pizza - is Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union. In the advert, a middle-aged man notices the former leader and exclaims: "It's Gorbachev!" before complaining: "Because of him, we have economic confusion." No-one can argue with that, and after a second's thought the middle-aged man, previously unhappy with Russia's economic chaos, stands up, raises his pizza slice in the air and exclaims: "Hail to...
Aug 30, 2022
World's loneliest man: Rare footage of him in the Amazon
Footage of a tribesman, who was the last survivor of an indigenous group in Brazil, shows him cutting down trees.
Aug 30, 2022
Mexico's Queen of the Pacific sues Netflix over series
Sandra Ávila Beltrán argues that the TV series Queen of the South is based on her life, her lawyer told the Mexican newspaper Milenio. Ávila Beltrán says her story was used without her consent and is demanding that she be paid 40% of the royalties. Ávila Beltrán, 61, was infamous in Mexico even before the Netflix series was broadcast. Her uncle is Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, one of the founders of the powerful Guadalajara drug cartel. In legal documents seen by Milenio she accuses Netflix...
Aug 29, 2022
Two Air France pilots suspended after cockpit fistfight
The cabin crew intervened after hearing noise from the cockpit as two pilots started fighting.
Aug 26, 2022
Paul Allen: Largest art auction ever to sell Microsoft co-founder's $1bn...
An estimated $1bn worth of art belonging to the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen will be sold at the largest art auction in history. Christie's auction house said proceeds of the November sale would be given to charity, as Mr Allen wished. Mr Allen, who co-founded Microsoft in 1975 with his childhood friend Bill Gates, died in 2018 aged 65.The auction will sell 150 works of art spanning 500 years. "The inspirational figure of Paul Allen, the extraordinary quality and diversity of works,...
Aug 24, 2022
Facebook feeds flooded with celebrity spam
Thousands of Facebook users around the world reported issues with their news feeds on Wednesday as a glitch appeared to boost posts to celebrity fan pages and groups to the top of timelines. Some posted memes to popular Facebook fan pages, such as those for Kim Kardashian, the Rolling Stones and Taylor Swift, to make fun of Facebook's spam-like error. Concerns over the unavailability of content posted by friends and family, usually present for users at the top of their main feed, caused many...
Aug 23, 2022
Elon Musk subpoenas Twitter founder Jack Dorsey ahead of court battle
Elon Musk has subpoenaed Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey as part of his legal battle with the tech company. As part of the trial preparations, lawyers for Mr Musk have called on his friend, the former boss of Twitter Mr Dorsey, in the hope that he will help support the Tesla boss's argument that the social media company hasn't been honest about the volume of fake accounts on its platform. Mr Musk accused the company of withholding information about fake accounts, but Twitter argued that these...
Aug 23, 2022
Twitter whistleblower raises security concerns
Peiter Zatko's revelations, revealed by CNN and the Washington Post, have been seized upon by lawyers for Elon Musk.Mr Musk is trying to end his bid to buy Twitter, disputing its information on the number of fake accounts it has. Twitter says Mr Zatko's allegations contain many inaccuracies and inconsistencies. In a whistleblower complaint filed in July with US regulators, former head of security Mr Zatko accuses Twitter bosses of having little incentive to accurately identify or report total...
Aug 19, 2022
Doubts cast over Elon Musk's Twitter bot claims
In 2017, the group of academics behind the tool published a paper that estimated that between 9% and 15% of active Twitter accounts were bots. Michael Kearney, creator of Tweet Bot or Not, another public tool for assessing bots, told the BBC the number of spam and fake accounts on Twitter is partly down to definition. Fake accounts are often run by humans, while accounts like weather bots are actively encouraged on Twitter. Some bot experts claim Twitter has a vested interest in undercounting...
Aug 19, 2022
Hackers may have exploited security flaws - Apple
Apple has released an update to fix security flaws on its iPhone, iPad and Mac devices, which it says hackers may have "Actively exploited". The tech company said the new software "Provides important security updates and is recommended for all users". Software updates are an everyday part of our modern tech lives, but this is one update not to ignore. Apple has released similar emergency security updates throughout the year - most recently in March - without much fanfare or panic. According...
Aug 19, 2022
Russia Starbucks: Home-grown chain Stars replaces coffee giant
By Elsa MaishmanBBC News.A new coffee chain is taking over Starbucks outlets in Russia after the US company pulled out over the invasion of Ukraine. Stars Coffee, which opened its first Moscow café on Thursday, is owned by a pro-Putin rapper and a restaurateur. The cafés were closed by Starbucks in March and the company completely withdrew from Russia in May.Starbucks had almost 2,000 employees in Russia and 130 stores. The logo of Stars Coffee is similar to that of Starbucks, featuring a...
Aug 17, 2022
Elon Musk sends social media into frenzy with Twitter joke about buying Man Utd
Elon Musk is reported to have a net worth of $270bn according to ForbesWas the world's richest man going to buy Manchester United? Just after 01:00 BST on Wednesday, Elon Musk - who is reported to have a net worth of $270bn according to Forbes - posted on Twitter: "Also, I'm buying Manchester United ur welcome." The thought of Musk branching out into football was short-lived. Musk, who has more than 103 million followers on Twitter and is currently trying to unwind his $44bn offer to buy it,...
Aug 12, 2022
Lee Jae-yong: Why South Korea just pardoned the Samsung 'prince'
One of South Korea's most powerful white collar criminals, Lee was twice imprisoned for bribing a former president. Lee's crimes were directly tied up in the corruption scandal that led to the imprisonment of former president Park Geun-Hye, in office from 2013-2017.The "Crown Prince of Samsung" - as he was dubbed by protesters - paid $8 million in bribes to President Park and her associate to secure support for a merger opposed by shareholders that would shore up his control of his family's...
Aug 10, 2022
Elon Musk sells $6.9bn of Tesla shares as Twitter lawsuit looms
Mr Musk says he needs the money in case he is forced to buy Twitter for $44bn. After news of the share sale was made public Mr Musk responded to a tweet asking whether he had finished selling Tesla shares with "Yes", adding that he needed the money in case he was forced to buy Twitter and was unable to secure some of the funding for the deal. In July, Mr Musk said he planned to walk away from his bid to buy Twitter, prompting the company to sue him. Last month, a US judge ruled that Twitter's...