Technology

The northern English city of Manchester is the fastest-growing tech hub in Europe, measured by the rate of increase in venture capital funding, with investment jumping from 48 million pounds ($59 million) in 2018 to 181 million pounds in 2019, industry body Tech Nation said.

British online money transfer service TransferWise Ltd said on Monday it is partnering with mobile payments giant Alibaba-backed Alipay to enable instant transfers to China using 17 currencies.

The White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy on Monday challenged researchers to use artificial intelligence technology to analyze about 29,000 scholarly articles to answer key questions about the coronavirus.

The U.S. travel sector doubled down on online ads in the last month, joining healthcare and food delivery providers in pushing deals even as the coronavirus pandemic caused mass cancellations and deterred many travelers.

Google sister company Verily launched a website late on Sunday that invites adults in northern California to answer questions about their recent health and travel that could result in their getting a free coronavirus test.

Online travel startups based in Germany are hunkering down to survive a coronavirus pandemic that threatens to inflict a "nuclear winter" on the travel industry as bookings plunge and borders close.

France's competition watchdog on Monday fined iPhone maker Apple 1.1 billion euros ($ 1.23 billion), saying it was guilty of anti-competitive behavior towards its distribution and retail network.

China's Didi Chuxing said on Monday it had launched delivery services in 21 Chinese cities, a move it hopes will provide its drivers with more income after the coronavirus epidemic battered ride-hailing demand.

ZTE said it had not received any notice from U.S. authorities after NBC News reported on Friday that the Chinese telecoms company was the subject of a new bribery investigation.

Technology giant Samsung Electronics has adopted electronic voting for the first time ever for this year's annual general meeting (AGM) on March 18, urging shareholders to use it to help curb the spread of coronavirus.

Israel plans to use anti-terrorism tracking technology and a partial shutdown of its economy to minimize the risk of coronavirus transmission, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday.

Apple Inc said it is closing all its retail stores, except those in Greater China, for the next two weeks to minimize the risk of coronavirus transmission, a move that was followed by several U.S. retailers on Saturday.

Alphabet's Google said on Saturday that it was working with the U.S. government to develop a nationwide website that would help Americans with questions about coronavirus symptoms, risk factors and testing.

Chinese billionaire and Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma has pledged to donate two million protective masks for distribution across Europe, with a first consignment arriving in Belgium late on Friday.

Corporate America joined the fight against the spread of coronavirus on Friday, as President Donald Trump and executives announced that Google would offer a website to help people determine whether they needed tests and retailers would set up drive-through testing in parking lots.

Apple Inc said late on Friday it will close all its retail stores, except those in Greater China, for the next two weeks to minimize the risk of coronavirus transmission.

The coronavirus pandemic has begun to impact the U.S. court system, halting civil and criminal jury trials in high-profile venues such as Manhattan's federal court and delaying a $1 billion trial against Elon Musk that was slated to begin Monday.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is seeking court permission to reconsider certain aspects of its decision to award a $10 billion cloud computing contract to Microsoft Corp, court filings showed on Thursday.

Corporate America joined the fight against the spread of coronavirus on Friday, as President Donald Trump and executives announced that Google would offer a website to help people determine whether they needed tests and retailers set up drive-through tests in parking lots.

Microsoft Corp co-founder Bill Gates, who made the company one of the world's most valuable technology firms, stepped down from the board on Friday to focus on philanthropic works related to global health, education and climate change.