Technology

Podcasts featuring Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman will soon stream on Spotify as the Swedish music streaming company has signed a deal with AT&T Inc's Warner Bros and DC Entertainment.

Russia on Thursday lifted a ban on the Telegram messaging app that had failed to stop the widely-used programme operating despite being in force for more than two years.

The European Union said on Thursday it could impose taxes on digital giants such as Google , Amazon and Facebook even without a global agreement by the year-end, after Washington quit talks and stoked fears of a new trade war.

Germany wants to rescue talks with the United States on how to tax big digital firms such as Google , Amazon and Facebook , the finance ministry said on Thursday after Washington pulled out of the negotiations.

Failure to work towards an international deal on taxing big digital companies could trigger a dangerous trade war, the OECD said on Thursday, urging countries to remain engaged in talks after Washington announced it was pulling out of them for now.

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) will buy a 2.32% stake in Reliance Industries' digital unit Jio Platforms for 113.67 billion rupees ($1.49 billion), the Indian conglomerate said on Thursday.

Thailand's central bank unveiled on Thursday plans to build a prototype of a payment system for businesses using central bank digital currency (CBDC), or traditional money but in digital form being developed by monetary authorities around the world.

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund will invest 113.67 billion rupees ($1.49 billion) in Reliance Industries Ltd's Jio Platforms, the Indian oil-to-telecoms conglomerate said on Thursday.

Economy Minister Roberto Gualtieri said on Thursday Italy was still committed to a shared global deal on a tax on digital services, after the United States decided to quit global talks on how to tax sector giants.

The coronavirus has disrupted supply chains and demand across the global economy, but it is the prospect of Europe becoming a casualty in the U.S.-China tech war that keeps the president of the European Chamber in China "awake at night".

German logistics group Deutsche Post AG said its dependence on Amazon is falling as the coronavirus crisis prompts a big rise in parcel shipments by other customers which it expects to continue in the second half of 2020.

Shares in online fashion retailers Zalando and ASOS jumped on Thursday after the German company said it expects a big increase in second-quarter sales and operating profit as coronavirus lockdowns accelerate a shift to ecommerce.

Ford Motor Co said on Thursday that it will offer hands-free driving on its new Mustang Mach-E in fall 2021, six years after Tesla Inc and four years after General Motors Co introduced similar systems.

The European Union is ready to go it alone with taxing digital services of firms like Google, Amazon, Facebook or Apple if there is no global deal on such a tax this year, European Economic Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said on Thursday.

Spain and its European allies will not accept any threats over a proposed tax on internet giants' revenues, government spokeswoman Maria Jesus Montero said on Thursday, a day after Washington decided to pull out of talks on the matter.

Facebook Inc said on Thursday it would now share the report on its privacy practices to a newly formed committee on its board following its settlement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over data privacy probe.

Australia's antitrust regulator warned Google's planned $2.1 billion acquisition of fitness tracker maker Fitbit may give it too much of people's data, potentially hurting competition in health and online advertising markets.

Britain will keep pushing for a global solution on taxing international digital companies such as Google and Facebook Inc after the United States left negotiations, a spokesman for the British Treasury said on Thursday.

Alibaba Group's fintech arm Ant Group, operator of Alipay, has appointed Ni Xingjun as its new chief technology officer, the company said in a statement to Reuters.

The U.S. Justice Department proposed on Wednesday that Congress take up legislation to curb protections big tech platforms like Alphabet's Google and Facebook have had for decades, a senior official said, following through on President Donald Trump's bid to crack down on tech giants.