Technology News (Reuters)

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.

Australia's consumer watchdog said on Thursday it had concerns that Alphabet Inc-owned Google's planned $2.1 billion acquisition of fitness tracker company Fitbit may hinder competition in digital advertising and health markets.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin decided to pull out of negotiations on digital services taxes with European Union officials after they failed to make any progress, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on Wednesday.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin decided to pull out of negotiations on digital services taxes with European Union officials after they failed to make any progress, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on Wednesday.

The U.S. government proposed a pause in Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development talks about international taxation while governments work to respond to the coronavirus pandemic, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Treasury said.

Several U.S. civil rights groups called upon some of the world's largest companies to pause advertising on Facebook Inc in July, saying the social network is not doing enough to stop hate speech on its platforms.

Search startup Onna Technologies Inc, which helps companies find information buried within emails, chats and storage services, announced on Wednesday $27 million in new funding from venture capital firm Atomico and past investors such as Slack Technologies Inc .

Alphabet Inc's Google on Wednesday announced a new hiring goal and security policy to address racial issues at its offices, as protests over police brutality against African Americans have carried into discussions about corporate culture.

Twitter Inc said on Wednesday it is testing a new feature that will allow users to tweet using their voice, capturing up to 140 seconds of audio in a single tweet.