Technology

Amazon's purchase of a stake in Deliveroo has been provisionally cleared by Britain's competition regulator in view of a potentially fatal deterioration in the online food delivery group's finances because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Colombian startup Rappi is piloting deliveries by robots as a safe way of getting food to people forced to stay at home due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Alphabet Inc's Google said on Friday it will waive for the next five months the small fee it charges news publishers to decide which ads to show on their online properties.

Hacking activity against corporations in the United States and other countries more than doubled by some measures last month as digital thieves took advantage of security weakened by pandemic work-from-home policies, researchers said.

The Chinese-backed owners of Imagination Technologies told the British government on Friday the chip designer would remain headquartered in the United Kingdom and they would consult over any board changes.

Private equity firm Canyon Bridge, the Chinese-backed owner of Imagination Technologies, told the British government it was committed to keeping the chip designer headquartered in the UK, confirming an earlier Reuters report.

Activist investors say telecommunications pioneer AT&T Inc will not take their calls for its upcoming annual meeting, reinforcing their concerns that the shift of the gathering to cyberspace due to the COVID-19 pandemic would restrict shareholder input.

Goldman Sachs said on Friday it expects iPhone shipment to drop 36% during the current quarter due to coronavirus-related lockdowns around the world and downgraded Apple Inc stock to "sell".

The coronavirus outbreak in Germany has become manageable again as the number of patients who have recovered has been higher than the number of new infections every day this week, the health minister said on Friday.

France's state-supported "StopCovid" contact-tracing app project is creating friction between government and parliament amid preparations to debate the issue before the app is ready.

Saxony became the first German state to make the wearing of masks compulsory on public transport and in shops, German magazine Focus reported on Friday.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday said China's role in the global coronavirus pandemic is likely to force countries to rethink their telecommunications infrastructure, including the adoption of China-based Huawei's 5G networks.

Didi Chuxing, China's biggest ride-hailing firm which counts SoftBank as an investor, aims to complete 100 million orders a day and have 800 million monthly active users globally by 2022, CEO Cheng Wei said.

Poland's telecoms regulator has dropped a deadline for its first 5G auction due a government clampdown designed to tackle the spread of the corononavirus.

Didi Chuxing, China's biggest ride-hailing firm which counts SoftBank as an investor, aims to complete 100 million orders a day and 800 million monthly active users globally by 2022, its chief executive Cheng Wei said.

Activist investors say telecommunications pioneer AT&T Inc won't take their calls for its upcoming annual meeting, reinforcing their concerns that the shift of the gatherings to cyberspace due to the COVID-19 pandemic would restrict shareholder input.

The coronavirus outbreak in Germany has become manageable again as the number of patients who have made a recovery has been higher than the number of new infections every day this week, Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Friday.

France's state-supported tracing app project "StopCovid" will not be ready when parliament debates it on April 28-29, the minister for digital affairs Cedric O said on Friday.

The COVID-19 pandemic arrived just as Respond Software CEO and co-founder Mike Armistead was trying to sell automated cyber security software to new clients. Most of them are no longer in a buying mood. So Respond Software, a 50-employee, venture-backed startup, applied for about $1 million in government support.

Companies will be able to hold their annual shareholders' meeting over the phone or online during the coronavirus pandemic under a promised new law, Britain's business ministry and accounting watchdog said on Friday.