WhatsApp drops $1 subscription, studies making businesses pay
MUNICH (Reuters) – The world’s most popular messaging service, WhatsApp, is dropping its token $1 fee still levied on some users as it experiments with making businesses pay to reach their customers, Chief Executive Jan Koum said on Monday.
Taxi drivers in Hungary demand Uber to be shut down
BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Taxi drivers in Hungary’s capital demonstrated on Monday against ride-hailing service Uber, whose growing popularity they find unpalatable amid new regulations setting a fixed tariff for traditional taxi firms that is higher than U…
Banks drag on Europe; oil falls after Iran sanctions lifted
LONDON (Reuters) – European shares fell on Monday, following Asia lower and led by banks after the European Central Bank said it would quiz euro zone lenders about high levels of bad loans, while oil prices tumbled on the prospect of more supply from I…
IAG says its A380 options too expensive, looking to lease second hand
DUBLIN (Reuters) – British Airways owner IAG is holding talks on leasing additional A380s second hand because it believes the options it has to buy more of the Airbus superjumbo are too expensive, its chief executive said on Monday.
Truck maker Daimler signs agreement to return to Iran
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Daimler on Monday said its trucks division had signed letters of intent with joint venture partners in Iran as part of the German truck maker’s re-entry into the Iranian market following the lifting of international sanctions.
Exclusive: Venezuela’s PDVSA asks partners to pick up tab as oil prices sink
(Reuters) – Venezuela’s state-run company PDVSA has requested its partners in at least a half dozen joint ventures pay for naphtha imported to produce exportable crudes amid a punishing oil price crash, according to sources and a company letter seen by…
Who, not where: For HSBC investors, HQ debate eclipsed by identity issue
LONDON/HONG KONG (Reuters) – As HSBC prepares to decide which country it should call home, a growing number of its investors want the bank to address a bigger question: what does it really want to be?
Exclusive: China’s chief stock regulator has offered to resign – sources
BEIJING (Reuters) – The embattled head of China’s securities regulator, Xiao Gang, widely blamed by investors for mishandling a recent crisis that wiped over $5 trillion off the value of the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets, has offered to resign, s…
Hollywood studios, Sky spar with EU antitrust regulators
BRUSSELS – NBCUniversal, Disney and four other U.S. studios together with Sky UK on Monday rebuffed European Union charges of anti-competitive movie-licensing deals in a crucial hearing ahead of a decision later this year.
Apple European headquarters briefly evacuated by police
DUBLIN (Reuters) – Apple’s European headquarters in Ireland was briefly evacuated on Monday while police searched the premises following a security alert that staff said had been completed and they had returned to work.




