Former Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer has taken a 4 percent stake in Twitter Inc , according to his spokesman, making him the third-biggest individual shareholder in the social media company. Ballmer's stake is worth more than $800 million based on Twitter's $21 billion market value
Read moreBy Ellen Wulfhorst UNITED NATIONS (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Inside the United Nations, hallways and office hum with preparations for this week's meeting of nearly 200 nations to adopt a set of global goals aimed at tackling a range of ills from poverty to climate change over the next 15 years.
Read moreBy Yasmeen Abutaleb SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's trip this weekend to Silicon Valley gives Facebook and Google the chance to press him on issues that have bedeviled them in that country, a market they see as vital to their aggressive global expansion. For Facebook and Google, India is a crucial market. With 1.3 billion people, it is the world's second most-populous country – and they are blocked from China, the most populous, making success in India even more critical for their global growth.
Read moreBy Dan Levine SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Ride service Uber has reached a tentative settlement in a lawsuit brought by the family of a 6-year-old girl who died in a San Francisco car accident, according to court filings. The girl, Sofia Liu, died after she, her younger brother and their mother were hit by a car in a San Francisco cross-walk on New Year's Eve in 2013. At the time of the crash, the driver was logged on to the Uber X smartphone app and was available to provide rides, the lawsuit said
Read moreBy Mary Wisniewski CHICAGO (Reuters) – MasterCard said on Tuesday that its credit cards can no longer be used to pay for ads on the Backpage.com website, following a request from a Chicago law enforcement official who said the site is used by sex traffickers. Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart said that so-called “escort” ads on Backpage.com and similar sites make up the foundation of the sex trafficking industry, which preys on the young and vulnerable. “Backpage has significantly lowered the barrier to entry for would-be traffickers,” said Dart, adding he will reveal details of a larger initiative against Backpage at a news conference on Wednesday
Read moreBy Michael Roddy LONDON, (Reuters) – Wimbledon is the top grand slam championship for attracting social media-savvy tennis fans, with more followers on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram than any of the other three, a survey released on Wednesday said. The tournament’s 4.1 million followers on the social media websites put Wimbledon on top, with the French Open second on 3.7 million and the U.S.
Read moreAlberta's newly elected government suspended one of its rookie legislators on Friday after offensive pictures she posted on social media before being elected emerged. Sociology student Deborah Drever, 26, was elected for the New Democratic Party in the May 5 election that ended 44 years of Progressive Conservative rule in the province
Read moreThe European Union accused Google Inc on Wednesday of cheating consumers and competitors by distorting Web search results to favor its own shopping service, after a five-year investigation that could change the rules for business online. Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said Google, which dominates Internet search engine markets worldwide, had been sent a Statement of Objections – effectively a charge sheet – to which it has 10 weeks to respond.
Read moreThe European Union’s charges against Google Inc for distorting Web search results to favor its own shopping service are unlikely to hurt the company’s valuation, analysts said. The charges, which come after a five-year investigation, could lead to a fine of up to 10 percent of Google’s annual sales, or about 6.2 billion euros ($6.6 billion).
Read moreBy Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) – An anchor on China's main state broadcaster, CCTV, apologized on Thursday after a video of him insulting the founder of modern China, Mao Zedong, went viral on social media sites, sparking an investigation by the channel.
Read more