Twitter debuts ‘safety mode’ autoblocking to curb online abuse September 1, 2021 Twitter has unveiled a new feature called “Safety Mode” that will allow users to temporarily block accounts for seven days if they use harmful language or send uninvited replies and mentions. The social media giant said in a blog post today that it had begun testing the safety feature on a small feedback group of [...]
Covid vaccine: Immunosuppressed people in the UK to receive third dose September 1, 2021 Around half a million people in the UK whose immune systems are severely weakened will be offered a third primary vaccine dose, following a new recommendation announced by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) today. Anyone over the age of 12 who was immunosuppressed at the time of their first or second dose [...]
SEC double hit: Robinhood comes under scrutiny for key revenue stream and share sale filing September 1, 2021 Trading platform Robinhood has told investors that the US financial watchdog is reviewing a filing of a share sale by a group of its shareholders, a day after its share price sank on two other bouts of bad news. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) review prevents any sales being made off the filing [...]
UK deploys crisis response teams to help people cross Afghan border August 31, 2021 The UK Foreign Office has announced it is deploying three consular teams to Afghanistan’s neighbouring countries to help those seeking to flee the country for the UK. In a statement released this evening, foreign secretary Dominic Raab acknowledged the people eligible for UK support who were stuck in Afghanistan after the UK ended its evacuation, [...]
Morgan Stanley hikes pay for junior bankers … again August 31, 2021 Morgan Stanley has raised base salaries for entry-level bankers for the second time in a month, heating up the pay hike frenzy as Wall Street rivals compete for junior talent. Junior bankers at the US investment bank will now be paid a base salary of $110,000 – up from the previous rise from $85,000 to [...]
Google pushes back office return to January as Covid cases surge August 31, 2021 Google has pushed back on plans for a full return to the workplace and extended its voluntary return-to-office policy through to January next year, amid concerns over rising Covid cases in some locations around the world. “Beyond January 10, we will enable countries and locations to make determinations on when to end voluntary work-from-home based [...]
SoftBank-backed AI startup Peak raises $75m in second funding round in six months August 31, 2021 Manchester-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) provider Peak will expand into new global markets after raising $75m in its latest funding round, led by SoftBank’s $100bn Vision Fund Two. Peak AI, which sells its “decision intelligence” enterprise software platform to non-tech companies to help with their operations, plans to use the latest raise to double its workforce [...]
Tencent ends all exclusive music rights deals after Beijing crackdown August 31, 2021 Tencent has ended all its exclusive music licensing agreements with record labels across the world after Chinese regulators ordered it to do so last month, as part of an intensifying crackdown on the country’s tech giants. In a statement released on the Chinese tech conglomerate’s official WeChat page, Tencent said all parties involved in the [...]
Afghanistan crisis: Three British nationals among those killed in Kabul airport attack August 27, 2021 Two British men and a British teenager were among those killed in yesterday’s suicide bomb attack outside Kabul airport, the foreign secretary has confirmed. All three British fatalities were waiting outside the airport and attempting to leave Afghanistan on an evacuation flight, and all belonged to different families. A fourth British national was injured and [...]
UK’s Nest pension fund launches £1.5bn private equity spending spree August 27, 2021 Workplace pension scheme giant Nest has launched a new procurement for private equity, in which it plans to invest £1.5bn – or 5 per cent of its assets under management – by 2024. The state-backed pension fund, which has £20bn assets under management and 10m members, has announced a search for fund managers for the [...]