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"During the height of the pandemic … Chinese users spent 120 minutes per day on live streams."
I'm sure some of you will understand what Arnold Ma, CEO of Qumin , is talking about – and just as many will not. While live streaming is popular everywhere, it became a new channel for shopping (and therefore selling) during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Scroll down to today's video to learn more about the trend, and hear more from Ma on why it's happening – and if live-stream shopping is coming to a screen near you.
Elsewhere, the man in today's cover picture is Phil Hogan . He's the European Union's leading trade envoy... but perhaps not for much longer. Politicians in his native Ireland are calling for his resignation after he broke COVID-19 rules by attending a dinner at a golf club in the west of the country. He apologized on social media, but some don't think that's enough.
In China, a relaxation of the rules around listing on stock markets has been welcomed by traders on the Shenzhen ChiNext tech-focused bourse, with some firms experiencing historic price jumps.
And just in from France – **Facebook **has confirmed reports that it is to pay more than $100 million in owed taxes after an extended investigation by French tax authorities. It's a landmark case for the country, which is pushing for digital taxes on Big Tech.
Finally, it's good to be back from a quick holiday last week – but despite not getting any myself, my mind's still been drifting towards sun, sea and ice cream today… so what better time to look at which European nations import the most gelato? Answers at the bottom of this email, as always.
Happy reading,
Patrick Atack
Digital business correspondent
**P.S. Did you know we send this briefing by email, too? **
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EU trade commissioner Phil Hogan, who is part of the EU team negotiating a post-Brexit trade deal with the UK, **has apologized for attending a meeting at a golf club in Ireland. **The dinner was attended by81 people, which is against Irish COVID-19 rules and has already led to the resignation of Irish agriculture minister Dara Calleary, who was at the gathering.
Building on the 4,000 jobs created during the pandemic, the UK's largest supermarket chain Tesco said it will aim to create a further 16,000 roles to deal with the popularity of online shopping . It said there will be 10,000 new jobs to sort the produce for customers, while an extra 3,000 drivers will be hired to deliver the groceries.
New capital market reforms in China, such as easing the process of listing, have been greeted with enthusiastic trading by the Shenzhen ChiNext start-up and tech-focused index. Contec Medical Systems spiked at 3,000 percent on the market, which has been compared with the influential US Nasdaq index.
Microsoft said in a court filing that Apple's threat to **cut off the creator of **
Fortnite
** from Apple's developer tools would hurt Microsoft's gaming **business, as well as other game developers. The filing came in a dispute between Apple and Epic Games
. Apple removed Epic's titles from its App Store after the game maker reportedly violated the iPhone maker's in-app payment rules.
A $10 billion row is based on "fabricated" evidence, according to former Botswana president Ian Khama. Both Khama and Bridgette Motsepe, a South African businesswoman, who is South African leader Ramaphosa's sister-in-law, **are accused of taking the money from the nation's accounts by President Mokgweetsi Masisi, **who followed Khama as president.
Germany's motor vehicle authority KBA is investigating luxury car brand Porsche for suspected tampering with petrol engines to make their emissions seem less. Volkswagen, which was at the center of the "dieselgate" scandal for meddling with diesel emissions also owns Porsche. The firm said it was working with authorities and that cars involved dated back to 2017, not those currently in production.
Mining firm Rio Tinto said it will cut the bonuses paid to executives, including CEO Jean-Sébastien Jacques , as punishment for the destruction of two caves in Western Australia, which indigenous groups said were sacred. Their destruction caused public outrage in Australia, especially among Aboriginal groups.
French oil major Total has signed a deal with the Mozambique government to protect a $20 billion natural gas project being developed in the southern African country . Fighting between government forces and insurgent groups has led to dozens of deaths in recent months and the deal will "bolster security measures," according to the Mozambique government.
Facebook's French arm has agreed to pay $118 million in back taxes following a 10-year audit by French authorities . France has been at the forefront of the movement to impose digital service taxes on companies such as Facebook and Google, though the hopes for a pan-European tax took a hit last week as the UK dropped plans for such a levy.
Although footfall in UK shops increased by as much as seven percent last week, the number of customers in shops is still down between 30 and 60 percent compared with the same week in August 2019.
WATCH: Have you ever heard of live-stream shopping?
It's becoming more and more popular in China, with online streams raking in millions of viewers and buyers. But could it ever take off in Europe?
02:03
Olly Wehring is the Drinks editor at GlobalData, which researches market data and trends across many sectors. He talked to CGTN's Stephen Cole about how the global pandemic has changed the way people drink alcohol.
Drinking venues have changed ** – ** it's now often the home, rather than a bar ** – but will consumers go out again soon?**
They will, but not at the speed that the industry would prefer. There are going to be a lot of tentative feelings among consumers, who will be understandably uncomfortable about venturing out of their homes under the circumstances.
So the trend of drinking at home, which has always been there… [has] been sort of solidified.
How has lockdown affected what people are drinking?
The well-known established brands have seen their volumes increase. Whereas the high-end and certainly the more expensive, more experimental offerings out there
– and this applies to beer, spirits, wine and soft drinks
– that has kind of shrunk quite rapidly. There will, however, be a sizable bounce-back as consumers look to indulge once again.
Is this bounce-back guaranteed? Are you sure?
Yes, I think it is what we've seen in China, which obviously is ahead of the rest of the world, is the luxury companies such as Moët Hennessy, which is owned by LVMH... They saw a sizable spike in their sales once lockdown lifted. Effectively, what you had there was consumers wanting to celebrate.
