Australian military steps in to enforce COVID-19 lockdown

Hundreds deployed in Victoria, which has introduced various tough measures to control the coronavirus outbreak.

Hundreds of military personnel are being deployed to the Australian state of Victoria to help enforce coronavirus isolation orders.

The state has introduced many tough measures to control its outbreak, which are feared to lead to thousands of job losses.

Al Jazeera’s Nicola Gage has more.

Dutch whistle-blower urges probe into nuclear espionage scandal

Frits Veerman was punished for turning in his colleague who was selling secret intelligence to Pakistan in the early 1970s.

A whistle-blower wants the Dutch government investigated, accusing it of ignoring his attempts to expose nuclear espionage.

Frits Veerman was punished for turning in his colleague who was selling secret intelligence to Pakistan in the early 1970s.

His colleague ended up building Pakistan’s nuclear bomb and selling the technology to other countries.

Al Jazeera’s Step Vaessen reports from Almelo, the Netherlands.

Massive explosion in Beirut port rocks Lebanese capital

• The explosion comes ahead of a long-awaited UN tribunal verdict on the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was killed in a car bomb in 2005.

A large explosion rocked the Lebanese capital of Beirut Tuesday evening local time, shattering windows in surrounding neighborhoods and wounding hundreds of people, witnesses reported.

Residents have posted photos and videos, which have not been independently confirmed by NBC, to social media showing enormous smoke plumes rising above the city from Beirut's port area.

There are unconfirmed reports of a second blast near the residence of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri. CNBC's Hadley Gamble confirmed in a phone call with Hariri that he is unharmed. 

Lebanese health minister Hamad Hasan said there was a "large number of wounded" in the port area blast, according to local news station LBC. 

The explosion comes ahead of a long-awaited UN tribunal verdict on the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was killed in a car bomb in 2005.

Maha Yahya, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center, posted a photo on Twitter of shattered glass with the caption: "My office at home – explosion near PM Hariri." 

A senior Trump administration official told CNBC: "We have seen these reports and are following the situation closely." CNBC has reached out to the Pentagon and the State Department.

Apple replaces longtime marketing chief Phill Schiller

Apple is putting its longtime marketing boss out to pasture.

Phil Schiller, who has been with the company since 1987 and was a trusted lieutenant of Steve Jobs, is departing his role as senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing and will instead be an “Apple Fellow,” the company said in a blog post.

Schiller will be replaced by product marketing leader Greg Joswiak, Apple announced. He will continue to be in charge of the App Store, as well as Apple Events.

Share this article:

Uber employees can work remotely through June 2021

• Uber is extending its work-from-home order through June 2021, CNBC confirmed Tuesday. 
• The ride-sharing company now joins Google in extending its remote-work timeline through June.

Uber will allow employees to work from home through June 2021, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told employees at a meeting on Tuesday. The move is not a mandate, meaning workers will be allowed to return to offices if they open before then.

The ride-sharing company now joins Google in extending its remote-work timeline through next June.

Most tech companies have announced that the bulk of employees can work from home until the end of 2020, or haven't finalized a date. Amazon and Apple have asked that workers return in January, while Twitter has allowed employees to work from home "forever" if they wish. But Uber's delay could be the start of more companies shifting their return date even later. 

As of Tuesday, the U.S. reported 4.71 million coronavirus cases, with at least 155,478 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. 

CNBC's Deirdre Bosa contributed to this report. 

Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube.

Dixons Carphone to get rid of 800 managers across UK stores

Dixons Carphone is getting rid of 800 managers in its stores as it continues to cut costs despite benefiting from a surge in demand for laptops, monitors, and games consoles during the lockdown.

The retailer is the latest big high street name to announce job losses as the economic upheaval created by the coronavirus pandemic takes it toll. The jobs blow adds to the 2,600 redundancies announced on Monday at the retail and gym chain DW Sports and tour operator Hays Travel.

Dixons said it was axing jobsto create a “leaner” management structure in its stores. The retailer will cut roles including retail manager, assistant manager and team leader and create more customer-facing jobs. The changes would result in an overall reduction of 800 roles, it said.

The restructuring is on top of the 2,900 jobs cut in April when Dixons closed the struggling Carphone Warehouse chain, which had 531 standalone stores. Instead of running dedicated mobile phone shops the company is selling handsets through “shop in shops” in 305 Currys PC World stores and online.

The poor performance of the company’s mobile arm, coupled with costs related to store closures in lockdown, saw the retailer’s headline pre-tax profits slump 50% to £166m in the year to 2 May.

Mark Allsop, the chief operating officer, said: “We want to … create a flatter management structure and make it easy for our customers to shop with us, however they choose,” he said.