The great Nato enlargement debate never ends. In the 1990s, US officials and academics argued about whether pushing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) into Eastern Europe was likely to sustain the post-Cold War peace or prematurely end it. More recently, critics have charged that Russia’s war in Ukraine is a natural response to the aggressive expansion of America’s most ...
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So what comes after Omicron variant?
We are now in Covid limbo. Cases are down and still falling, yet scientists aren’t willing to declare the pandemic over — or, conversely, to predict when the next wave might come. But perhaps it’s a good thing that public health officials are displaying a little less confidence. Researchers don’t really know why pandemic waves rise or fall, so it ...
Read More »Here’s one good way to lower cost of insulin
Insulin has been making life better for people with diabetes since it first saved the life of a Canadian teenager in 1922. As the ensuing century passed, however, the drug also became a poster child for the dysfunctionality of America’s drug-pricing system. More than 10 million Americans rely on insulin to control their blood sugar, and the out-of-pocket cost ...
Read More »ESG principles need to apply to countries first
Environmental, social and governance investors believe they can lower the risk of a portfolio and maybe even boost its return by investing in companies with robust ESG policies. The idea is that companies that take ESG seriously are better stewards of the environment, are less likely to be in the path of climate change, take better care of workers, ...
Read More »Siberian detour pushes airlines to retrace Cold War era routes
Bloomberg Global airlines are going to great lengths to avoid Russian airspace but few to the extent of Finnair Oyj, the flag carrier of Finland. It’s flying thousands of miles around its northern neighbour, retracing routes abandoned decades ago at the end of the Cold War. The economic burden of those end-runs is measured in additional jet fuel burn, extended ...
Read More »Serbia to slash Moscow flights after criticism
Bloomberg Serbia’s flag carrier will scale back flights to Moscow after criticism that it’s profiting from the service at a time when most other airlines stopped flying to Russia to comply with sanctions imposed over the war in Ukraine, President Aleksandar Vucic said. Air Serbia recently increased its Moscow flights to as many as three a day from one ...
Read More »Fast Retailing’s apparel chain joins Russia exodus in reversal
Bloomberg Fast Retailing Co’s Uniqlo apparel chain said it will temporarily suspend operations in Russia, joining a growing list of global companies in curtailing their activities in the country after its invasion of neighbouring Ukraine. The move is a reversal after Fast Retailing founder Tadashi Yanai said clothing is a “necessity of life†and that Russians have “the same right ...
Read More »John Lewis resumes bonus payout amid turnaround
Bloomberg John Lewis Partnership Plc said it will once again pay employee bonuses as the UK retailer’s turnaround efforts start to show small signs of progress. The department store group, which also owns the Waitrose supermarket chain, said that a return to profit on an underlying basis means it will reinstate the payout, which was suspended last year for ...
Read More »Airports may be disrupted as union calls walkout in Germany
Bloomberg Airport services and flights across Germany are likely to be affected on Monday after a union called for an all-day walkout over a pay dispute for security personnel. The Verdi union said it’s calling for protest action at Berlin-Brandenburg Airport by security staff working in passenger screening, and personnel and goods control. The walkout is part of nationwide ...
Read More »US online grocery prices surge 7.6%
Bloomberg Prices of groceries bought online soared by a record 7.6% last month in the US, according to data compiled by software company Adobe Inc. And that’s even before accounting for the delivery costs. Overall, Adobe’s digital price index rose 3.6% in February from a year earlier, the highest rate in data going back to 2014. Clothing jumped 16.7%, ...
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