Bloomberg Qantas Airways Ltd is considering giving free flight vouchers or air miles to people who’ve had Covid-19 shots, joining a growing list of businesses offering vaccination incentives to kick-start global travel. While details haven’t been finalised, fully inoculated Qantas frequent fliers might also be offered free loyalty status credits, Qantas said in a statement. The program is due to ...

Bloomberg Myanmar suspended some domestic flights and imposed restrictions in some townships to fight a surge in Covid cases in the past two days, the Ministry of Health and Sports said. Domestic flights between the commercial capital, Yangon, and at least five cities will be suspended for at least two weeks beginning from May 29. Myanmar Airways International-Air KBZ Group, ...

Bloomberg Indonesia’s flag carrier PT Garuda Indonesia confirmed it is taking steps to restructure its debt and revamp its business in order to stay afloat amid the pandemic. The airline is negotiating terms with plane lessors and is talking with banks and business partners to restructure its loans, according to a stock exchange filing submitted. The coronavirus outbreak has forced ...

Bloomberg The Biden administration announced it would re-impose sanctions against nine Belarusian state-owned enterprises and is developing additional penalties to target officials in the administration of President Alexander Lukashenko over the forced landing of a Ryanair Holdings Plc jetliner and the arrest of a dissident journalist. The administration has also issued a “Do Not Travel” warning to American citizens urging ...

Bloomberg A Hong Kong appeal board endorsed a decision by the city’s police to ban a candlelight vigil for victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. In a hearing, the Appeal Board on Public Meetings and Processions upheld the police decision to prohibit a public meeting and procession on May 30, and the assembly on June 4, according to a ...

Bloomberg The European Union is becoming increasingly frustrated with the UK’s unwillingness to meet its obligations on Northern Ireland and has set its sights on a proposed meeting in the week of June 7 to settle differences, Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic told the Financial Times. Sefcovic said that he wants both sides to agree on a joint “road map” ...

Bloomberg Military Vice President Assimi Goita was appointed president of Mali’s interim government despite widespread calls for a return to civilian rule. Goita will resume the functions of president for the duration of the transition period and until elections are held, the Constitutional Court said in a statement. The decision came ahead of a high-level meeting of West African heads ...

Bloomberg The Philippines protested China’s “incessant deployment, prolonged presence and illegal activities” around Thitu Island in the South China Sea, the latest manifestation of lingering tensions between the nations. The Southeast Asian country is demanding China withdraw maritime assets and fishing vessels, the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a Twitter post. The island it refers to as Pag-asa “is ...

Bloomberg The euro’s charge towards a three-year high is stumbling as the European Central Bank quashes expectations that it’s anywhere near paring back emergency stimulus. The ECB is increasingly expected by economists and investors to extend its elevated pace of emergency bond-buying at a June meeting, even as the continent’s vaccination program surges forward and economy rebounds. That’s putting a ...

Bloomberg Canada’s biggest banks are signaling that financial issues from the Covid-19 crisis are largely in the rear-view mirror in North America — and earlier than analysts had expected. After a year of stockpiling record amounts of capital to protect against a wave of loan defaults, Royal Bank of Canada and Toronto-Dominion Bank — the country’s two largest banks — ...