Bloomberg Australians spent a record-breaking A$74.5 billion ($50.4 billion) in the run-up to Christmas, a sign that rising prices and soaring interest rates have yet to weaken consumer demand. Retail sales across Australia surged 8.6% between November 1 and Decemebr 24 from a year ago, according to figures released by Australian Retailers Association in partnership with Westpac DataX. Trading ...

  Bloomberg Hong Kong scrapped its closed-loop requirement for international airline crews, ending almost two years of pandemic-related restrictions on flight staff. Transport officials in the Asian financial hub told airline industry representatives of the change, which took effect immediately, people familiar with the matter said, declining to be identified because they’re not authorised to speak publicly. The change means ...

  Bloomberg Italian health authorities will begin testing all arrivals from China for Covid after almost half of the passengers on two flights to Milan were found to have the virus. They are also sequencing the Milan tests to see if there are new variants, the Health Ministry said in a statement. If a new strain is found, officials may ...