Bloomberg American meatpackers are benefiting from one bright spot in the restaurant industry during the pandemic: fast-food sales. With most restaurants closed or operating at reduced capacity, customers have flocked to places including McDonald’s and Burger King, where they can simply drive through to grab food. That’s helped Cargill Inc.’s protein sales to food-services business to return to near normal, ...

Bloomberg Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte extended the ban on UK flights by two weeks and said he’s open to reinstating tighter movement curbs if coronavirus infections spike. Returning to some form of a lockdown “is a possibility if the severity in numbers will demand that we take corrective measures immediately,” the president said at a meeting of the task force ...

Bloomberg Air travel from Britain to France resumed, though eligibility restrictions and a new Covid-19 testing requirement limited the number of people able to board. A British Airways flight to Paris departed at 9:24 am from London Heathrow, followed by one to Nice, according to the airport’s website. Both were delayed, and an earlier Air France departure was canceled, reflecting ...

Bloomberg US holiday season sales beat low expectations for the pandemic year as online shopping surged. Total retail sales grew 3% over the extended 75-day holiday period, versus a forecast of 2.4%, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse, which tracks online and in-store retail sales across all payment methods. The number is far better than the 3.5% drop recorded during 2008, the ...

Bloomberg American Airlines Group Inc. will begin recalling furloughed employees as soon as US lawmakers approve a relief package with payroll funds for airlines, Chief Executive Officer Doug Parker said. The first paychecks were issued to workers who had been sent home, Parker and American’s president, Robert Isom, said in a memo to employees. Pay and benefits would be retroactive ...

Bloomberg Almost 1.2 million people took to the skies in the US, the most since Covid-19 erupted, despite warnings against large gatherings and travel during the holidays. People flocked to airports in past week, according to Transportation Security Administration (TSA) data. An average of more than 1 million people a day passed through TSA screening over the past week, which ...

Bloomberg Venezuela’s opposition-dominated National Assembly voted to continue meeting beyond its five-year term that ends on January 5, giving the nation two competing legislative bodies after members boycotted the congressional election pushed by autocrat Nicolas Maduro. The move paves the way for opposition leader Juan Guaido to remain as the “president in charge,” though lawmakers voted to impose more checks ...

Bloomberg Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou’s favoured successor, Mohamed Bazoum, is the front-runner to win the elections, after the main opposition challenger was barred from standing. Issoufou, 68, is stepping down after serving two five-year terms. His departure paves the way for the first-ever peaceful transition of power between two elected leaders in the West African nation, which has had four ...

Bloomberg The Japanese government will ban entry to most foreigners through the end of January as coronavirus cases reach record highs there and the nation confirmed its first cases of the new, more infectious Covid strain. The restrictions will be implemented on Monday, the government said in a statement. Japanese nationals and foreigners with residency who are returning from short ...

Bloomberg Ghana’s main opposition leader is planning a legal challenge to his presidential election defeat. John Dramani Mahama will file a petition to the nation’s supreme court on December 29 seeking a recount, a member of his legal team said by phone. Mahama, the National Democratic Congress candidate, got 47.4% of the vote, compared with 51.6% for incumbent President Nana ...