Bloomberg A coalition of leading passenger and cargo airlines is calling on Hong Kong to scrap pre-flight and on-arrival Covid-19 tests for aircrew, saying they are a key reason to avoid flying to the city. Hong Kong is the only jurisdiction in Asia that requires such tests, which lead to delays and the risk of staff being sent to ...

  Bloomberg Next Plc lowered its profit and sales guidance for this year as the war in Ukraine and record inflation in Britain dimmed the retailer’s outlook. The clothing and housewares chain forecast a profit of 850 million pounds ($1.1 billion) in the year through January, a 10 million-pound drop on a previous estimate, in a statement. Often considered a ...

Bloomberg Vaccine passports will probably become redundant as more people are inoculated against Covid, and efforts to create a common standard are stymied by differing entry requirements, the head of the world’s biggest airline alliance said. “There’s no way that this has been integrated in one place,” Star Alliance Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Goh said in an interview in Singapore. ...

  Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc has stopped work on a new warehouse in San Francisco after the city’s Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to implement a moratorium on new parcel delivery services there. The incident is the latest flashpoint between Amazon and some of the communities where it’s setting up shop amid a rapid expansion of its urban presence. The world’s ...

Bloomberg Nato agreed to boost its deployments in the eastern portion of the defense alliance, doubling the number of battle groups to eight, as the US said it is working with Nato to prepare for possible biological or nuclear incidents by Russia. The world’s leading developed nations plan to warn President Vladimir Putin against deploying such weapons amid his stalled ...

Bloomberg The US announced a new package of sanctions on Russian elites, lawmakers and defense companies, punishments designed to ramp up pressure on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. The measures announced Thursday during summit meetings between President Joe Biden and Nato, as well as the Group of Seven, will be followed by others to reduce Europe’s reliance on Russian ...

Bloomberg North Korea launched what appeared to be its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in more than four years, as Kim Jong-un finally abandoned a testing freeze that had underpinned an unprecedented wave of talks with the US. The missile was launched from the Sunan area outside Pyongyang on Thursday, reaching an altitude of 6,200 kilometres (3,900 miles) and traveling ...

  Bloomberg Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in Kabul unannounced and held talks with the Taliban’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and others leaders, his first visit since the militant group seized power last year. “Important issues” related to joint efforts in alleviating the country’s humanitarian crisis and improving bilateral trade were on the agenda, the Taliban’s deputy spokesman ...

Bloomberg President Cyril Ramaphosa defended South Africa’s neutral stance towards Russia’s war with Ukraine, saying it placed him in a stronger position to help mediate an end to the conflict. “Neutrality can cost and fortunately we’re not alone in all this, there are many others that have chosen the same path,” Ramaphosa said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on ...

Bloomberg Switzerland’s central bank refrained from sounding the alarm about the exchange rate despite the first breach of parity with the euro since 2015, as it warned that the war in Ukraine could hurt economic growth. Reflecting a restrained reaction to gains in the currency since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) stuck with its description ...