Bloomberg Singapore Airlines Ltd’s budget carrier Scoot has stopped accepting bookings to Hong Kong until March 7, signalling it is the latest airline to be banned from flying to the city for two weeks. The move severs one of the last air links between the Asian financial hubs, with a service by Cathay Pacific Ltd’s HK Express unit the ...

Bloomberg Workman Co, a Japanese retailer specialising in blue-collar work wear, will open a store in Tokyo’s upscale Ginza district in April as part of its expansion into women’s fashion, Nikkei reported Tuesday. Workman, founded in 1979, operates a chain of stores selling protective gear for factory and construction site workers. Its simple waterproof jackets and thermals gained a following ...

  Bloomberg US and European governments threatened new sanctions after Russian President Vladimir Putin recognised two self-proclaimed separatist republics in eastern Ukraine and ordered troops sent to them in the latest escalation of Moscow’s standoff with the West. Russia gave no details on how many “peacekeeping” troops might go into the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, or when, as ...

  Bloomberg A shootout between suspected robbers and police on the outskirts of Johannesburg’s city centre left eight people dead, Police Minister Minister Bheki Cele said. Police opened fire on several gunmen in Rosettenville who were planning to attack a truck ferrying cash in South Africa’s commercial hub, Cele said in an interview broadcast on eNCA television. Eight of the ...

Bloomberg Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan is expected to travel to Moscow on Wednesday, the first bilateral meeting between the two nations in over two decades even as a standoff between Russia and the West over Ukraine has escalated sharply. Khan will have “wide-ranging” discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin on bilateral, regional and international topics during the two-day visit, ...

Bloomberg New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern denounced protesters occupying parliament grounds after some ugly clashes with police. “The attacks on police have been absolutely disgraceful,” Ardern told reporters. “Clearly there are a group who are increasingly acting out in a violent way toward the police.” As the protest against vaccine mandates in downtown Wellington entered its 15th day, police ...

Bloomberg Chinese officials have told Hong Kong that they think a lockdown will be needed to contain surging Covid-19 cases, according to people familiar with the discussions, with the city’s government conceding some kind of targeted stay-at-home restrictions may be necessary if the situation continues to spiral out of control. The two sides have been meeting frequently to discuss Hong ...

  Bloomberg Indonesia’s central bank may start next year to sell the government bonds it bought as part of a $58 billion debt monetisation that supported stimulus spending during the pandemic. “We will discuss the possibilities later but based on the information that we have now, it is likely that we will roll back our government bond holding starting next ...

  Bloomberg India’s central bank will enter into sell-buy swaps worth $5 billion with banks to elongate the maturity profile of its forward dollar book. The 2-year USD/INR sell-buy swap auction will be held on March 8, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said. This will enable access to a wider set of market participants and smoothen receivables relating to forward ...

  Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG has warned its employees not to delete WhatsApp messages from their phones as part of moves by the German lender to clamp down on private communication channels. The Frankfurt-based bank earlier this year sent a memo to staff warning them that any business-related messages going through private channels mustn’t be deleted as the act could ...