Bloomberg Starbucks Corp. shares pared an earlier loss in late trading after the company released an updated forecast that only projects a slight impact on profits despite a surge in costs related to labor and the ongoing pandemic. The company now sees earnings per share falling 4% to 6% in its current fiscal year, versus a prior view ...

  Bloomberg Sydney Airport shareholders overwhelmingly approved a A$23.6 billion ($17 billion) deal to sell the company to a consortium of funds, transferring Australia’s main international gateway to private ownership after the pandemic hammered earnings. Some 96% of votes cast at a shareholder meeting on Thursday backed the sale to a group led by IFM Investors Pty for A$8.75 a ...

  Bloomberg Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping closed ranks against the US and its allies on key security issues as they declared that there’s no limit and “no forbidden zones” in the friendship between Russia and China. At their first in-person meeting in more than two years Friday, Putin and Xi said in a joint statement that China “treats with ...

  Bloomberg President Joe Biden said a “major terrorist threat” was eliminated during a US raid in northwest Syria in which IS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi was killed. “Thanks to the bravery of our troops this horrible terrorist leader is no more,” Biden said in remarks at the White House after announcing earlier that he had ordered the US ...

  Bloomberg The crisis engulfing Boris Johnson’s government deepened as four top aides quit, with one unleashing a devastating attack on his judgment. The UK prime minister’s chief of staff, Dan Rosenfield, and his principal private secretary, Martin Reynolds both resigned on Thursday, as did his director of communications, Jack Doyle. Chancellor Rishi Sunak also gave a subtle rebuke to ...

  Bloomberg House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned US Olympic athletes to avoid acts of protest while in China for the winter games to avoid retaliation by the “ruthless” government in Beijing. “I would say to our athletes — you are there to compete. Do not risk incurring the anger of the Chinese government because they are ruthless,” Pelosi in testimony ...

Bloomberg Hong Kong national security police arrested a 75-year-old pro-democracy activist, according to a Chinese state media report that called him an “anti-China disruptor.” Koo Sze-yiu, a member of the League of Social Democrats, was arrested shortly after 6 a.m. Friday on suspicion of inciting subversion of state power under the city’s national security law, according to China’s official Xinhua ...

  Bloomberg US productivity surged last quarter by the most in more than a year, reflecting a sharp acceleration in economic output, while labour costs growth cooled. Fourth-quarter nonfarm business employee output per hour increased at a 6.6% annual rate from the previous three months, the largest advance since the second quarter of 2020, according to Labour Department figures. In ...

  Bloomberg German factory orders increased more than anticipated in December, a bright spot for Europe’s largest economy as the pandemic threatens to tip it into another recession. Demand increased 2.8% after rising a revised 3.6% in the previous month, a stronger reading than even the highest estimate in a Bloomberg survey of 27 economists. Domestic demand was a key ...

  Bloomberg Spain’s government will suspend the obligation to wear the face masks outdoors as soon as next week, Cadena Ser reported. The order, which was reintroduced last December to stem the Omicron variant, will take effect by next Wednesday, the radio station said, citing people in the government it didn’t identify. The news comes as the latest coronavirus wave ...