Bloomberg Walmart Inc. is cutting paid leave in half for workers who test positive for Covid-19 or have to quarantine after exposure to the virus, offering only one week through March 31 rather than two. Employees who catch Covid and are unable to return to work after a week may be eligible for pay replacement for as long as ...

  Bloomberg Alaska Airlines cut 10% of its remaining January flight schedule as an “unprecedented” level of employees unable to work because of the Omicron coronavirus variant undercut its ability to operate reliably. “Right now, we need to build more reliability back into our operation as we deal with the impacts of Omicron and during a time when guests generally ...

  Bloomberg The highly contagious Omicron virus variant is disrupting already stressed food supply chains, sickening so many workers that more shortages at grocery stores are all but certain. Supermarkets have been struggling to keep food fully stocked throughout the pandemic as a result of labor shortfalls in every part of the food system, from farms to manufacturers to distributors. ...

  Bloomberg Kazakhstan’s president said he’s ordered security forces to shoot protesters “without warning” as he declared victory with Russia’s help in crushing unrest sweeping the central Asian nation. “Those who don’t surrender will be destroyed,” President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said in a televised address to the nation Friday. He rejected all calls for negotiations with the protesters, calling them “criminals, ...

  Bloomberg The US and Japan expressed concern about China’s efforts “to undermine the rules-based order” and resolved to work together to respond to its activities that threaten security, underscoring positions that have rankled Beijing. At a virtual meeting of the two allies’ foreign and defense ministers Friday Japan time, the countries also “voiced concern about China’s activities in the ...

  Bloomberg President Joe Biden warned the insurrection at the US Capitol is part of an assault on democracy that Donald Trump and his supporters are continuing to wage a year after the deadly riot. Biden’s speech was his most detailed rebuttal yet of the effort by Trump and prominent Republicans to raise doubt about the results of the 2020 ...

  Bloomberg Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen arrived in Myanmar on Friday, becoming the first foreign leader to visit the country since the junta seized power in a coup nearly a year ago. Security was tightened in major cities like Yangon as well as the capital Naypyidaw in anticipation of protests over Hun Sen’s visit. Several protesters took to Facebook ...

Bloomberg The Australian government insists world tennis No. 1 Novak Djokovic isn’t being held against his will as the vaccine-mandate critic remains confined in a hotel used to detain refugees and asylum seekers. Djokovic “is not being held captive in Australia,” Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said in a radio interview Friday. “He is free to leave at any time ...

  Bloomberg Toronto, a city of more than 6.5 million people, has just 3,200 homes left for sale to start the year after a real-estate frenzy fuelled by low interest rates drove the market to record levels. More than 121,000 homes were sold in Canada’s biggest city in 2021, up 28% from the previous year and smashing the previous high ...

  Bloomberg Italy is trying to lock in historically low financing costs at the start of a year where inflationary and political pressures could spell an end to super easy borrowing conditions. Rome offered a new 30-year bond via banks, kicking off Europe’s first sovereign syndicated deal of 2022. Initial price guidance was at eight basis points above comparable bonds, ...