Bloomberg President Joe Biden said US airstrikes in Syria that killed militants linked to Iran were a warning to the Islamic Republic to be cautious as its proxies challenge American allies in the Mideast. Asked while visiting a National Guard vaccination site in Houston what message the strike was intended to send to Iran, Biden said: “You can’t act with ...

Bloomberg The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) approved a UK-drafted resolution calling for local cease-fires in conflict zones so that coronavirus vaccinations can take place. The passage of the resolution, which calls for cooperation to overcome “logistical barriers to equitable access,” was seen as an early sign of cooperation between the new Biden administration and China, which supported the document ...

Bloomberg Donald Trump’s niece is balking at the former president’s claim that she waited too long to file her multi-million dollar fraud suit against him, saying she would have sued sooner if he hadn’t covered his tracks so well. Mary Trump asked a judge to deny Donald Trump’s motion to dismiss the suit, which she filed in September against her ...

Bloomberg Ethiopia’s government criticised a report by Amnesty International that alleged war crimes in the northern town of Axum last year. Amnesty said that Eritrean troops massacred hundreds of unarmed civilians in November. It based its conclusions on interviews with 41 survivors and witnesses. The methodology used to produce report had “limitations” as it relied on information gathered from refugees ...

Bloomberg Rishi Sunak can do self-restraint. After an addiction to drinking full-strength Coca-Cola resulted in seven fillings to his teeth, he rationed himself to a single Coke a week. When he comes to deliver his budget on Wednesday, the chancellor of the exchequer faces a battle to persuade his colleagues of the need to turn down the flow of government ...

Bloomberg The US has dropped a key demand in negotiations over digital taxation of technology companies such as Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Facebook Inc., lifting a barrier that had raised transatlantic trade tensions and prevented an international deal. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told her counterparts at a virtual meeting of Group of 20 finance officials that the US is no ...

Bloomberg Argentina is considering using new reserves to be issued by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to make a payment due to the lender in September, a move that would allow more time to overhaul an outstanding $45 billion loan. The new IMF reserve assets, called special drawing rights, or SDRs, would give cash-strapped Argentina fresh funding to pay the ...

Bloomberg Switzerland’s economy unexpectedly expanded at the end of last year, with foreign demand for its goods helping offset the impact of lockdown measures to control the pandemic. Gross domestic product (GDP) increased 0.3% in the fourth quarter, compared with estimates for a stagnation in a Bloomberg survey of economists. “On the whole, the second wave of the coronavirus until ...

Bloomberg The European Union’s (EU) fiscal rules should be adapted to allow for more spending to boost growth as countries struggle to pull their economies out of pandemic-induced recessions, according to the bloc’s top economic official. EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni, speaking at the European Fiscal Board’s annual conference, reiterated calls to withdraw public support very gradually in order ...

Bloomberg Bentley isn’t the first brand that springs to mind when it comes to green driving. Tesla and Toyota have cornered that share of the market for now, flaunting electric-powered cars affordable for wide swaths of people who can overlook the appliance-like designs of the electric Model S and the Prius hybrid in favour of their fuel-efficient promise. But credit ...