Bloomberg The US has withdrawn from the Open Skies Treaty due to non-compliance by Russia, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said, making good on a planned move by the outgoing Trump administration. The move was immediately criticised by a top Democrat, who urged President-elect Joe Biden to reverse the decision next year. “Today, pursuant to earlier notice provided, the United ...

Bloomberg A senior US military officer who oversees intelligence gathering for the Indo-Pacific Command made an unannounced visit to Taiwan, Reuters reported, a move that risks further raising tensions between Washington and Beijing. The visiting official was US Navy Rear Admiral Michael Studeman, Reuters said, citing two unidentified sources. In a statement, Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said it welcomed the visit ...

Bloomberg Prominent Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong was taken into custody on Monday after he pled guilty to inciting and organising an unauthorised assembly for his part in a dramatic siege of police headquarters last year during the city’s mass protests. The activist, however, entered a not guilty plea to the charge of knowingly taking part in an unauthorised assembly, ...

Bloomberg Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the UK plans to start rolling out two coronavirus vaccines next month before the program gathers pace in the new year, with a return to “normal” possible in the spring. Hancock was responding to trial results announced on Monday by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca Plc showing their Covid-19 vaccine prevented a majority ...

Bloomberg Jeff Bezos gave $684 million of Amazon.com Inc stock to non-profits, days after posting on Instagram that he’d chosen 16 organisations to be the first recipients of money from the Bezos Earth Fund. The world’s richest man donated 220,825 shares of the e-commerce juggernaut, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The Amazon founder has ...

Bloomberg Zurich Insurance Group AG said it’s in talks to buy MetLife Inc’s US property and casualty unit, which offers coverage for homes and automobiles. “Zurich subsidiary, Farmers Group Inc, is proposing to acquire the business in conjunction with the Farmers Exchanges,” the Swiss insurer said in a statement. “The terms of any transaction are subject to negotiations and there ...

Bloomberg Google’s planned changes to advertising data were targeted by a group of rivals who pushed UK regulators to make the company a top antitrust priority. Marketers for an Open Web is asking the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to temporarily halt Google’s rollout of so-called privacy sandbox technology next year, it said in an emailed statement on Monday. The ...

Bloomberg Germany is moving towards extending and tightening its shutdown restrictions, setting measures that would rein in New Year’s festivities as the country struggles to slow the stubborn spread of the coronavirus. Germany’s regional leaders are proposing that a partial lockdown that was due to run until the end of November is extended until at least December 20. The measures ...

Bloomberg Shopify Inc expects a banner holiday season as the worsening pandemic encourages more consumers to shop online and buy from the small businesses that sell through its platform. While the pace of growth will likely slow once the pandemic ends, this year’s gains will likely hold up, President Harley Finkelstein said in an interview. The company reported a 109% ...

Bloomberg Global stocks, US equity futures and oil advanced as AstraZeneca Plc said its vaccine prevented most people from developing Covid-19. Energy and banking shares led markets higher in Europe, while South Korea’s stocks hit a record. Credit Agricole SA climbed 4.2% after agreeing to buy an Italian lender Credito Valtellinese for about 737 million euros ($875 million). Vaccine announcement ...