Bloomberg Russia plans to start mass vaccinations against Covid-19 in October, with health workers and teachers first in line to get the inoculation against the disease, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said. A drug developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute and the Russian Direct Investment Fund has completed clinical trials and the authorities are preparing to register it with regulators, Murashko was ...

Bloomberg South African President Cyril Ramaphosa urged citizens to remain careful and adapt to measures necessary to limit the spread of the coronavirus pandemic as confirmed infections in the country breached 500,000. “We must maintain our vigilance until we have no more coronavirus cases in our country,” Ramaphosa said. “If we do not do so, there is the risk of ...

Bloomberg Argentina’s creditors have approached several international organisations to seek endorsement for a proposal to change the rules that govern some of the country’s overseas securities, according to people familiar with the matter. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the US Treasury, the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) and the Institute of International Finance (IIF) are among the organisations that have ...

Bloomberg Siemens Healthineers agreed to buy Varian Medical Systems in cash in a transaction that values the medical equipment maker at about $16.4 billion, more than 20% above its current market value. The German company offered $177.5 a share for the Palo Alto, California-based business, which will be financed through both debt and equity, Siemens Healthineers said in a statement ...

Bloomberg Prime Minister Boris Johnson is considering sealing off Greater London and ordering at-risk members of the population to stay at home under a potential scenario designed to avert a second national lockdown, according to news reports on Saturday. Possible measures include locking down the capital if infection rates spike and tightening quarantine rules on those flying into the UK, ...

Bloomberg When it comes to helping employees balance work hours with relaxation, Acuity Insurance Chief Executive Officer Ben Salzmann has a unique tool at his disposal: a 65-foot Ferris wheel. Before the pandemic struck, Salzmann would regularly fire up the amusement-park staple inside the company’s Sheboygan, Wisconsin, headquarters. About twice a month, employees were invited to bring their families in ...

Bloomberg A group of Italian investors may bid for London Stock Exchange Group Plc’s Borsa Italiana unit, amid government pressure to keep an asset that’s considered strategic in “Italian hands,” Corriere della Sera reported. The potential investors include banks, Italy’s state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, insurance firms and state-backed funds such as Fondo Strategico Italiano and F2i SGR SpA, ...

Bloomberg Hammerson Plc, which owns about a dozen large UK malls, aims to raise $785 million from a rights issue, Sky News reported. The owner of the Bullring in Birmingham and the Brent Cross shopping center in north London is seeking extra cash as coronavirus crisis slashes revenues for landlords, Sky reported, without saying where it got the information. Lazard ...

Bloomberg Microsoft Corp. is exploring an acquisition of TikTok’s operations in the US, according to a people familiar with the matter. A deal would give the software company a popular social-media service and relieve US government pressure on the Chinese owner of the video-sharing app. The Trump administration has been weighing whether to direct China-based ByteDance Ltd. to divest its ...

Bloomberg Apple Inc. has acquired Mobeewave Inc., a startup with technology that could transform iPhones into mobile payment terminals. Mobeewave’s technology lets shoppers tap their credit card or smartphone on another phone to process a payment. The system works with an app and doesn’t require hardware beyond a Near Field Communications, or NFC, chip, which iPhones have included since 2014. ...