March, 2022

• 24 March

  Vaccine passports likely to become unnecessary: Goh

  Bloomberg Vaccine passports will probably become redundant as more people are inoculated against Covid, and efforts to create a common standard are stymied by differing entry requirements, the head of the world’s biggest airline alliance said. “There’s no way that this has been integrated in one place,” Star Alliance Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Goh said in an interview in Singapore. ...

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• 24 March

  Amazon halts work on San Francisco depot

    Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc has stopped work on a new warehouse in San Francisco after the city’s Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to implement a moratorium on new parcel delivery services there. The incident is the latest flashpoint between Amazon and some of the communities where it’s setting up shop amid a rapid expansion of its urban presence. The world’s ...

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• 24 March

  Nato boosts forces in east amid warnings on chemical incidents

  

  Bloomberg Nato agreed to boost its deployments in the eastern portion of the defense alliance, doubling the number of battle groups to eight, as the US said it is working with Nato to prepare for possible biological or nuclear incidents by Russia. The world’s leading developed nations plan to warn President Vladimir Putin against deploying such weapons amid his stalled ...

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• 24 March

  US hits Russian lawmakers, firms with new sanctions

  

  Bloomberg The US announced a new package of sanctions on Russian elites, lawmakers and defense companies, punishments designed to ramp up pressure on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. The measures announced Thursday during summit meetings between President Joe Biden and Nato, as well as the Group of Seven, will be followed by others to reduce Europe’s reliance on Russian ...

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• 24 March

  North Korea fires first ICBM since days of ‘fire and fury’

  

  Bloomberg North Korea launched what appeared to be its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in more than four years, as Kim Jong-un finally abandoned a testing freeze that had underpinned an unprecedented wave of talks with the US. The missile was launched from the Sunan area outside Pyongyang on Thursday, reaching an altitude of 6,200 kilometres (3,900 miles) and traveling ...

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• 24 March

  China’s Yi meets Taliban leaders in Kabul

  

    Bloomberg Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in Kabul unannounced and held talks with the Taliban’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and others leaders, his first visit since the militant group seized power last year. “Important issues” related to joint efforts in alleviating the country’s humanitarian crisis and improving bilateral trade were on the agenda, the Taliban’s deputy spokesman ...

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• 24 March

  Ramaphosa defends S Africa’s neutral stance on Russia’s war

  

  Bloomberg President Cyril Ramaphosa defended South Africa’s neutral stance towards Russia’s war with Ukraine, saying it placed him in a stronger position to help mediate an end to the conflict. “Neutrality can cost and fortunately we’re not alone in all this, there are many others that have chosen the same path,” Ramaphosa said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on ...

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• 24 March

  SNB tolerates franc strength, keeps up intervention threat

  

  Bloomberg Switzerland’s central bank refrained from sounding the alarm about the exchange rate despite the first breach of parity with the euro since 2015, as it warned that the war in Ukraine could hurt economic growth. Reflecting a restrained reaction to gains in the currency since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) stuck with its description ...

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• 24 March

  India’s big banks score poorly on climate challenge

  

    Bloomberg Banks in the world’s third-biggest polluting nation are poorly prepared to combat rising global warming risks, according to a new study by local research and advisory group Climate Risk Horizons. None of the 34 Indian banks surveyed in the report have a long-term net zero target year with an implementation plan covering so-called scope 1, 2 and 3 ...

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• 24 March

  RBNZ cash rate hikes ‘appropriate’ in near term: IMF

  

    Bloomberg New Zealand’s central bank should continue with the swift normalisation of monetary policy to curb a growing inflation threat, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). “Given New Zealand’s strong cyclical position and inflationary pressures, significant increases in the official cash rate in the near term are appropriate,” the IMF said in the Concluding Statement of its Article ...

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