January, 2021

• 18 January

  Couche-Tard, Carrefour close merger talks, consider alliance

  

  Bloomberg Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc and France’s Carrefour SA abandoned talks on a proposed $20 billion merger following stiff opposition from the French finance minister, and will look instead at forming a looser alliance. The companies will now consider how to work together on fuel purchases, branding and distribution where their networks overlap, the companies said in a joint statement. ...

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• 18 January

  All inbound travellers to take virus tests in S’pore

  

  Bloomberg Singapore will require all inbound travellers to take a Covid test upon arrival in the city-state from January 25 amid a resurgence of cases globally, the Ministry of Health said in a statement. Citizens and permanent residents of Singapore who return from either the United Kingdom or South Africa will also be subject to an additional seven-day self-isolation at ...

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• 18 January

  Grounded flights send US jet fuel prices sliding again

  Bloomberg The new wave of lockdowns around the world is sending US jet fuel prices slumping and exports slowing to a trickle all over again. It’s not as bad as the crash last April, but the headwinds the aviation market still faces before vaccines bring life to normal are increasingly showing. Benchmark jet fuel prices in New York and Houston ...

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• 18 January

  Uniqlo owner’s stock hits record as shoppers go casual in pandemic

  

  Bloomberg Fast Retailing Co’s lineup of functional and casual attire continued to lure value-conscious shoppers whose preferences are changing in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, helping to push the Uniqlo operator’s first-quarter earnings close to an all-time high. Operating profit rose 23% to 113.1 billion yen ($1.1 billion) in the three months ended on November 30, according to a ...

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• 18 January

  Buyers hunt down ‘right bacteria’ in fermented food craze

  

  Bloomberg With fermented foods reaching near-cult status for the health-obsessed, consumers have started hunting for the perfect bacteria. As a result, brand awareness — and the marketing that comes with it — has now made its way into the world of food cultures, according to Mauricio Graber, the chief executive of Denmark’s Chr Hansen Holding A/S, the world’s biggest maker ...

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• 18 January

  Beyond Meat jumps on Taco Bell plan

  Bloomberg Taco Bell said it will begin testing a Beyond Meat menu item in the US, sending the faux-meat maker’s shares higher. The fast-food chain, a division of Yum! Brands Inc, said the companies are working together to create “an innovative new plant-based protein” that will be tested in the next year. Taco Bell cited Beyond’s “record of attracting younger ...

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• 18 January

  Biden’s inauguration ceremony curtailed by security, virus risks

  

  Bloomberg Joe Biden will take the oath of office as president in a ceremony dramatically reshaped by the coronavirus pandemic and still-simmering threats of violence in Washington, casting a pall over the quadrennial celebration of American democracy. His swearing-in at the US Capitol on Wednesday will come amid an unprecedented cordon of security, with strict physical distancing measures in place ...

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• 18 January

  Putin critic Navalny’s detention in Moscow condemned by West

  

  Bloomberg Russian police detained opposition leader Alexey Navalny, an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin, as he arrived in Moscow after being treated in Germany for poisoning, drawing immediate criticism from the US and Europe. Navalny, 44, was met by officers at passport control as he landed in Moscow on a plane from Berlin, according to a live video feed ...

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• 18 January

  South Korea seeks early Biden summit to revive talks with Kim

  

  Bloomberg South Korea’s Moon Jae-in said he would push for an early summit with US President-elect Joe Biden to revive nuclear talks stalled for much of the past two years. The South Korean president told his annual new year’s news conference Monday that he wanted to work with the incoming US administration to “reaffirm our consensus on the peace process ...

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• 18 January

  Tunisian police arrest hundreds of protesters as PM plans new cabinet

  

  Bloomberg Tunisian police arrested hundreds of people during several nights of unrest over growing economic hardships and political paralysis a decade after the protests that ignited the Arab Spring uprisings. The army has deployed troops in several cities, including the capital, to halt the looting of shops and banks and attacks on public buildings. Defying a curfew imposed to contain ...

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