Bloomberg North Korea claimed it had successfully test launched a newly developed anti-aircraft missile a day after the country’s leader, Kim jong-un, called President Joe Biden’s North Korea policy a “petty trick†— escalating tensions with Washington. The test was of “very practical significance in studying and developing various prospective anti-aircraft missile systems,†the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) ...
Read More »Johnson’s magic touch helps Tories rise above Brexit Britain chaos
Bloomberg Moments after Boris Johnson told Parliament he planned to break a key election pledge and raise taxes on British workers, a WhatsApp message popped up on the phones of Conservative MPs: “PM in the tearoom now.†Johnson’s charm is by far his strongest political asset and the prime minister put it to work, mug in hand, to calm his ...
Read More »Duterte to retire from politics, not to run for vice president
Bloomberg Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he’s retiring from politics and won’t be seeking the vice presidency in 2022, a surprise move that saw his party’s nominee for the top position instead seek the No. 2 post. Duterte’s former aide and now Senator Christopher ‘Bong’ Go filed his candidacy for vice president. Go had been earlier nominated by the ruling ...
Read More »Georgia’s ex-leader jailed as nation goes to polls
Bloomberg Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, detained as the country prepared for local elections, urged his supporters to get out and vote against the incumbent party. Saakashvili, who returned from eight years in exile in defiance of warnings he’d be prosecuted for alleged abuse of power, was moved to the Rustavi prison, near the capital, Tbilisi. The government has accused ...
Read More »France’s Le Drian to hold talks with US’ Blinken
Bloomberg French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian is expected to hold talks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Paris next Tuesday, in a bid to improve ties after the recent diplomatic crisis between the two countries. The two ministers will hold in-depth talks “in o rder to identify the steps that could allow the restoration of ...
Read More »Japan’s banks desperate hunt for yield draws more scrutiny
Bloomberg Japan’s financial regulator (FSA) is keeping a closer watch on the nation’s banks and insurers as their drawn out hunt for yield pushes them into riskier non-traditional assets. After years of ultra-low interest rates and record levels of deposits, it’s “inevitable†that firms are taking bigger risks, according to Toshinori Yashiki, who’s in charge of assessing risk at banks ...
Read More »BofA outage shuts out thousands online
Bloomberg Bank of America Corp.’s (BofA) online-banking platform went down for several hours, leaving thousands of customers locked out of their accounts before service was restored. The outage started in the morning and began to be resolved midday. Bank of America’s website and app were both at full capacity in New York, according to a company spokesman. “Today, some of ...
Read More »Amazon launches $1000 voice-controlled robot
Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc unveiled a home robot called Astro, a screen on wheels that works with the company’s Alexa voice software. The $1,000 bot, which Bloomberg first reported was in development in 2018, was shown at an Amazon event checking on pets while a user was away and following a child through the home during a video call. The device’s ...
Read More »YouTube to remove videos with Covid-19 vaccine misinformation
Bloomberg YouTube will begin removing content questioning any approved medical vaccine, not just those for Covid-19, a departure from the video site’s historically hands-off approach. The division of Alphabet Inc’s Google announced that it will extend its policy against misinformation to cover all vaccines that health authorities consider effective. The ban will include any media that claims vaccines are dangerous ...
Read More »Volvo reveals new materials for its leather-free cars
Bloomberg Fashion houses such as Stella McCartney and Victoria Beckham have long eschewed animal products in their wares, while automakers including Audi, BMW, Land Rover, and Tesla offer leather-free and sustainable interiors as options in their cars. So far, Volvo is among the very few brands to say it will not offer any leather at all, even as an option, ...
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