Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) — The premier of Canada’s biggest province declared a state of emergency, warning protesters choking off traffic at a key U.S. border crossing they face stiff punishment if they don’t leave. 

About 4,000 unvaccinated New York City employees, including police officers, teachers and firefighters, face termination Friday. Amazon.com Inc. is lifting mask requirements for fully vaccinated warehouse workers.

U.S. health officials postponed a key meeting on Pfizer Inc.’s vaccine for children under age 5, after the drugmaker said it has new data to add to its application for clearance.

France, Belgium and the Netherlands are relaxing restrictions as infections fall. Hong Kong reported a record 1,325 new cases and extended a flight ban on eight countries.

Key Developments:

• Virus Tracker: Cases top 407.4 million; deaths pass 5.79 million
• Vaccine Tracker: More than 10.3 billion shots administered
• Mask guidelines around U.S. ease, bringing confusion and relief
• Wall Street bosses push ‘live with it’ mindset in office return
• Hong Kong risks everything with ‘impossible’ Covid-zero goal
• Why China is sticking with its Covid-zero strategy: QuickTake

France Eases Travel Restrictions (2:01 p.m. NY)

France is lifting some travel restrictions imposed to counter the omicron variant of the coronavirus, the French Prime Minister office said in an emailed statement.

Starting Saturday, vaccinated travelers won’t need to take a test to enter France, regardless of the country of origin. Unvaccinated travelers still have to show a negative test, but the testing and isolation requirement is lifted if they come from countries on the “green” list, where the virus has a moderate presence.

FDA Postpones Meeting on Shot for Youngest (1:54 p.m. NY)

U.S. health officials postponed a key meeting on Pfizer Inc.’s vaccine for children under age 5, after the drugmaker said it has new data to add to its application for clearance.

The Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory committee had been planning to consider a two-dose regimen of the shot. The delay is to allow the company and its partner BioNTech SE to gather and evaluate more information on the impact of a third dose, agency officials said in a statement.

Belgium to Lift Most Restrictions (11:40 a.m. NY)

Belgium agreed to loosen most of the virus restrictions it introduced late last year now that all but one of the indicators used to monitor the surge of the omicron variant show that the outbreak is past its peak.

Starting on Feb. 18, the requirement to work from home four days a week will disappear and become a recommendation, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said Friday. At that time, nightclubs will also reopen, pubs and restaurants won’t face a mandatory closing hour or table limits, and a ban on events with moving crowds will subside, along with the obligation for children younger than 12 to wear masks.

Judge Blocks Biden Contractor Mandate (11:38 a.m. NY)

An Arizona judge issued a final judgment in a challenge to President Joe Biden’s executive order requiring Covid-19 vaccines for federal contractor workers, shielding the state’s employees and companies that do business with the government from the mandate.

Judge Michael Liburdi of the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona in Phoenix on Thursday granted a permanent injunction against the executive order, after a previous order from January that temporarily blocked its enforcement and didn’t define its full scope. Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich sued over the vaccine requirement, saying it exceeded the scope of executive power.

The mandate, which was set to take effect in January, would apply to federal contractors — roughly a fifth of the U.S. workforce — and includes companies such as Lockheed Martin Corp., Microsoft Corp., Alphabet Inc.‘s Google, and General Motors Co.

Dutch Nightclubs to Defy Restrictions (11:15 a.m. NY)

Nightclubs in the Netherlands are planning to open their doors to the public on Saturday night in defiance of Covid-19 restrictions.

“The Night Rises” campaign was launched to protest government rules that force bars, clubs and cafes to shut at 10 p.m. Clubs taking part in the movement are estimated to have sold around 20,000 tickets, according to Dutch news agency ANP. 

Ontario Declares Emergency Over Protests (10:59 a.m. NY)

The premier of Canada’s biggest province declared a state of emergency, warning protesters choking off traffic at a key U.S. border crossing they face stiff punishment if they don’t leave.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, in a news conference Friday alongside his solicitor general, said the government is enacting new powers to end the blockade, including issuing fines of up to C$100,000 ($78,800) and jail time. 

“We will also provide additional authority to consider taking away the personal and commercial licenses of anyone who doesn’t comply with these orders.,” Ford said, according to prepared remarks.

Pandemic End ‘in Our Hands,’ WHO Chief Says (10:45 a.m. NY)

The director-general of the World Health Organization said he expects the acute phase of the pandemic to end this year on condition that about 70% of the global population are vaccinated by June or July. 

“It’s in our hands,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Cape Town, South Africa. “We will continue to play hide and seek with this virus” if people don’t get inoculated and there is a risk that new Covid-19 variants will emerge. 

NYC’s Unvaccinated Workers Face Firing (10:31 a.m. NY)

About 4,000 unvaccinated New York City employees, including police officers, teachers and firefighters, face termination Friday.

Jobs are at risk for about 3,000 workers who took unpaid leave instead of getting vaccinated when the city’s mandate took effect in October, as well as about 1,000 recent hires who haven’t submitted documentation of their second shots. About 95% of the 370,000 city workers have received at least one dose. 

Amazon Eases Mask Rules (10:27 a.m. NY)

Amazon.com Inc. is lifting mask requirements for fully vaccinated warehouse workers and adjusting its paid leave policy, a return to normalcy as U.S. states relax Covid-19 restrictions.

The world’s largest online retailer said workers can start going maskless on Friday, “where permitted by local regulations.” Amazon also said that, starting March 18, workers who test positive for the coronavirus must have received two shots of the vaccine to receive paid sick leave. The company spent billions of dollars during the pandemic to help Covid-proof its U.S. facilities.

French ‘Freedom Convoys’ Head to Paris (6:31 a.m. NY)

Protesters against France’s Covid-19 vaccine passes began driving toward Paris on Friday to attempt to block the capital, inspired by “freedom convoys” that began in Canada.

On Facebook and Telegram, people shared videos of cars setting off from across the country, including Strasbourg, in the east, Brittany, in the west, the region around Lille, in the north, and Lyon, south of Paris.

South Africa Extends Final State of Disaster (6:12 a.m. NY)

Cabinet approved the final extension of the national state of disaster to March 15, according to a statement released on Friday by South Africa’s Ministry in the Presidency.

EU Studies Vaccines’ Affect on Women’s Periods (6:23 p.m. HK) 

Europe’s drug regulator will revisit evidence linking Covid-19 immunization to changes in women’s menstrual cycles after an earlier agency analysis ruled out an association.

Reports of delayed periods or heavy bleeding in women who received shots from Moderna Inc. and the partners Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE prompted the European Medicines Agency to conduct further assessments of the risk, the regulator said Friday.   

Indonesia Adds Most Deaths Since September (5:57 p.m. HK)

Indonesia reported 100 deaths from Covid-19 in a day, the highest since September, as the jump in cases starts to send more people to hospitals.

The government is grappling with a surge in cases as the more transmissible omicron variant spreads through the country, with 40,489 new infections reported on Friday. Fatalities are starting to catch up along with hospitalizations. More than 50% of beds dedicated for the pandemic handling are filled with patients in Jakarta and Bali, from as low as 2% at the end of last year.

Hong Kong Cases Top 1,000 (5:50 p.m. HK)

Hong Kong reported another record number of coronavirus cases, as well as two more deaths, with the worsening outbreak straining health-care resources and ramping up pressure on the government’s steadfast push for Covid Zero.

Authorities announced 1,325 infections on Friday, alongside more than 1,500 preliminary positive cases. That’s up from just 614 on Monday. The city said it would extend flight bans on eight countries including the U.S., U.K., and Australia to March 4, and added Nepal to the group as well.

Germany Looks to Ease Pandemic Curbs (5:35 p.m. HK)

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Germany could loosen some pandemic restrictions next week as the country’s outbreak shows signs of peaking.

While contagion rates are continuing to post records on a daily basis, the pace of the increases have slowed. Meanwhile, Covid-19 cases in intensive-care facilities are less than half the level in early December. That’s prompted calls for easing curbs.

Czech Republic Cases Slow (5:22 p.m. HK)

The Czech Republic reported 22,663 new cases of Covid-19 in 24 hours through Thursday, the lowest weekday number in more than three weeks. The nation of 10.7 million had 3,708 patients with Covid-19 in hospitals, according to the health ministry data.

Spain Eases Curbs for Teenage Tourists (4:57 p.m. HK)

Spain eased Covid-19 rules for teenage holidaymakers from countries outside of the European Union such as the U.K., giving a boost to the tourism industry in the Canary Islands and other winter sun destinations.

From Feb. 14, foreign visitors aged 12-17 from non-EU countries who don’t have a valid vaccination certificate can enter Spain if they can show a negative PCR or similar Covid-19 test taken 72 hours before arrival, the industry, trade and tourism ministry said in a statement. 

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©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

(Bloomberg) — Paul Conway, the U.S. media executive turned European football club owner, is targeting one of the region’s elite teams for his next bet on the sport.

Conway said he’s looking to take a minority stake in a club with an enterprise value of $250 million to $500 million in one of Europe’s top five leagues in England, Spain, Germany, Italy or France. Any deal will be funded by Counter Press Acquisition Corp., a blank-check firm he set up with partners including investor Michael Kalt. 

“We like the macro environment of football in Europe and will be looking for clubs that are well run on the football side,” Conway said Friday in an interview. “There are lots of historic names in European cities, and some have been impacted by Covid.”

It could mark one of Conway’s biggest investments in European football to date and one of the most high profile since last year’s 305 million-pound ($415 million) takeover of English club Newcastle United FC by Saudi Arabia’s wealth fund.

Counter Press Acquisition raised $75 million in its U.S. initial public offering this week to target deals in the sports, media and data-analytics sectors.

Special purpose acquisition companies, which raise money in the public markets to fund takeovers of privately-held targets, have become a favorite tool for business leaders to strike deals across industries. Firmly established in the U.S., SPACs are gaining popularity in Europe.

Counter Press’s other directors include Randy Frankel, co-owner of the Tampa Bay Rays, and Kalt, a former executive at the Major League Baseball team. The pair have invested alongside Conway in previous football deals. 

U.S. investors have been pouring money into the world’s most popular sport in the hope of earning stable returns. Conway is one of a number of Florida-based financiers pursuing a multiclub ownership model.

Data Driven

Pacific Media Group, an investment company co-founded by Conway and Chien Lee, already holds stakes in teams including AS Nancy of France, Barnsley FC in the U.K., Denmark’s Esbjerg fB, FC Thun of Switzerland and KV Oostende in Belgium. Conway is a former owner of French Ligue 1 team OGC Nice.

Proponents of the multiclub strategy point to cost synergies and the potential to strike more lucrative sponsorship deals. Critics say it stifles competition and creates feeder teams with no real prospect of success. Two of Conway’s teams, Barnsley and Nancy, are in the midst of battling relegation from their respective leagues.

A former Oppenheimer & Co. banker, Conway advocates the high-pressing style that’s become popular in Europe’s top leagues. Ensuring a common approach to playing this way means it’s easy to move players around his clubs if and when the need arises. 

Conway’s teams rely heavily on data analysis when recruiting and developing young talent. Andrew Friedman, a senior executive at the MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers known for his use of data analytics, is also listed as a director at the Counter Press SPAC. Another is Julie Uhrman, the president of Angel City Football Club, a Los Angeles women’s team she co-founded with actress and activist Natalie Portman. 

“Our pitch is compelling to clubs that have been around for 100 years or so. Through the public vehicle they can feel more connected,” Conway said.

Pacific Media has yet to invest in Germany and doing so could be harder to negotiate. German rules on professional football-club ownership prevent a commercial investor from holding more than 49% of the voting shares in a team, to prevent the prioritization of profit over supporters’ wishes. German soccer credits the so-called 50+1 edict for keeping club wages and ticket prices low compared with other major leagues in Europe.

Read more: Florida Cash Chases the World’s Favorite Sport

(Updates with details on timing of SPAC’s IPO in fifth paragraph)

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©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

(Bloomberg) — Twitter Inc. has fixed a “technical bug” that caused an outage for some users on Friday, meaning people couldn’t send tweets or load the timeline.

Complaints about the social-networking service spiked around 12:30 p.m. New York time, according to Downdetector. The outage-tracking website registered about 40,000 reports of problems at the peak.

Twitter tweeted that the problem was fixed about an hour later. 

“We’ve fixed a technical bug that was preventing timelines from loading and tweets from posting,” the company said from its support account. “Things should be back to normal now. Sorry for the interruption!”

(updates with Twitter’s fix)

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©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

(Bloomberg) — While Bitcoin’s price has meandered the last few days, the largest cryptocurrency by market value has staged a modest under-the-radar recovery from its wintertime swoon. 

Bitcoin is on pace to post its third consecutive weekly increase, climbing almost 19% during the stretch, to trade around $43,500 as of 1:06 p.m. in New York. It dropped below $33,000 on Jan. 24, a decline of more than 50% from its all-time high of almost $69,000 reached in early November.  

The crypto market has been rattled as of late by growing expectations that central banks, led by the Federal Reserve, are poised to pull back on the pandemic-era stimulus that many observers credit for fueling the surge in risk assets over the past few years. 

Sam Doctor, chief strategy officer and head of research at Bitooda Holdings Inc., said risk assets, including crypto, could enter a period of modest out-performance once the Fed begins to raise rates at their meeting in March.

“We’re still in a low-rate environment,” Doctor said. “History at least suggests that risk assets tend to do well early in a tightening cycle. The market is still digesting the tightening cycle that is just beginning.”  

Bitcoin’s identity as a real inflationary asset is “increasingly asserting itself amongst investors, and consequently being increasingly sensitive to news on inflation and rates,” according to James Butterfill, head of research at CoinShares. 

“These price moves also highlight how investors perception of Bitcoin as an asset class is maturing, as in recent months we have increasingly seen price responses such as these following macro data releases,” Butterfill said.

Vetle Lunde, a research analyst at Arcane Research, said that individual equity-related news, such as earnings reports, briefly appeared to have less of an effect on crypto.  

“We saw signs of Bitcoin decoupling from the equity markets following disappointing fourth-quarter results from Meta and other tech companies last week,” he said. “However, as soon as the spicy inflation numbers ticked in, markets reacted promptly.”

The assets classes continue to mimic each others movements, particularly the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index. The correlation between the two stands at 0.42.    

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©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

(Bloomberg) — Russia pushed back after NATO and the European Union said they’d only provide a collective response to its proposals on a regional security framework. Moscow had been seeking individual replies from each member nation of the EU.

Western allies are seeking to show unity in the face of Russia’s military buildup near the Ukraine border, bolstering NATO’s eastern flank with added troops and threatening joint sanctions against Moscow if it were to invade Ukraine, something Russia says it has no intention of doing. U.S. President Joe Biden said conditions in the region could “go crazy quickly” as he urged Americans to leave Ukraine, and he is holding a call Friday with other leaders to discuss the tensions.

Russia and Belarus are holding their largest joint military exercises in years through Feb. 20 near Ukraine’s border as well as those of NATO members Poland and Lithuania. The top U.S. military official spoke with his Belarusian counterpart to avoid a “miscalculation” around the drills. 

Key Developments

• Russia Starts Major Military Drills in Belarus as NATO Watches
• Russia and Europe Are Vital to Each Other When It Comes to Oil
• What we know so far about potential U.S.-EU sanctions on Russia
• Where Military Forces Are Assembling Around Russia and Ukraine
• EU to Send Russia Joint Security Reply, Snubbing Lavrov Demand

All times CET.

U.K.’s Wallace Meets Russia Counterparts, Says Talks Constructive (5:55 p.m.)

U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said he received fresh assurances Russia won’t invade Ukraine, having held talks Friday with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov in Moscow. Still, Russian forces have the capability to attack Ukraine “at any time,” he told reporters.

The talks with Shoigu were constructive and frank, Wallace said. “He is a professional, he is a very experienced minister, as is General Gerasimov. And when they say to me they are not going to invade Ukraine we will take that seriously. But as I have also said, we will look at the actions that accompany it.”

U.S. and Allies Set to Speak By Phone Friday on Russia Tensions (3:56 p.m.)

Western leaders will hold a joint call at 5pm CET on Russia’s military buildup, according to statements from the U.S. and others confirming a Bloomberg report from Thursday. Alongside the so-called NATO Quint group — U.S., Germany, France, Italy and the U.K. — the leaders of Poland, Romania, Canada and the EU will take part.

The Quint group has convened numerous times in recent weeks at different levels to coordinate on talks with the Kremlin and discuss a potential package of sanctions in the event Russia attacked Ukraine. The call also follows a flurry of diplomacy this week including a visit to both Russia and Ukraine by French President Emmanuel Macron. 

Russia Navy Exercises Cause Unease Among Grain Shippers (3:31 p.m.)

Ukraine’s grain shippers echoed assurances from the economy ministry that Russian naval drills shouldn’t block access to the nation’s ports, but warned that the uncertainty risks deterring some vessel owners. 

Moscow will begin full-scale naval exercises in the Black Sea on Sunday, after announcing the start of drills on Thursday. That unnerved commodity markets as Ukraine is the world’s No. 2 grain shipper. 

The drills, to take place in blocks of international waters as well as those claimed since 2014 by Russia along the coast of Crimea, should leave space for ships to reach ports such as Odessa and Chornomorsk via the 12 mile (19.3-kilometer) territorial waters of Romania and Ukraine. But the exercises have further fueled market fears that Russia’s military buildup could yet spiral into a conflict, said Mykola Horbachov, president of Ukraine’s Grain Association.

Ukraine Grain Shippers Say Russian Drills Risk Deterring Vessels

Russia Says Can’t Accept EU, NATO Answers (1:42 p.m.) 

Russia said it won’t accept the collective response of NATO and the European Union to its proposals on European security.

The demand for the respect of the principle of “indivisible security” in Europe was made in a letter sent by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to his counterparts in 37 countries in Europe and North America, the Foreign Ministry said in a website statement.

Instead of individual answers, Russia has received letters from NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg and the EU’s foreign policy chief, said the ministry, which added that it is “waiting for a detailed response to the question we posed from every addressee.”

White House in Touch With Chip Sector (1:23 p.m.)

Officials with the White House’s National Security Council contacted the U.S. chip industry about supplies from Russia and Ukraine, Reuters reported Friday. 

The NSC urged seeking alternative supplies in case Moscow blocks access to semiconductor-grade neon from Ukraine or palladium from Russia. 

NATO Chief Cites Potential for Hybrid Attack on Ukraine Government (11:31 a.m.)

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg cited the “real risk” of conflict as Russia’s military buildup continues. The military alliance chief said potential scenarios include hybrid warfare or attempts to bring down Ukraine’s government. 

“There’s a risk for a full-fledged invasion, but there’s also a risk for other types of aggressive actions, including attempts to topple the government in Kyiv, hybrid cyberattacks, and many other types of Russian aggression,” Stoltenberg told reporters in Romania at an air base near the Black Sea. 

Speaking alongside Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, Stoltenberg said allies would seek an expanded presence on NATO’s southeastern flank, including battalion-sized battle groups in Romania and elsewhere.

Blinken Says Asia is Watching Ukraine Tension (10:11 a.m.) 

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the world’s response to the Ukraine crisis was being watched by “others,” in a pointed reference to China’s territorial claims in Asia. 

Blinken said countries shouldn’t change the borders of other nations by force or dictate to another government. If these actions are allowed it affects basic principles established after two World Wars and the Cold War, he added in remarks to reporters after meeting with Quad foreign ministers in Melbourne.  

Saab CEO Sees Defense Interest Rising (10:20 a.m.) 

Swedish defense group Saab AB is seeing greater interest from countries looking to improve their defense abilities in the light of rising political tensions in parts of Europe. 

While purchases of Saab’s flagship jet fighter typically take years to fulfill, products like sensors for monitoring or ammunition for support weapons and missile systems are examples of orders that customers want to place quickly, Chief Executive Officer Micael Johansson said Friday following the company’s fourth-quarter results.  

U.S., Belarus Army Chiefs Spoke to Avoid Drill ‘Miscalculation’ (9:13 a.m.)

Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley spoke by phone with Belarusian counterpart Viktor Gulevich on Thursday to discuss “security issues,” the Belarusian defense ministry said on its website, adding that the conversation was initiated by the American side.

The call was done to “reduce chances of miscalculation” during the large Russia-Belarus joint drills now under way in Belarus, the Pentagon said in a readout. 

Thousands of troops backed by tanks, fighter aircraft and advanced S-400 missile-defense systems are involved in the exercises in Belarus, set to run until Feb. 20. 

Russia Duma Mulls Appeal To Recognize Donbas Separatists (6:53 a.m.) 

The lower house of Russia’s parliament will start talks on a proposal to formally recognize separatist authorities in Ukraine’s Donbas, a move that, if approved, could hamper peace efforts and fuel tensions.

Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said the State Duma’s council will decide Monday how to proceed with a proposal made in January to vote on an appeal to President Vladimir Putin to recognize the so-called People’s Republics in Donetsk and Luhansk.

Russia has supported the breakaway quasi-states militarily and financially since their formation in 2014, though officially it denies that and backs a peace plan that calls for their reintegration into Ukraine. Recognition could complicate efforts to implement that pact and potentially pave the way for Moscow to openly supply more weapons to the republics, something the ruling party has already proposed. The timeline for any possible moves toward recognition remains unclear. 

Talks in Berlin Fail to Reach Accord, May Resume (12:45 a.m.) 

Talks intended to revive the 2015 Minsk accord to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine ended Thursday after more than nine hours with no report of progress, but a Ukrainian official said they could restart “soon.” 

Diplomats close to the talks said the next meeting would be in March. Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of failing to adhere to the 2015 agreement to halt fighting in Ukraine’s Donbas region. 

Dmitry Kozak, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, told reporters in Berlin that “we deeply regret” the current situation remaining in a “stalemate.”  

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©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

(Bloomberg) —

There’s no let-up in European football’s breakneck pursuit of money from the world of crypto.

In the past week alone, Spanish club Sevilla and English Premier League team Crystal Palace launched tokens that allow supporters to buy services and vote on issues such as the color of the team’s shirts. Manchester United, the biggest club in England by number of fans, agreed to a sponsorship deal with Tezos, a blockchain company.

Meanwhile, Manchester United is also among the teams that have held talks with Binance, the blockchain giant that already has fan token deals with Italy’s Lazio and Portugal’s Porto, according to people familiar with the situation. Others include Newcastle United and Liverpool, they said. The three English clubs declined to comment. A Binance spokesman said the company is talking with numerous sports teams to explore potential partnerships. 

It may be risky, but the attraction is obvious for a sport whose finances were battered by the pandemic, as stadiums were shut and leagues suspended while players’ wages rose ever higher. Crypto offers another source of money through digital merchandising and sponsorship from a growth industry. 

Crypto and Sports: A Marriage Made in … Well, We’ll See

Revenue from sales of non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, for sports media are expected to generate more than $2 billion in transactions in 2022, about double the figure for 2021, according to a report by Deloitte published in December.

“Every sports entity will embrace it one way or another,” said Alex Dreyfus, chief executive officer of Socios, the fan token specialist behind the deals with Crystal Palace and Sevilla. The company has about 60 similar agreements with top European teams, he said in an interview.

Treading Carefully

Yet, for some clubs — as for many investors — crypto remains a bit of a minefield. Some teams are concerned about a hit to their reputation among fans should they get it wrong. 

That’s one of the issues being considered by Saudi-backed Newcastle, a person familiar with the club’s thinking said. They declined to be identified while talks are ongoing. Binance is also keen to avoid any controversy around the kingdom’s financial support for the team, another person said.

Fellow Premier League team Wolverhampton Wanderers is also taking its time. It agreed last June for Turkish crypto company Bitci to become a shirt sleeve sponsor. Bitci also announced it would introduce a Wolves fan token. Eight months later and the token is marked “soon” on Bitci’s website. 

Wolves is still carrying out due diligence, people familiar with the situation said. The club declined to comment. Bitci CEO Onur Altan Tan said by text that everything was still on track. “It is on the way. Payments to the team are done. Everything has been fulfilled,” he said.

Arsenal Warning

Other clubs have been stung. In December, the U.K.’s advertising watchdog described marketing of fan tokens being promoted by London team Arsenal through Socios as “irresponsible.” “We take our responsibilities with regard to marketing to our fans very seriously,” Arsenal said in a statement, adding it would seek a review of the ruling.

Spanish club Real Sociedad’s balance sheet was left with a hole of more than 800,000 euros ($913,000) after fan engagement platform IQONIQ, its main sponsor last season, ran into trouble. 

“Like with the Internet in the early 2000s, there is understandable skepticism about crypo-based products,” Socios CEO Dreyfus said this week. “But they allow the creation of a new range of products that are valuable for users and scaleable for teams.” 

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©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

(Bloomberg) — The premier of Canada’s biggest province declared a state of emergency, warning protesters choking off traffic at a key U.S. border crossing they face stiff punishment if they don’t leave.

Protesters in France, inspired by Canada’s demonstrations, began driving toward Paris to attempt to block the capital. 

About 4,000 unvaccinated New York City employees, including police officers, teachers and firefighters, face termination Friday. Amazon.com Inc. is lifting mask requirements for fully vaccinated warehouse workers.

Hong Kong and Chinese authorities will hold a meeting this weekend to discuss ways to stem the city’s ballooning outbreak. Authorities reported a record 1,325 new cases and extended a flight ban on eight countries.

Key Developments:

• Virus Tracker: Cases top 406.9 million; deaths pass 5.79 million
• Vaccine Tracker: More than 10.3 billion shots administered
• Mask guidelines around U.S. ease, bringing confusion and relief
• Wall Street bosses push ‘live with it’ mindset in office return
• Hong Kong risks everything with ‘impossible’ Covid-zero goal
• Why China is sticking with its Covid-zero strategy: QuickTake

Belgium to Lift Most Restrictions (11:40 a.m. NY)

Belgium agreed to loosen most of the virus restrictions it introduced late last year now that all but one of the indicators used to monitor the surge of the omicron variant show that the outbreak is past its peak.

Starting on Feb. 18, the requirement to work from home four days a week will disappear and become a recommendation, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said Friday. At that time, nightclubs will also reopen, pubs and restaurants won’t face a mandatory closing hour or table limits, and a ban on events with moving crowds will subside, along with the obligation for children younger than 12 to wear masks.

Judge Blocks Biden Contractor Mandate (11:38 a.m. NY)

An Arizona judge issued a final judgment in a challenge to President Joe Biden’s executive order requiring Covid-19 vaccines for federal contractor workers, shielding the state’s employees and companies that do business with the government from the mandate.

Judge Michael Liburdi of the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona in Phoenix on Thursday granted a permanent injunction against the executive order, after a previous order from January that temporarily blocked its enforcement and didn’t define its full scope. Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich sued over the vaccine requirement, saying it exceeded the scope of executive power.

The mandate, which was set to take effect in January, would apply to federal contractors — roughly a fifth of the U.S. workforce — and includes companies such as Lockheed Martin Corp., Microsoft Corp., Alphabet Inc.‘s Google, and General Motors Co.

Dutch Nightclubs to Defy Restrictions (11:15 a.m. NY)

Nightclubs in the Netherlands are planning to open their doors to the public on Saturday night in defiance of Covid-19 restrictions.

“The Night Rises” campaign was launched to protest government rules that force bars, clubs and cafes to shut at 10 p.m. Clubs taking part in the movement are estimated to have sold around 20,000 tickets, according to Dutch news agency ANP. 

Ontario Declares Emergency Over Protests (10:59 a.m. NY)

The premier of Canada’s biggest province declared a state of emergency, warning protesters choking off traffic at a key U.S. border crossing they face stiff punishment if they don’t leave.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, in a news conference Friday alongside his solicitor general, said the government is enacting new powers to end the blockade, including issuing fines of up to C$100,000 ($78,800) and jail time. 

“We will also provide additional authority to consider taking away the personal and commercial licenses of anyone who doesn’t comply with these orders.,” Ford said, according to prepared remarks.

Pandemic End ‘in Our Hands,’ WHO Chief Says (10:45 a.m. NY)

The director-general of the World Health Organization said he expects the acute phase of the pandemic to end this year on condition that about 70% of the global population are vaccinated by June or July. 

“It’s in our hands,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Cape Town, South Africa. “We will continue to play hide and seek with this virus” if people don’t get inoculated and there is a risk that new Covid-19 variants will emerge. 

NYC’s Unvaccinated Workers Face Firing (10:31 a.m. NY)

About 4,000 unvaccinated New York City employees, including police officers, teachers and firefighters, face termination Friday.

Jobs are at risk for about 3,000 workers who took unpaid leave instead of getting vaccinated when the city’s mandate took effect in October, as well as about 1,000 recent hires who haven’t submitted documentation of their second shots. About 95% of the 370,000 city workers have received at least one dose. 

Amazon Eases Mask Rules (10:27 a.m. NY)

Amazon.com Inc. is lifting mask requirements for fully vaccinated warehouse workers and adjusting its paid leave policy, a return to normalcy as U.S. states relax Covid-19 restrictions.

The world’s largest online retailer said workers can start going maskless on Friday, “where permitted by local regulations.” Amazon also said that, starting March 18, workers who test positive for the coronavirus must have received two shots of the vaccine to receive paid sick leave. The company spent billions of dollars during the pandemic to help Covid-proof its U.S. facilities.

Brazil Receives Another 1.3m Pfizer Doses (9:16 a.m. NY)

Brazil Health Ministry received 1.3 million doses of Pfizer’s vaccine against Covid-19 aimed at the target audience over 12 years-old this Friday, according to statement.

Botswana Mandates Vaccines for Visitors (8:35 a.m. NY)

Starting Feb. 14, all travelers who arrive in Botswana will be required to be fully vaccinated, Health Minister Edwin Dikoloti said in televised briefing.

Those partially inoculated will be required to produce negative PCR tests valid for 72 hours. The government will offer free vaccination for arrivals.

French ‘Freedom Convoys’ Head to Paris (6:31 a.m. NY)

Protesters against France’s Covid-19 vaccine passes began driving toward Paris on Friday to attempt to block the capital, inspired by “freedom convoys” that began in Canada.

On Facebook and Telegram, people shared videos of cars setting off from across the country, including Strasbourg, in the east, Brittany, in the west, the region around Lille, in the north, and Lyon, south of Paris.

South Africa Extends Final State of Disaster (6:12 a.m. NY)

Cabinet approved the final extension of the national state of disaster to March 15, according to a statement released on Friday by South Africa’s Ministry in the Presidency.

EU Studies Vaccines’ Affect on Women’s Periods (6:23 p.m. HK) 

Europe’s drug regulator will revisit evidence linking Covid-19 immunization to changes in women’s menstrual cycles after an earlier agency analysis ruled out an association.

Reports of delayed periods or heavy bleeding in women who received shots from Moderna Inc. and the partners Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE prompted the European Medicines Agency to conduct further assessments of the risk, the regulator said Friday.   

Indonesia Adds Most Deaths Since September (5:57 p.m. HK)

Indonesia reported 100 deaths from Covid-19 in a day, the highest since September, as the jump in cases starts to send more people to hospitals.

The government is grappling with a surge in cases as the more transmissible omicron variant spreads through the country, with 40,489 new infections reported on Friday. Fatalities are starting to catch up along with hospitalizations. More than 50% of beds dedicated for the pandemic handling are filled with patients in Jakarta and Bali, from as low as 2% at the end of last year.

Hong Kong Cases Top 1,000 (5:50 p.m. HK)

Hong Kong reported another record number of coronavirus cases, as well as two more deaths, with the worsening outbreak straining health-care resources and ramping up pressure on the government’s steadfast push for Covid Zero.

Authorities announced 1,325 infections on Friday, alongside more than 1,500 preliminary positive cases. That’s up from just 614 on Monday. The city said it would extend flight bans on eight countries including the U.S., U.K., and Australia to March 4, and added Nepal to the group as well.

Germany Looks to Ease Pandemic Curbs (5:35 p.m. HK)

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Germany could loosen some pandemic restrictions next week as the country’s outbreak shows signs of peaking.

While contagion rates are continuing to post records on a daily basis, the pace of the increases have slowed. Meanwhile, Covid-19 cases in intensive-care facilities are less than half the level in early December. That’s prompted calls for easing curbs.

Czech Republic Cases Slow (5:22 p.m. HK)

The Czech Republic reported 22,663 new cases of Covid-19 in 24 hours through Thursday, the lowest weekday number in more than three weeks. The nation of 10.7 million had 3,708 patients with Covid-19 in hospitals, according to the health ministry data.

Spain Eases Curbs for Teenage Tourists (4:57 p.m. HK)

Spain eased Covid-19 rules for teenage holidaymakers from countries outside of the European Union such as the U.K., giving a boost to the tourism industry in the Canary Islands and other winter sun destinations.

From Feb. 14, foreign visitors aged 12-17 from non-EU countries who don’t have a valid vaccination certificate can enter Spain if they can show a negative PCR or similar Covid-19 test taken 72 hours before arrival, the industry, trade and tourism ministry said in a statement. 

Gatwick to Reopen South Terminal (2:39 p.m. HK)

London’s Gatwick Airport will reopen its South Terminal after almost two years as British Airways’ short-haul routes return, alongside increased operations from easyJet, Wizz and Vueling, according to an emailed statement.

Gatwick and its partners have been running ongoing recruitment campaigns, with more than 2,000 new posts still available to help meet “expected strong demand.”

European airlines are counting on a bumper summer season driven by pent-up demand after a two-year downturn in travel caused by the Covid outbreak.

Hong Kong Seeks China’s Help (12:07 p.m. HK)

Hong Kong and mainland authorities will hold a meeting during the weekend to discuss ways to boost the city’s capabilities against Covid-19, Hong Kong Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan told a legislative council meeting. Chan said the city is also considering sending low-risk and asymptomatic patients to hotels for isolation.

Earlier, local media reported that Hong Kong officials would visit Shenzhen this weekend to request help in tackling the outbreak, including securing personnel from the mainland to triple testing capacity to at least 600,000 a day.

Hong Kong is also looking to build another makeshift isolation and medical facility and move all preliminary positive cases — who are currently isolated at home — to the new venue as soon as possible, the reports said. Hong Kong’s existing isolation facility in AsiaWorld-Expo is full, partly due to groups of elderly home residents being isolated to avoid cluster outbreaks in nursing homes.

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(Bloomberg) — Uber Technologies Inc. will one day join the likes of Microsoft Corp. by accepting Bitcoin as a payment option on its app.

Dara Khosrowshahi, the chief executive officer, said Uber will accept cryptocurrencies “at some point” in the future. “This isn’t the right point,” he said Friday in an interview on Bloomberg Television.

Khosrowshahi cited the cost of exchanges, which can carry high transaction fees, and the environmental impact of digital mining on the energy grid as reasons for why Uber has not yet incorporated the technology.

Read more: Uber’s financial outlook for 2024

“We’re having conversations all the time,” Khosrowshahi said. “As the exchange mechanism becomes less expensive and becomes more environmentally friendly, I think you will see us leaning into crypto a little bit more.”

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(Bloomberg) — City dwellers may be craving a return to 2019-like normalcy, but for visitors to Manhattan it will soon be possible to rewind the clock much further: to the early 1960s. That’s courtesy of the storied Plaza Hotel and Amazon Prime Video, which are teaming up to recreate aspects of the hit show The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. The Emmy award-winning comedy will begin streaming its fourth season debut on Feb. 18. Although the hotel itself is not prominently featured in the show, a suite on its 12th floor has been converted into a replica of main character Midge Maisel’s Upper West Side apartment. The room at the historic Plaza on Fifth Avenue is filled with midcentury art, antiques, and furniture similar to those sourced by the show’s designers; the dark wooden, carved headboard is an exact replica of the one on set. Perhaps most enticing will be the closet, loaded with such Midge-inspired outfits as her signature wide-lapel wool coats and pearl jewelry, which guests can wear and purchase on site. Overnights, available from Feb. 10 to April 10, will start at $1,675, reflecting nearly a 50% premium over the Plaza’s one-bedroom suites. The rates include a themed afternoon tea menu and Midge-inspired blowout from the hotel salon. 

While the TV-themed suite is hardly the first of its kind—a Queen’s Gambit-inspired room at the 21C hotel in Lexington, Ky., is just one recent example—the Mrs. Maisel collaboration represents a unique partnership between an iconic hotel and the streaming giant, which itself has footed a portion of the costs to get the suite up and running. (Representatives from both companies declined to share details on the size or share of the total investment.) 

For the the Plaza, the partnership comes at a good time. The 115-year-old hotel has struggled to regain footing after being acquired by Qatari sovereign wealth fund Katara Hospitality for $600 million in June 2018 and subsequently closing for a year amid the pandemic. And themed suites have historically represented good business for the property: According to Crystal Laurence, the hotel’s director of sales and marketing, its 10-year-old Eloise suite has seen such consistent, year-round demand that it’s become one of the hotel’s signatures. 

Amazon and the Plaza are hoping to generate buzz beyond the suite with additional offerings that can bring in a local crowd. Some of the show’s actual costumes and props, including one of Midge’s gold handbags and a pair of her long, green, leather gloves, are on display in glass showcases throughout the hotel lobby. And a special riff on the Plaza’s signature Afternoon Tea called the Midge Menu, from $99 per person, includes black-and-white cookie-inspired macarons, Nutella babka cheesecake, and gussied-up pastrami finger sandwiches served on three-tiered trays, all paying homage to Midge’s ‘60s Jewish New York. Laurence expects the appeal to be even broader than the show’s sizable fan base. “The quintessential New York items on the menu will resonate, even if someone’s never seen the show,” she says.

Two episodes of the new season will drop every friday starting 2/18 for four weeks at the end.

(Corrects the extent to which the hotel is featured in the show in the second paragraph. Adds details about the Midge Menu in paragraph five.)

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(Bloomberg) — Some Bitcoin miners are trading in their diamond hands to pay for their picks and shovels. 

A metric tracking Bitcoin miners’ holdings turned negative on Feb. 5 for the first time since mid-November, according to crypto analytics platform Glassnode. The turn in the metric, or the net change of miner balances over a trailing 30-day window, shows that miners have sold their coins in a possible sign a shakeout of less-efficient operators is coming. 

Miners were adding to their stockpiles for months, even as prices fell to $35,000, according to research firm Delphi Digital. But with Bitcoin still lingering 35% below an all-high in November, miners with costly operations are under pressure to mind their cash balances while also investing in more powerful equipment.

Shares of the bigger miners are rebounding off the lows from the recent selloff. Marathon Digital Holdings Inc., Riot Blockchain Inc., Stronghold Digital Mining Inc. and Hut 8 Mining Corp. are up more than 40% from lows in January. But those with smaller operations could be selling strategically. 

Marathon and Hut 8 told Bloomberg they remained “hodlers” during the recent crunch. “We started hodling in October 2020, and since then, we have not sold a single satoshi,” Charlie Schumacher, a spokesperson for Marathon Digital, said. A satoshi, derived from supposed Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto’s name, refers to a percentage of a coin. 

Likewise, Sue Ennis, head of investor relations for Hut 8 Mining, said: “We are believers in Bitcoin. Some miners sell Bitcoin or use it to pay expenses. We hold or ‘hodl’ ours.” Riot and Stronghold did not respond to emailed inquiries. 

Bitcoin miners have pledged to grow, committing to buy more mining rigs and raise the rate at which they can mint Bitcoins. But given how both equity and crypto markets are behaving, there’s “little margin for error” in terms of execution this year relative to 2021, Lucas Pipes, a B. Riley analyst, said.

“The machines got a lot more expensive. If you promised to raise your exahash to a certain level, it’ll cost you 20% to 30% more to get there,” he said, referring to a Bitcoin processing rate.

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