Bloomberg Britain’s first-ever space launch is on track to take place before the end of November, according to billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson, whose Virgin Orbit Holdings Inc. will undertake the mission. “We plan to launch our first satellite into space from European soil within six weeks,” Branson said at a press conference in Milan. “We are pretty much ready.” ...

  Bloomberg Airbus SE is targeting the US with its smallest A220 business jet in a bid to make up for Russian sales lost after the invasion of Ukraine. The European planemaker will put extra resources into promoting the A220 when the corporate version, or ACJ, enters service in the first half of next year, betting that the aircraft is ...

  Bloomberg Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport is further limiting passenger numbers until the end of March as it continues to struggle with staff shortages. The Dutch arm of Air France-KLM said the newly announced caps will mean a reduction of as much as 22% for the winter season and the period up until March. The airport operator had already reduced the ...

  Bloomberg British consumers are reining in unnecessary purchases after a leap in energy prices ate into their discretionary spending, forcing people to cut back on new clothes, evenings out and lunches out. Barclaycard, which manages about half of the nation’s credit and debit card transactions, said outlays on non-essential items in rose 1% from a year ago in September, ...

  Bloomberg Johnson & Johnson (J&J) reported third-quarter earnings that beat analyst estimates as revenue grew in its drugs and medical-device businesses despite pressure from the stronger dollar. The diversified health-care company, which is in the process of separating out its consumer division, reported sales results that were roughly in line with Wall Street’s estimates for the pharmaceutical and medical-device ...

Bloomberg The race to be Britain’s next prime minister will be mostly conducted behind closed doors, as contenders embark on a frantic weekend of lobbying Conservative lawmakers to get onto Monday’s party ballot. Liz Truss’s dramatic resignation on Thursday triggered a leadership contest that, coming so soon after the bitter one that put her into 10 Downing Street, is likely ...

Bloomberg Imran Khan, Pakistan’s former prime minister, was disqualified as a lawmaker and barred from holding public office after officials found him guilty of hiding his assets, the latest legal woe for the ousted leader as he pushes for early national elections in a bid to return to power. A five-member panel of the election commission issued its order on ...

Bloomberg Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told European leaders that Russian forces have mined a dam in the occupied south, threatening “hundreds of thousands” with flooding and endangering the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. Addressing a two-day summit of European Union leaders on Thursday, Zelenskiy said Kremlin forces had packed a dam with explosives at the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, more than 40 ...

  Bloomberg Four months into a sweeping ban on imports from China’s Xinjiang region, the top US customs official is signaling confidence that companies are observing the embargo. “There are going to be some rough spots along the way, but I think we’ve been off to a remarkably good start,” Chris Magnus, the commissioner of US Customs and Border Protection, ...

  Bloomberg Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he is willing to meet Sweden’s leader to discuss the Nordic country’s bid to join Nato. Erdogan said he instructed his staff to respond positively to a request from Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson for talks. “We will discuss these topics with him in our country,” state-run Anadolu Agency cited Erdogan as ...