Bloomberg Frontier Group Holdings Inc.’s planned $2.9 billion purchase of Spirit Airlines Inc., positions Bill Franke, the self-proclaimed father of ultradiscounting, to expand his global network of carriers that offer bargain-basement fares while maintaining a laser focus on low costs. The deal comes as the industry’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic leans on domestic markets and leisure travelers —the ...

  Bloomberg Thousands of Italian cities shut off power at some of their biggest tourist attractions to protest spiraling energy costs. Municipal authorities from across the political spectrum banded together to highlight their call for 550 million euros ($627 million) in energy-cost relief from the government, as gas and electricity bills have risen by more than 30% this year. Italy ...

  Bloomberg President Joe Biden was to issue an executive order to transfer shift the $7 billion in Afghan central bank assets frozen in the US so it can be used to compensate victims of the Sepember 11 terrorist attacks and support aid efforts in Afghanistan, a person familiar with the matter said. The order will direct US financial institutions ...

  Bloomberg US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that “China has been acting more aggressively,” although he didn’t consider a conflict in the Indo-Pacific inevitable. Blinken spoke as a meeting of the Quad, a regional partnership that also includes Japan, India and Australia, got underway in Melbourne. “Nothing is inevitable,” Blinken said in response to a reporter’s question about ...

  Bloomberg The Taliban-appointed permanent representative to the United Nations says the new Afghan government is pressing the international body for recognition and a member’s seat as the lack of legitimacy hurts the country’s economy and diplomacy. “Why the world is not recognizing us when we have met their conditions,” Suhail Shaheen said in an interview from Doha, Qatar. He ...

  Bloomberg The European Union wants to establish a new crisis response system to defend against threats in space as well boost its capabilities to ward off hybrid and cyber attacks. By the end of the year, the EU will explore the possibility of activating “solidarity, mutual assistance, and crisis response mechanisms in case of attacks originating from space or ...

  Bloomberg 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 ...

  Bloomberg The UK economy expanded at the fastest pace since World War II last year after suffering a milder hit than expected in December. The 7.5% expansion was the largest since 1941 and made Britain the fastest-growing advanced economy in 2021. The economy nonetheless remained smaller in the fourth quarter than at the end of 2019, before the pandemic ...

  Bloomberg There’s a big upside to record used-car prices: Auto lenders like GM Financial are cashing in. General Motors Co.’s lending unit booked a $2 billion gain last year reselling the vehicles that came back from expired leases and anything the company repossessed, according to a regulatory filing. That helped GM Financial to nearly double its annual profit to ...

  Bloomberg 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 ...