Bloomberg Pacifica Beauty LLC, a vegan beauty brand, sold a minority stake to private equity firm Brentwood Associates, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The company is valued at about $250 million in the transaction, one of the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information. Representatives for Pacifica declined to comment. A spokesperson for ...

  Bloomberg The Taliban have killed dozens of former Afghan officials, security forces and individuals who worked with international troops since the militant group took over the country in mid-August, the Associated Press reported, citing a United Nations report. Of the more than 100 killings identified by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a report obtained by the news agency, ...

  Bloomberg Hong Kong denied that criticism of the city’s strict policy to push for zero Covid-19 cases is illegal under a sweeping national security law that has silenced dissent in the former British colony. “Making general remarks and discussion is not illegal,” a government spokesman said in a statement Sunday, adding that the strategy was “the most effective way ...

  Bloomberg If North Korea’s test of its longest-range missile in five years wasn’t worrying enough, the state’s official media released images showing the Earth it said were taken in space from a rocket designed to deliver a nuclear warhead. Images of the weekend launch of its Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile were splashed on the country’s biggest newspaper Monday. The ...

  Bloomberg Hungarian teachers staged their first strike in five years to protest low pay, a headache for Prime Minister Viktor Orban before the tightest general election in more than a decade. More than 20,000 teachers walked out for two hours on Monday in what they described as a prelude to a complete and indefinite strike starting from March 16 ...

  Bloomberg Socialist Prime Minister Antonio Costa won Portugal’s general election and will now have an absolute majority in parliament, meaning far-left parties are no longer needed to back his budgets. The center-left Socialists took about 42% of the vote and increased the number of seats held in the 230-seat chamber to at least 117 from 108, based on 99% ...

  Bloomberg American families are feeling the financial squeeze of soaring inflation and a persistent pandemic as fractious Democrats return to Washington this week no closer to a deal on a tax and spending bill party leaders hoped would by now provide relief. Despite gangbusters growth at a 6.9% annual rate during the final quarter of 2021, other economic measures ...

  Bloomberg Denmark’s unemployment rate plunged to the lowest level in 14 years, adding to concerns of overheating in the Nordic country that’s emerging from the coronavirus pandemic as one of economic winners. The gross rate declined to 2.5% in December from 2.8% a month before, falling for the first time to the level it was before the 2008 financial ...

  Bloomberg Bentley Motors Ltd. will build its first fully electric car in the UK, part of a 2.5-billion pound ($3.4 billion) spending push to overhaul manufacturing and ditch its roaring 12-cylinder combustion engines. The investment over the next decade will modernise Bentley’s factory in Crewe, England, the Volkswagen AG brand said. The decision is a boon to the site’s ...

  Bloomberg The euro-area economy grew modestly in the fourth quarter amid another wave of surging coronavirus infections and curbs on activity. Gross domestic product (GDP) rises 0.3%, slightly less than predicted, after a sharp contraction in output left Germany on the brink of recession. Meanwhile, a ramp-up in investment contributed to stronger-than-expected growth in France and Spain. Italy reported ...