The world reads current reports from Afghanistan with revulsion: the Taliban’s revenge against supporters of the former government and Western forces, bloody chaos at the Kabul airport, and renewed repression of women. Yet it is also plain that the victorious extremists themselves are daunted by the challenge of assuming administrative responsibility for a nation that is bankrupt without Western financial ...

Space races are supposed to be won in engineering labs or up in orbit. Thanks to Jeff Bezos, the next one might be won in a courtroom or regulator’s office. As Bezos’s companies fall behind Elon Musk’s SpaceX in the race to return humans to the moon and launch satellite-based broadband services, they’re increasingly resorting to politics and legal filings ...

Leaders of the top US industrial companies gathered virtually for the annual Morgan Stanley Laguna conference. Unsurprisingly, much of the discussion centered around the rising cost of raw materials, labor and logistics and the increasingly difficult challenge of getting enough supply to keep up with demand. “The inflation is unprecedented,” 3M Co Chief Financial Officer Monish Patolawala said at the ...

Europe has an energy problem, and it could get worse once winter grips the continent. Gas and electricity prices are soaring, windmills are standing idle for lack of wind and shuttered coal-fired power plants are being brought back into use. There are even suggestions to use diesel generators for private generation. But oil isn’t the solution to the continent’s energy ...

Bloomberg South Africa’s largest clothing retailer sees a successful Covid-19 vaccination rollout as key to reopening the economy and adding new stores, helping to address the world’s highest unemployment rate. “If we get people vaccinated, the economy can normalise quickly,” Pepkor Holdings Ltd CEO Leon Lourens said in an interview. “If the economy normalises, we can create jobs.” The government ...

Bloomberg Colombia plans to start the bidding process for the construction and modernisation of three airports in the fourth quarter as part of a larger $13 billion infrastructure plan. The expansion of the capacity of the airport that serves Cali, the nation’s third-largest city, as well as those of Buenaventura and Neiva, in western Colombia, have an estimated cost of ...

Bloomberg American Airlines Group Inc signed a letter of intent to invest $200 million in Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA for a 5.2% stake in the Brazilian carrier under a three-year deal that would expand commercial cooperation, establish an exclusive codeshare and link loyalty programs. The two will work together in areas including purchasing, sales tools and systems integration as ...

Bloomberg Travel companies are set for the busiest weekend of the year as holiday bookings surged following the UK government’s announcement that it would ease travel curbs for the fully vaccinated. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the current traffic light system of red, amber and green countries would be scrapped for England from October 4 and replaced by a simplified ...

Bloomberg An Air France-KLM flight made an emergency landing shortly after taking off from Beijing after the Boeing Co 777 aircraft suffered a technical failure and smoke filled the cabin. The flight, destined for Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport, returned to Beijing airport 14 minutes after departure, the carrier said in a statement. Passengers reported hearing a loud bang before black ...

Bloomberg US retail sales rose unexpectedly in August as a pickup in purchases across most categories more than offset weakness at auto dealers, showing resilient consumer demand for merchandise. The value of overall retail purchases climbed 0.7% last month following a downwardly revised 1.8% decrease in July, Commerce Department figures showed. Excluding autos, sales advanced 1.8% in August, the largest ...