Bloomberg An Egyptian e-commerce business linking traditional retailers with suppliers of products such as food and groceries plans to expand in North Africa and the Gulf after an early-stage funding round. Cairo-based MaxAB raised $40 million from RMBV and seven others including the International Finance Corp and Flourish Ventures, according to a statement on Monday. It plans to use the ...

Bloomberg The US Department of Transportation is moving to require airlines to refund fees to passengers for checked bags if the luggage is significantly delayed to the destination, according to a person familiar with the measure. The proposal will also require airlines to promptly make refunds for other services air passengers pay for and don’t receive — including advance seat ...

Bloomberg Sydney Airport received a A$22.3 billion ($17 billion) takeover offer from a group including IFM Investors in what would be Australia’s largest acquisition and one of the boldest bets on a recovery in global travel since the pandemic started. The offer values Sydney Airport shares at A$8.25 each, the company said in a statement on Monday. While that’s 42% ...

Bloomberg New Zealand plans to more than triple a levy it charges travelers crossing the border, running the risk of slowing a fragile recovery in the tourism sector, according to the industry body. The government has in principle agreed to raise the border processing levy for air passengers to NZ$63 ($44) from NZ$20.11 on December 1, Tourism Industry Aotearoa (TIA) ...

Bloomberg A Brazilian supermarket chain controlled by L Catterton, the private equity firm backed by French billionaire Bernard Arnault, has chosen banks for a potential initial public offering that could raise as much as 800 million reais ($159 million), people familiar with the matter said. Sao Paulo-based Grupo St Marche is working with Banco Santander Brasil SA, Banco Itau BBA ...

Bloomberg China’s Xi Jinping is expected to speak this week with Germany’s Angela Merkel and France’s Emmanuel Macron, people with knowledge of the matter said, as they attempt to keep human rights disputes from scuttling efforts at cooperation. The agenda for the joint video call between the leaders isn’t yet known, according to the people, who asked not to be ...

Bloomberg A triumphant President Joe Biden all but announced an end to the pandemic in the US, celebrating what he called a “heroic” vaccination campaign on the country’s Independence Day holiday. Speaking at a party on the White House’s South Lawn with more than 1,000 people in attendance, Biden declared that the US had achieved “independence” from the coronavirus, though ...

Bloomberg Former South African President Jacob Zuma, who is facing a 15-month jail sentence for contempt, accused the nation’s top court of unfairly convicting him, and said he feared that judicial system was being compromised. “I’m very concerned that South Africa is fast sliding back to apartheid-type rule. I am facing a long detention without trial,” Zuma told reporters at ...

Bloomberg Poland’s highest-ranking European official ever returned to domestic politics with guns blazing, branding the ruling party’s euroskeptic policies as a gift for Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Donald Tusk, who served as president of the European Council until 2019, took the reins of the country’s biggest opposition party, Civic Platform, at the weekend after nearly seven years in Brussels. He’s ...

Bloomberg The leader of Sweden’s Social Democrats, Stefan Lofven, will seek to form a new government via a parliamentary vote after enough parties promised not to block his comeback attempt. The 63-year old former union boss, who was forced to resign as prime minister after losing a confidence vote last month, said he has now secured sufficient agreement among lawmakers ...