June, 2021

• 14 June

  Luxury, hunger: Two faces of an unequal pandemic

  

  Mercedes-Benz AG recently introduced its Maybach sport utility vehicle in India — right in the middle of a fierce second wave of the pandemic. The 50 cars the German automaker wanted to sell by the end of 2021 were lapped up in a month. It turns out that just as the rich were scrambling to own these $400,000 wheels, annual ...

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• 14 June

  Is gas stove destroying the planet?

  

  Of the natural gas burned in American homes, just 2.8% is used for cooking, according to a 2015 survey by the US Energy Information Administration. Residential natural-gas use in turn makes up just 15% of total US consumption, a percentage that has fallen over the past decade as natural gas passed coal to become the country’s main power-plant fuel and ...

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• 14 June

  Alzheimer’s furor shows US health system’s flaws

  Patients and their families may see hope in the news that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a drug to slow the pace of Alzheimer’s disease. Aducanumab is the first medicine authorised to treat what might be an underlying cause of the disease: amyloid beta clumps that accumulate in the brain. Yet the evidence from clinical trials that ...

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• 14 June

  Biden, Putin should save their breath now

  The last time Geneva served as the venue for a US-Russia summit — in 1985, when Mikhail Gorbachev, still fresh in his role as Secretary General of the Soviet Communist Party, met with Ronald Reagan — the US president remarked that “people didn’t get into trouble when they talked to each other but rather when they talked about each other.” ...

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• 14 June

  Vertical wins $4b pre-order contracts, plans to go public

  

  Bloomberg Vertical Aerospace Group Ltd, the developer of electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, won pre-order contracts of as much as $4 billion as it plans to go public through a merger with a blank-check company. American Airlines Group Inc, Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd and aircraft lessor Avolon Holdings Ltd agreed to buy as many as 1,000 of the vertical ...

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• 14 June

  US air travellers top 2mn for first time in pandemic

  

  Bloomberg Daily US air travellers exceeded 2 million for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began, reaching almost three-quarters of the volume recorded on the same day in 2019, according to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The total is part of a trend towards improving numbers since February, when vaccinations against the virus began to have an appreciable effect ...

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• 14 June

  KKR expands aircraft lending, buying $800m CIT portfolio

  

  Bloomberg KKR & Co has acquired an almost $800 million loan portfolio from CIT Group Inc as it seeks to expand its footprint in the aviation sector. The deal is part of the global investment firm’s launch of a new commercial aviation lending platform, AV AirFinance Limited, which will provide secured financing to airlines, lessors, manufacturers and investors. The purchase ...

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• 14 June

  Westons consider $5.7 billion Selfridges sale after approach

  

  Bloomberg The billionaire dynasty behind Selfridges & Co is considering a 4 billion-pound ($5.66 billion) sale of the British department store group following an approach from a potential buyer. The Weston family has asked Credit Suisse to advise on the future of the business, which includes the flagship emporium on London’s Oxford Street and stores operating under other names in ...

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• 13 June

  Swiss plan to reopen border for vaccinated int’l travellers

  Bloomberg Switzerland plans to reopen its borders for overseas visitors who have received a Covid-19 vaccine on June 28, joining other European countries easing entry rules imposed during the pandemic. Along with European Union countries, Switzerland has restricted travel from outside of Europe’s Schengen area as a result of the pandemic. With its vaccine drive accelerating and Covid-19 infections falling, ...

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• 13 June

  Alex, Ani files bankruptcy after expansion

  Bloomberg Jewellery maker Alex and Ani LLC, which operates dozens of stores, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and put itself up for sale. The company said it entered into a restructuring agreement with debt and equity holders as it works to reorganise and boost its online and wholesale businesses. The retailer expects “little to no disruption” in operations. Alex ...

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