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North America
CNBC Finance

Frontier Airlines to debut in-flight Wi-Fi in 2027 with SpaceX's Starlink

Frontier Airlines and four other budget carriers with more than 1,000 planes between them will debut in-flight Wi-Fi early next year from SpaceX's Starlink, another win for the satellite internet provider. Frontier's first Airbus plane equipped with Starlink internet will roll out in early 2027, the airline said Tuesday. CNBC reported in 2022 that Frontier was in talks with Starlink to add its first in-flight Wi-Fi service. A Frontier spokeswoman declined to say whether flyers could use the service for free. Major airlines that have signed deals with Starlink have been offering Wi-Fi complimentary for loyalty program members. Frontier was one of the last U.S. holdouts to add Wi-Fi. Former CEO Barry Biffle previously said the airline was hesitant to to add weight to its planes with the equipment it would need for the service. Starlink, a part of Elon Musk's SpaceX, has signed deals with more than 40 carriers around the world, including United Airlines and American Airlines, as airlines ramp up their in-flight services and customers grow to expect at-home-quality internet in the sky. The airlines declined to disclose the terms of the agreements. SpaceX didn't immediately comment. The carriers in the latest Starlink deal — Frontier, Mexico's Volaris, European budget carrier Wizz, Chile's Jetsmart, and the Philippines' Cebu Pacific — all share private equity firm Indigo Partners as an investor, which is led by serial airline investor Bill Franke. Budget carriers have been under pressure to go upmarket as larger rivals post revenue growth from the front of the cabin, upending discounters' once-profitable model of no-frills seating and amenities. Frontier is planning to debut first-class seats next year. Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services. Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes. Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis.

Frontier Airlines to debut in-flight Wi-Fi in 2027 with SpaceX's Starlink
North America
CNBC Finance

T. rex sells for $50 million, becoming the most expensive dinosaur fossil ever auctioned

A Tyrannosaurus rex specimen sold at Sotheby's for $50.1 million, becoming the most expensive dinosaur ever sold at auction. Riding a boom in dinosaur prices at auction, the T. rex, named "Gus," blew past its price estimate of $20 million to $30 million after a 10-minute bidding war between seven bidders. It broke the record sale by Sotheby's of a Stegosaurus skeleton nicknamed "Apex" in 2024 for $44.6 million, bought by billionaire hedge funder Ken Griffin. Gus was discovered in South Dakota and is about 67 million years old. Touted as one of the most complete dinosaur specimens ever found, Gus has 183 fossil bone elements and is about 61% complete by bone count. It is about 38 feet long, about 12.5 feet tall and has a skull length of 54 inches, making it one of the largest T. rex fossils ever found, according to Sotheby's. Gus also displayed a number of injuries, including fractured and healed bones in several ribs and gastralia, as well as bite marks to several skull bones. "Gus is not only an exceptional find, but a specimen that's been excavated, documented, prepared and cared for with real excellence," said Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby's vice chairman and worldwide head of science and natural history. Dinosaur fossils have become one of the fastest growing segments of the collectibles market, as the wealthy search for rare stores of long-term value and auction houses look to categories beyond art to diversify their sales. A T. rex named "Stan" sold at Christie's in 2020 for $31.8 million. While the success of Gus is likely to encourage the sale of more dinosaur bones, paleontologists and other experts warn that there are few safeguards for authenticity or verification in the industry. Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services. Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes. Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis.

T. rex sells for $50 million, becoming the most expensive dinosaur fossil ever auctioned
Europe
The Guardian

US state attorneys general file lawsuit in effort to block Paramount merger

The Paramount logo on the water tower at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, California. Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenThe Paramount logo on the water tower at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, California. Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty ImagesMedia businessUS state attorneys general file lawsuit in effort to block Paramount mergerBipartisan group argue in lawsuit that $110bn merger would hurt competition and lead to thousands of job losses A dozen US state attorneys general are seeking to block the $110bn merger of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros Discovery, arguing in a lawsuit filed on Monday that it would hurt competition and lead to higher prices for consumers. The coalition behind the lawsuit is led by the California attorney general, Rob Bonta, who has been a staunch critic of the merger since it was agreed to in February after a bidding war between David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance and Netflix. The lawsuit was joined by the states of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Washington. “Today, I am leading a coalition of states in challenging the proposed merger of Warner Bros and Paramount and asking the court to block the deal,” Bonta said in a statement. “The unlawful merger of these two entertainment behemoths would lead to higher prices, lower quality, and less content for film and television, harming movie theaters, basic cable distributors, and ultimately, audiences on every sofa and movie theater seat in the US.” Bonta and his fellow state attorneys general are now asking a judge to stop the merger until the judicial process plays out. “In this country, no one is above the law,” he said. “With this lawsuit, California and our sister states are fighting for free and fair markets, not rigged markets. America has no kings in government or our economy.” The lawsuit was filed in US district court for the northern district of California. The widely anticipated lawsuit comes a month after the US Department of Justice signed off on the deal, clearing a major obstacle for the merger. While dozens of countries have also agreed to the deal, it still awaits approval from regulators in the UK and Europe. On 30 June, Lisa Nandy, the UK culture secretary, said she was “minded” to intervene and asked both the communications regulator, Ofcom, and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to further investigate the deal, which would delay its timeline. Paramount Skydance and Ellison have maintained that the merger will increase competition and preserve the Hollywood theatrical status quo. “The lawsuit filed by the state attorneys general, in the most generous light, reflects a fundamentally flawed application of the antitrust laws and is wrong on both the facts and the law,” Paramount said in a statement on Monday. “We will vigorously defend the transaction and demonstrate that this challenge is inconsistent with sound competition policy and the competitive realities of the media marketplace. Delaying this transaction will only harm entertainment workers who have already suffered over recent years as technology has disrupted their livelihood and cost California tens of thousands of entertainment jobs.” The close ties between David Ellison; his father, the Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison; and members of the Trump administration have raised questions about whether the regulatory playing field was tilted toward the deal’s approval, despite the concerns of actors, journalists and many prominent politicians. “Antitrust enforcement is democracy’s check on oligarchy,” Bonta told reporters in a press conference. “Antitrust enforcement is a check on billionaires currying favor with the president so he’ll do their bidding.”

US state attorneys general file lawsuit in effort to block Paramount merger
North America
CNBC Finance

United Airlines' new upsell: Keeping other travelers out of the middle seat

United Airlines has a new way to entice customers to pay more on board: no middle seat neighbor. The carrier said Tuesday that one of the rows on its Airbus A321XLRs will have an empty middle seat with a tray table for the aisle- and window-seat customers to share. The seats, which are in the extra legroom section, go on sale later this year so it's not clear just how much more United will charge. It said it could later add them to other aircraft beyond those new, long-range narrow-body planes. The new upsell is just one of many airlines are throwing out to get customers to pay more to fly. Last week, Delta Air Lines joined United in launching basic business-class and premium economy fares that don't come with perks that used to be included in the ticket. For example, Delta will no longer include access to its top-tier Delta One lounge or seat selection with its cheapest long-haul business-class tickets. United in March also said it plans to launch a set of three economy seats that can be converted into a bed, which it's calling the "Relax Row" on some of its wide-body planes. Airlines have spent years adding more premium-class seats to make bigger business-class cabins where spending has been more resilient. The bottlenecks of ever-more-elaborate seats have even delayed deliveries of new planes. Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services. Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes. Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis.

United Airlines' new upsell: Keeping other travelers out of the middle seat
North America
CNBC Finance

World Cup's biggest spenders show up late as semifinals drive host city travel boom

The World Cup's biggest economic boost is arriving later than expected as the tournament enters its final days. But for the U.S. businesses hoping for a soccer boom, it's better late than never. This week's semifinals pit France against Spain in Dallas on Tuesday and England versus Argentina in Atlanta on Wednesday. Travel bookings have accelerated as the field of competitors narrows and fans converge from around the world to see the high-stakes matches. Every U.S. host city has seen an economic lift from soccer fans, according to Bank of America Institute. "You can see the World Cup effect on the ground," said David Tinsley, senior economist at Bank of America Institute. "Spending picked up after the tournament kicked off, with restaurants and bars seeing some of the strongest gains as consumers turned matches into social events." In-person spending in U.S. host cities rose 5% over last year from June 10 to July 5, with Kansas City leading the gains, according to analysis from Bank of America credit and debit cards. The impact could be much higher, since the results capture only spending with BofA cards in U.S. households and does not include cash, checks and spending by international tourists or on corporate cards. Kansas City also saw the biggest weekly hotel performance gain among host markets, with revenue per available room (RevPAR) up nearly 50%, according to data from industry analysis firm CoStar. Philadelphia also saw a strong lift, with weekend RevPAR up more than 74% as its World Cup match coincided with Fourth of July celebrations and America 250 events. That was a relief to hotel owners who worried before the World Cup kicked off about soft advance hotel bookings and FIFA releasing large blocks of rooms back into the market. It's not that hotels are sold out. During the final week of the tournament's group stage, occupancy actually declined almost 3% over last year in U.S. host cities, indicating some business and leisure travelers altered their plans. But even in early stages of the World Cup, host city hotels charged 21% higher rates, according to CoStar. As the tournament moved into the knockout stage, demand from June 28 to July 4th increased 2.4% from last year and RevPaR rose 23%, despite the World Cup having 50% fewer matches than the previous week. Demand for short-term rentals also increased beside higher stake matches, according to analytics company AirDNA.

World Cup's biggest spenders show up late as semifinals drive host city travel boom
Europe
BBC Business

The SpaceX IPO made history. One month on has it lost momentum?

ByKali HaysTechnology reporterPublished13 July 2026, 06:01 BSTUpdated 8 minutes agoSpaceX investors have swung from celebration to apparent concern in its first month as a publicly traded company. When shares in the firm, co-founded and led by Elon Musk, first became available for individuals to buy on the public stock market on 12 June, there was an investor frenzy. Although the company had decided to price its shares at $135 each, the price immediately shot up to $150 that first day, climbing to $176, before closing at $160.95. The following week, its shares went up even further, hitting an intraday high of $225, meaning it had surpassed Amazon and Microsoft in total market value. "With Elon Musk, any company he touches gets people excited," Keith Snyder, analyst at investment research firm CFRA, said. "But this was also the first time people felt like they were able to invest in something that was being marketed as an AI play." Willy Lee, an investor at Neosteller, which facilitates individual investors putting money into private companies, agreed that the excitement around the IPO was very much around artificial intelligence (AI). SpaceX earlier this year acquired Musk's AI start-up xAI, recently renamed SpaceXAI, external and best known for the controversial chatbot Grok, and also started leasing data centre capacity to other tech companies. But its main business is the manufacture and launch of rockets and telecommunications satellites called Starlink. When Starlink said it was cutting prices in the Memphis, Tennessee area amid local concerns over a massive data centre project, SpaceX shares fell on the day by 8%. As the reality of how SpaceX currently makes money has seemed to come into clearer focus, the company's shares have started to sink. Even amid a tumultuous couple of weeks for tech stocks, SpaceX has taken a particular hit. When it was added to the Nasdaq100 index on 7 July, for instance, although the index closed down 1.7%, SpaceX fell 4.4%. An earlier addition to the FTSE Russell index had given the shares a slight boost. At the end of its first trading month, shares of SpaceX were selling at around $145 each, roughly 18% less than the high on its first day of trading, and 35% less than its peak so far.

The SpaceX IPO made history. One month on has it lost momentum?
Europe
The Guardian

Oil, gas and UK government borrowing costs prices jump as Middle East tensions ratchet higher – as it happened

Crude oil prices have hit their highest levels in four weeks, as Washington and Tehran traded attacks and the US reimposed a naval blockade of Iran. Brent crude has jumped $3.79 a barrel to $87.08 a barrel, a 4.55% increase, the highest since 12 June, before the ceasefire. The US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding to end the conflict on 17 June and engaged in negotiations for a permanent peace deal. Iran said on Monday it was continuing talks with mediators from Qatar, Pakistan and Oman to try to prevent any further escalation. Donald Trump declared the ceasefire over last week but left the door to talks open. US West Texas Intermediate crude rose to a high of $81.25 a barrel, and is now trading at $80.92 a barrel, up 2.8%. What we think is that the peak of the escalation is behind us, but there are upside risks to oil prices if these disruptions continue and that will keep prices in the $85-$90 range.

Oil, gas and UK government borrowing costs prices jump as Middle East tensions ratchet higher – as it happened
Asia
The Hindu BusinessLine

US attacks Iran over ship being hit in Strait of Hormuz; Tehran lashes out again at Gulf Arab states

The United States attacked Iran early Sunday morning over an Iranian attack on a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz, setting the container ship ablaze and forcing its crew to abandon it. Iran apparently responded with strikes targeting Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The new crossfire in the Persian Gulf comes after US President Donald Trump suggested an interim deal and ceasefire in the Iran war was “over.” US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote online: “Iran made a poor choice. Now they pay.” The United Arab Emirates warned the public Sunday of an incoming missile and drone attack as explosions could be heard in nearby Qatar. A missile alert sounded in Qatar shortly after the blasts. Qatar's military said in a statement it intercepted the incoming Iranian fire. Meanwhile, missile alerts sounded in Bahrain, an island kingdom in the Persian Gulf home to the US Navy's 5th Fleet. It wasn't immediately clear what locations were under attack in the UAE, which so far hadn't been targeted in the latest round of attacks by Iran. In the Strait of Hormuz attack, a Cyprus-flagged container ship was hit by Iran and suffered “significant engineroom damage” and a civilian crew member is missing, US Central Command said. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre, overseen by the British military, said the ship had been travelling in a route hugging the shoreline of Oman. That's been the way ships have gotten in and out of the Persian Gulf while avoiding Iranian territorial waters. The ship's crew abandoned the vessel as it was ablaze, the centre said. Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said multiple vessels “disregarded our warnings and instructions to correct their course and proceed along the approved route.” One of them “was struck by a warning shot and brought to a stop.” Iran said that the strait would remain closed “until further notice” and said it would consider targeting “additional enemy bases in the region” if it faced more attacks. (AP) RD RD Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.

US attacks Iran over ship being hit in Strait of Hormuz; Tehran lashes out again at Gulf Arab states
Europe
BBC Business

UK wasted £10bn on PPE that left NHS staff poorly protected, Covid inquiry finds

Image source, Getty ImagesByJim ReedHealth reporterPublished14 July 2026, 12:01 BSTUpdated 2 hours agoThe lives of NHS staff and patients were put at risk in the pandemic because of a lack of adequate personal protective equipment (PPE), with almost £10bn of taxpayers money wasted in a scramble to buy more, the Covid inquiry has said. The chair Baroness Hallett described the "vast" waste in pandemic procurement, amounting to £9.9bn – two-thirds of the £14.9bn the UK and devolved governments spent on PPE. The country entered the pandemic with its stockpile of masks, gowns and gloves in a "perilous state" and was "simply not ready to compete" in the global race to secure new supplies, added the chair. She criticised the controversial "VIP lane", which prioritised offers of PPE from those with political connections, as a "misguided" policy which undermined public confidence. But she said there was "no evidence of cronyism or corruption" by ministers or other officials when awarding the final contracts. When the cost of home testing kits and other equipment, such as ventilators, was included, the total amount spent by the government between January 2020 and June 2022 exceeded £42bn, the inquiry found. The UK's emergency stockpile of PPE, meant to last at least 15 weeks before being replenished, was running out by the end of March 2020 as demand from hospitals soared. Only a third of the masks in England's pandemic stockpile were usable, the inquiry found, while Scotland had no supplies of high-grade respiratory masks used in hospitals. At the time, care homes, GP surgeries and pharmacies were all expected to source their own PPE, something the report described as a "major failure in planning". In total the UK government was forced to write off £9.9bn worth of PPE that was either unused or out of date, as well as £157m for unused healthcare equipment. The "ventilator challenge" programme, where suppliers were asked to develop breathing equipment at short notice, led to another £143m charge for designs that never made it into production. In Scotland approximately £8mn of healthcare equipment, including PPE and testing kits, was written off.

UK wasted £10bn on PPE that left NHS staff poorly protected, Covid inquiry finds