Delta Air Lines Inc. and Air France-KLM won their joint bid for ITA Airways, entering exclusive talks with the Italian government over plans to privatize the carrier formerly known as Alitalia, the Wall Street Journal reported. Italy’s Finance Ministry said on Wednesday that a bid from the consortium, which also includes investment firm Certares Management LLC, emerged as the most suitable as the government seeks to hand over control of the reincarnated flag carrier. The government said a final deal isn’t certain.

The Italian government said on Thursday it was preparing a new multi-billion euro package to help shield firms and families from surging energy prices, after the country's main business lobby warned of a looming "economic earthquake," Reuters reported. Carlo Bonomi, chief of employers' association Confindustria, said in a radio interview that with energy costs for Italian industry among the highest in Europe, gas prices needed to be capped either at the European or domestic level. Bonomi said that businesses cannot wait for a new government to be installed after elections on Sept.

Russian sovereign bonds have staged a comeback this summer as investment banks have warmed up to trading the Kremlin’s debt again and investors outside the grip of Western sanctions on Moscow are buying bonds, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The run-up in prices reflects how Russia has maintained investor confidence in some pockets of the world and appears to be managing its economy amid the war with Ukraine.

Russia's economy shrank by 4.3% in July year on year after contracting by 4.9% in June, the economy ministry said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. In January through July, the economy shrank by 1.1% in year-on-year terms, the ministry said. First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov said on Monday that Russia's economy will shrink by less than 3% in 2022, a much shallower contraction than initially expected, while inflation will be below earlier projections. Read more.

Consumer prices in Europe continued their steady upward march in August, driven by soaring food and fuel prices and shortages caused by clogged supply chains, the New York Times reported. In the 19 countries that use the euro as currency, the annual inflation rate jumped to a fresh record of 9.1 percent, up from 8.9 percent in July, according to estimates released Wednesday by the European Commission’s statistical office. A year earlier, inflation was 3 percent — a rate that at the time marked a 10-year high and set off alarms, but would now be greeted with enormous relief.

Russia is set to shut its key Nord Stream natural-gas pipeline Wednesday for maintenance, leaving Europe guessing again about whether supplies will restart, as temperatures fall and demand for the fuel grows, the Wall Street Journal reported. Whatever the outcome, European officials and energy executives say the continent faces years of high energy prices and possible shortages as efforts to replace Russian imports clash with limited supplies elsewhere and regulations that discourage hydrocarbon usage.

Italy has picked a group led by U.S. private equity fund Certares, backed by Air France-KLM and Delta Air Lines Inc., for exclusive talks on buying a majority stake in ITA Airways, the Treasury said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The offer, details of which were not made public, would leave the Treasury with "at least" a 40% stake in ITA and the right to appoint the company's chairman and exercise a veto on certain "strategic choices", a source told Reuters.

Transport for London on Tuesday reached a multi-billion-pound bailout deal with Government that will avoid the capital’s transport system falling into “managed decline,” the Evening Standard reported. But London Mayor Sadiq Khan warned that Tube fare rises and some cuts to buses were still on the horizon as the settlement leaves TfL with a “significant funding gap”. City Hall bosses have been locked in intense negotiations with Government staff for weeks to secure an agreement.

The European Union is preparing to step into its energy market, intervening in the short term to dampen soaring power costs as the continent braces for the economic hit of energy shortages this winter, Bloomberg News reported. The European Union is preparing to step into its energy market, intervening in the short term to dampen soaring power costs as the continent braces for the economic hit of energy shortages this winter.

The UK government’s £400 payment to help households with surging energy bills could be about to shake inflation markets and the nation’s stretched finances, according to a Bloomberg News commentary. The Office for National Statistics will announce Wednesday whether the £12 billion ($14 billion) in aid, which will be spread over six months, should be considered an income adjustment or a price adjustment. If the latter, that will ease official inflation figures in the coming months.