Jinyuan / AFP When he dons his flowing robes and vivid makeup, Wu Yunhong is transformed from a labourer who toils on Chinese mountains under a beating sun into an evil general commanding an army of warriors. Wu was raised in the Jinyuan Opera Company, co-founded by his grandfather in 1984. He started performing when he was only eight ...

  DUBAI / Reuters Egypt’s stock index slipped from a multi-year peak on Thursday while shares in the Gulf were mixed with Saudi Arabia’s market swinging in volatile, heavy trade but ending the week on a firm footing. Cairo’s index of the 30 most actively traded shares dropped 1.7 percent to 11,353 points, falling from a strong technical barrier at ...

  London / AFP European stock markets mostly rose on Thursday but London faltered in a subdued trade with Wall Street closed for Thanksgiving. “The usual Thanksgiving calm has descended across markets, as European investors reconcile themselves to a day of low volumes and quiet trading,” said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trading firm IG. In foreign exchange, ...

  Bloomberg The biggest version of Airbus Group SE’s A350 wide-body jet made its first flight on Thursday, swelling the twin-engine model’s capacity and casting further doubt on the future of four-turbine planes including the Boeing Co. 747 and the European manufacturer’s own A380. The A350-1000, which departed Airbus’s base in Toulouse, France, at 10:42 a.m. local time, seats 366 ...

  Berlin / AFP Pilots at German flagship carrier Lufthansa stayed away from work for a second straight day on Thursday, forcing the airline to scrap 912 flights and grounding 115,000 more passengers. The airline had already scrapped nearly 900 flights that affected 100,000 passengers on Wednesday after pilots staged a walkout in a row over pay and working conditions. ...

  New York / AP The 50 busiest airports in the US collected more than $183 million last year from travellers using taxis, shuttle buses or other forms of ground transportation, according to Associated Press calculations from data obtained through dozens of public records requests. Fees ranged widely from airport to airport. They were only paid — directly or indirectly ...

  Bloomberg Pilots for the Air Transport Services Group Inc. unit that hauls packages for Amazon.com Inc. and DHL Worldwide Express were ordered back to work by a federal judge, halting a strike that threatened to disrupt holiday deliveries. US District Judge Timothy Black in Cincinnati gave a nod to the holiday shopping rush in granting ABX Air’s request for ...

  Bloomberg Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s shock ban on high-denomination currency notes may present a tricky situation for India’s central bank: a shortage of bonds needed to manage its money-market operations. About 6 trillion rupees ($87.3 billion) have been deposited at lenders since Modi’s November 8 move, as citizens in Asia’s third-largest economy rush to submit the now defunct 500-and-1,000 ...

  Bloomberg The European Central Bank warned that the risk of an abrupt global market correction on the back of rising political uncertainty has intensified, posing a threat to banks, stability and economic growth. “More volatility in the near future is likely and the potential for an abrupt reversal remains significant,” the central bank said in its twice-yearly Financial Stability ...

  DUBAI / Reuters Bank of Singapore, a unit of Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp, said on Tuesday it had received a licence to open a branch in Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) as it aims to tap demand from wealthy individuals in the Middle East. The bank said the licence allows it to conduct private banking including investment, credit and wealth ...