BLOOMBERG Paetongtarn Shinawatra, daughter of former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra, and her Pheu Thai party widened leads as the voters’ top choice in the latest opinion poll ahead of a general election tentatively scheduled for May. Paetongtarn, who represents the Southeast Asian nation’s largest opposition party, garnered 38.2% of support in a poll of 2,000. It’s the latest edition of …

BLOOMBERG For decades John Lewis Partnership Plc has been considered the pinnacle of British retailing, overshadowing archrival Marks & Spencer (M&S) Group Plc. While the owner of the John Lewis department store and upmarket grocer Waitrose was lauded for its employee-ownership, service levels and quality, M&S struggled with never-ending turnaround plans, a revolving door of CEOs and plunging profits. But …

BLOOMBERG London Heathrow stands to suffer severe disruptions during the busy Easter travel period after some workers at the airport voted in favour of walkouts, the latest flareup in the country that has seen months of strikes over pay amid a cost of living crisis. More than 1,400 security workers at the hub voted in favour of 10 days of …

BLOOMBERG The massive renovation to New York City’s John F Kennedy International Airport has gotten even more expensive. The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey increased its funding authorisation for the infrastructure portion of the project by about $1 billion, making the new budget $3.9 billion, after costs surged due to higher inflation, soaring labour expenses and supply …

BLOOMBERG McDonald’s Corp is facing rising unrest among certain US franchisees — a potential stumbling block as the burger chain plots aggressive expansion. Squeezed by higher costs and grumbling at new operating rules, franchisees invited to a meeting with the company’s board will press their case in person. The session will give US operators “an opportunity to share with the …

BLOOMBERG A coalition of midsize US banks asked federal regulators to extend FDIC insurance to all deposits for the next two years, arguing the guarantee is needed to avoid a wider run on the banks. “Doing so will immediately halt the exodus of deposits from smaller banks, stabilise the banking sector and greatly reduce chances of more bank failures,” the …

BLOOMBERG Deutsche Bank AG’s global head of foreign exchange sales Hans Ephraimson is leaving after more than three decades at the German lender. A successor will be announced shortly and Ephraimson will “facilitate a smooth transition” of his responsibilities, according to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg News. There was no mention of a reason behind Ephraimson’s exit. A Deutsche …

BLOOMBERG Michael Klein, the CEO-designate of Credit Suisse Group AG’s investment-banking spin off, may struggle to realise his dream of building a new CS First Boston as the Swiss lender nears a forced sale to UBS Group AG. UBS is showing little appetite for Credit Suisse’s investment banking business as part of a government-brokered takeover, putting plans to legally and …

BLOOMBERG Google announced a raft of new artificial intelligence (AI) – powered features for customers of its cloud-computing business, as the technology giant jostles for dominance in the burgeoning field with rivals such as Microsoft Corp. and startup OpenAI. As Silicon Valley buzzes about so-called generative AI — software that can create images, text and video based on user prompts …

BLOOMBERG Markus Duesmann, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Audi, flew to China last week to tackle a problem that’s indicative of the challenges facing Germany: how to compete with its biggest trading partner on new technology. The head of the German luxury brand went to visit Audi’s Chinese joint venture (JV) partners — China FAW Group Co. and SAIC …