Bloomberg Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA dropped in Milan trading after the European Central Bank highlighted weaknesses in the Italian lender’s capital and profitability. The ECB told the bank that its inability to issue the second tranche of a junior bond issue last year hurt its capital position, Monte Paschi said in a statement. The Italian bank plans …

Bloomberg Luxury cosmetics firm L’Occitane International SA agreed to buy beauty and skincare brand Elemis for about $900 million, its biggest deal on record as the maker of organic lotions looks to expand in the US and UK. The Hong Kong-listed L’Occitane agreed to buy the privately-held Elemis from Steiner Leisure Limited, according to a statement from the companies. Steiner …

Bloomberg Deutsche Lufthansa AG will cancel at least 414 flights due to a strike on Tuesday by security staff at eight German airports, including the airline’s hubs in Frankfurt and Munich. The cancellations include 386 flights within Europe and 28 intercontinental services, Lufthansa said. Airport-security workers in Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Hanover, Bremen, Dresden, Leipzig/Halle and Erfurt plan to walk out …

Bloomberg America’s biggest supermarket chain is seeing signs that US shoppers are getting nervous about the future. “It’s fascinating right now from a customer standpoint. They feel incredibly good about the economy but very nervous about where things are headed,’’ Kroger Co Chief Executive Officer Rodney McMullen said in an onstage interview at the National Retail Federation’s annual trade show …

Bloomberg Washington DC could get another four inches (10 centimetres) of snow from a storm that’s already caused hundreds of flight cancellations and several deaths as it cuts a wide swath across the US from St. Louis to the mid-Atlantic. Washington’s Reagan National Airport had recorded 5.4 inches of snow, AccuWeather reported. The nation’s capital hadn’t received more than 4.1 …

Bloomberg Indonesia found the cockpit voice recorder from the Lion Air plane that crashed in October, giving investigators a real chance at solving the mystery of what brought down a modern jet. The CVR of the Boeing Co 737 Max aircraft was intact when it was recovered in the Java Sea, according to said Agung Nugroho, a spokesman for Indonesian …

ABU DHABI / WAM The third-annual Atlantic Council Global Energy Forum in Abu Dhabi, held as part of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, convened regional and global policymakers and industry leaders to discuss the geopolitical and economic impact on the energy agenda. This year’s forum focussed on four major themes — the future of oil, the digitisation of energy, diversification within …

DUBAI / WAM DP World on Sunday announced that it entered into an agreement to acquire 71.3% stake in Chile port operator Puertos y Logistica SA (Pulogsa) from Minera Valparaiso and other shareholders associated with the Matte Group. Pulogsa is listed on the Santiago stock exchange, and the acquisition will be effected via a tender offer to acquire all outstanding …

Abu Dhabi / WAM Dr Khalid bin Saleh Al Sultan, President of the King Abdullah Atomic and Renewable Energy City, stated that there are plans to integrate the renewable energy network of Saudi Arabia, which aims to produce 60 gigawatts of renewable energy, including 40 gigawatts from solar energy and 20 from wind and other sources by 2030. In an …

RIYADH / WAM Aramex, the global provider of comprehensive logistics and transportation solutions, anno-unced the acquisition of the KSA-based firm, Saudi TAL for Comm- erce and Contract Company, for approximately $80 million. Bashar Obeid, CEO of Aramex, said, “Saudi Arabia is Aramex’s largest market in the Middle East and holds significant gro-wth potential for the business. Our acquisition of Saudi …