Bloomberg Emirates, known for luxurious planes with showers and bars, is considering adding cheaper long-distance flights in order to better fend off aggressive competition from low-cost carriers. “More and more international network carriers will be starting to move into the long-haul, low-cost market,” Emirates president Tim Clark said at a press briefing in Berlin. “That will be the shape …

  Bloomberg Emirates, the world’s biggest long-haul airline, said it’s unhappy with performance shortfalls afflicting $6.1 billion’s worth of Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc engines ordered to power a batch of 50 Airbus Group SE A380 superjumbos. Feedback on the Trent 900 powerplants indicates “technical issues” that need to be resolved before the first plane is delivered to Emirates next month, Tim …

  Bloomberg Airbus Group SE won an order for 13 Airbus planes valued at about $1.4 billion at list prices from Japanese budget carrier Peach Aviation Ltd., making inroads in a nation where most aircraft flown come from Boeing Co. Peach signed an agreement to buy 10 A320neo aircraft and three A320ceo planes, it said in a statement Friday. The …

  Bloomberg If you shop at Wal-Mart, you might be buying packaged produce unlike any ever sold in a U.S. store. The sliced apples or cut broccoli — the merchant won’t say what’s involved exactly — are being used to test blockchain, a new database technology. If successful, the trial could change how Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which serves some 260 …

  Bloomberg Wells Fargo & Co. is suddenly under an even tighter vise as one of its chief regulators ripped up parts of a recent settlement over bogus accounts, potentially hamstringing new business moves that need government approval. While Wells Fargo is subject to the terms of its settlement, it will face hurdles to making major purchases, such as buying …

  Bloomberg Aruna Desai has a problem with the thousands of Indian rupees she has with her in the US — she can’t find a bank to exchange her funds and couldn’t give the money away if she tried. Since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi removed 500- and 1,000-rupee notes from circulation, currency exchange providers in the US have been …

  Washington / AFP JP Morgan Chase has agreed to pay $264 million to settle a foreign bribery case dubbed the “princelings case” in which the bank gave prized jobs to friends and relatives of Chinese officials, US officials announced. The multinational bank, now the world’s largest by market capitalization, admitted to taking in more than $100 million after hiring …

  Bloomberg A contentious reform of international bank capital standards is going down to the wire, as regulators including the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank try to bridge a wide gap on key issues before the end of the year. At issue is the way banks measure the risk of mortgages, corporate loans and even the threat …

  Los Angeles / AFP The figure-hugging gown Marilyn Monroe wore to serenade President John F. Kennedy for his 45th birthday smashed its guide price to sell for $4.8 million at auction on Thursday. The flesh-colored dress, adorned with 2,500 hand-stitched crystals, had been expected to fetch between $2-3 million, Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills said. It went to Ripley’s …

  La Paz/ AFP Centuries ago, Spanish colonizers forced their Bolivian servants to wear the puffy skirts that have come to symbolize the country’s “cholitas,” or indigenous women. Today, one local designer is turning the tables with plans to export high-end cholita fashion — blossoming skirts, bowler hats and intricately woven shawls — to Madrid, Paris and beyond. Fresh off …