September, 2020

• 19 September

  Hitachi set to exit UK nuclear power project, say reports

  

  Bloomberg Hitachi Ltd is poised to withdraw from a proposed UK nuclear power plant, according to Japan’s Mainichi newspaper, the latest blow to the troubled project and the nation’s effort to replace its aging atomic fleet. Hitachi’s board was expected to decide to exit the Wylfa nuclear power project in Wales, Mainichi reported, citing an unidentified person. Work was suspended ...

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• 19 September

  Nigeria banks on gas-powered vehicles

  

  Bloomberg Nigeria is counting on gas-powered vehicles to help it reduce reliance on gasoline and improve its climate credentials while easing the pangs of ending decades of an expensive fuel-subsidy regime. Energy prices have shot up sharply after the government ended subsidies and the country’s labour unions are threatening a general strike on September 28. After a 60% loss of ...

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• 19 September

  Hong Kong offers glimpse of one Belarus future

  

  Two unpopular leaders, two powerful backers. Pictures of Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko beaming for the cameras, leaning in eagerly to address an impassive Russian president, evoked another pair 4,000 miles away and months earlier. Against a similar background of street unrest, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam found support from China’s President Xi Jinping last year. It’s not a parallel ...

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• 19 September

  737 Max saga won’t be Boeing’s end

  

  Is Boeing Co capable of making commercial aircraft at all? It’s worth asking after an excoriating report by a US congressional committee on the circumstances leading up to the fatal crashes of two 737 MAX planes. The accidents were “the horrific culmination of a series of faulty technical assumptions by Boeing’s engineers, a lack of transparency on the part of ...

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• 19 September

  Big firms are boosting child-care benefits

  Whether your company is pushing employees to return to the office, a la JPMorgan, or letting them stay home, a la Google, Deutsche Bank and pretty much everyone else, the question remains: What the heck to do with the kids? The US remains a confusing patchwork of partially open, partially closed schools. Children learning via screen need supervision to help ...

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• 19 September

  WeChat ban is a MAGA wall in cyberspace in US

  Having failed to complete a huge wall along the US southern border, President Donald Trump’s administration now seems desperate to build one in cyberspace for similar spurious reasons. Whereas the bogeyman four years ago was a supposed influx of drugs and criminals from Mexico, the US announced that Tencent Holdings Ltd’s instant-messaging app WeChat will essentially be shut down in ...

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• 19 September

  Proposed Boeing’s 737 Max fixes win NTSB endorsement

  

  Bloomberg US accident investigators who last year urged broad reforms of aircraft certification after two deadly crashes of Boeing Co’s 737 Max have endorsed fixes for the jet proposed last month by the Federal Aviation Administration. A letter from National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chairman Robert Sumwalt said safety reviews by the regulators and proposed changes to pilot procedures had ...

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• 19 September

  South Africa commits $650m to airline SAA

  

  Bloomberg The administrators of South African Airways (SAA) remain in the dark about when the funds the government said it will provide to restart the insolvent national carrier will land. “The government sent a letter to the business rescue practitioners saying that National Treasury and the cabinet had committed to providing 10.5 billion rand ($650 million) in funding for SAA,” ...

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• 19 September

  Kenya Air seeks $500m to ride out virus

  

  Bloomberg Kenya Airways Plc needs at least $500 million to ride out the coronavirus crisis after first-half revenue plunged almost 50%, Chief Executive Officer Allan Kilavuka said in an interview. The carrier, which is 49% state owned, must also be fully nationalised alongside Kenya Airports Authority, which runs the Nairobi hub, under a holding structure similar to that of regional ...

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• 19 September

  Qantas CEO pay sinks 83% over Covid-19

  Bloomberg Qantas Airways Ltd Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce’s compensation fell 83% to A$1.7 million ($1.2 million) in the year ended June as the airline slashed salaries and bonuses to save money during the coronavirus crisis. Joyce went without pay from early March until August, when he started taking 65% of his base salary, Qantas said. He got no bonus ...

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