December, 2016

• 24 December

  BA cabin crew suspend Christmas strike

  

    Washington / AFP British Airways (BA) cabin crew have suspended a two-day strike planned over Christmas, labour union Unite announced after securing a new deal with the airline. Almost 2,000 British Airways cabin crew, or more than one in seven, were due to walk out on Christmas Day and December 26 (Boxing Day) in a dispute over pay. Talks ...

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• 24 December

  New uniforms make American flight attendants ‘sick’

  

    Bloomberg American Airlines flight attendants filed a grievance with the carrier over new uniforms they say have caused headaches, skin irritation and other health problems since being introduced in September. The airline should either stop issuing the clothing or allow workers to wear their previous outfits, Bob Ross, president of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, said in a ...

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• 24 December

  Banks in focus as world stocks drift into Xmas break

  

    New York / AFP European stocks and Wall Street traded nearly flat in a quiet session before Christmas, with banks topping the agenda after huge US fines and a bailout in Italy. London closed marginally higher in a half-day session, as upwardly revised data showed the British economy grew 0.6 percent in the third quarter despite Brexit jitters. In ...

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• 24 December

  Paschi’s fatal sin brings nationalization for oldest bank

  

    Bloomberg The silence was deafening. On the afternoon of December 9, Marco Morelli, chief executive officer of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, was preparing for a board meeting in the lender’s Belle Epoque-era offices in Milan when the news hit: the European Central Bank had rejected his bid for more time to raise the 5 billion euros ...

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• 24 December

  USA sues Barclays for fraud over crisis-era mortgage securities

  

    Washington / AFP The US Justice Department sued the British financial giant Barclays, accusing the bank of massive fraud in the sale of mortgage-backed securities which contributed to the global financial crisis of 2008. Barclays was one of several major banks implicated in the crisis, along with Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland and Credit Suisse, that so far ...

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• 24 December

  Kazakhstan weighs its biggest bank rescue since 2009

  

    Bloomberg Kazakhstan has extended an emergency loan to the country’s biggest bank, the first step in what could be a rescue that may reach 1.5 trillion tenge ($4.5 billion), according to people familiar with the plans. A bailout is among the alternatives under discussion between officials from Kazkommertsbank JSC and the central bank as Kazakhstan edges closer to its ...

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• 24 December

  Waiting to pursue a sweet future!

  

    Mbau / AFP Antoine Kakule Kihumuledi longs for a car to transport his cocoa crop and, like fellow residents in the Beni region in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, he wants peace so he can pursue his dreams. Kakule, 51, is a pioneer in cultivating cocoa in this area of Nord Kivu province, which has been ravaged by war ...

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• 24 December

  What’s it like to win Spain’s bountiful lottery!

  

    Madrid / DPA Two years ago, a district in Madrid got lucky in Spain’s hugely popular Christmas lottery, with people working or living there winning prizes of between 120,000 and 3.0 million euros. As Spaniards gear up for the next windfall from the world’s richest lottery known as el “Gordo”, or the “Fat One”, AFP asked the 2014 winners ...

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• 24 December

  UN demands end to Israeli settlements

  

    United Nations / AFP The UN Security Council demanded that Israel halt settlements in Palestinian territory, after the United States refrained from vetoing a resolution condemning its closest Middle East ally. In a rare and momentous step, the United States instead abstained, enabling the adoption of the first UN resolution since 1979 to condemn Israel over its settlement policy. ...

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• 24 December

  Israel on defensive after landmark UN vote

    Jerusalem / AFP Israel scrambled on Saturday to contain the fallout from the UN Security Council vote to halt settlements in Palestinian territory after lashing out at US President Barack Obama over the “shameful” resolution. By deciding not to veto the move, the US took a rare step that deeply angered Israel, which accused Obama of abandoning its closest ...

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