December, 2016

• 1 December

  Chinese pilot suspended for urging passengers to protest delay

    Beijing / AFP A Chinese pilot has been suspended, his airline said, after social media footage showed he told passengers to deplane and protest against a flight delay, the latest outburst over the country’s notorious air transport services. The flight, operated by Lucky Air, was scheduled to leave the tourist destination of Xishuangbanna for the southern city of Kunming ...

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• 1 December

  Credit Suisse freezes dozens of accounts in US asset search

  

    Bloomberg Credit Suisse Group AG has frozen dozens of accounts as it tries to determine if U.S. clients are hiding money from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) after the firm pledged to come clean about secret assets, according to a person familiar with the matter. The bank is looking at indicators such as phone numbers or powers of attorney ...

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• 1 December

  BOE to make new banknotes ‘meat-free’

  

    Bloomberg The Bank of England (BOE) is searching for a potential solution to the use of animal fat in its new polymer banknote after days of controversy. Innovia, the printer of the five-pound bill, “is now working intensively with its supply chain and will keep the bank informed on progress towards potential solutions,” the central bank said in a ...

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• 1 December

  Global bank regulators stick to their guns in rebuff to EU

  

    Bloomberg Global banking regulators are standing by a key reform of capital rules in defiance of opposition from Europe, potentially complicating efforts to complete work on the post-crisis framework by the end of the year. Basel Committee on Banking Supervision Chairman Stefan Ingves said “good progress” was made during talks in Santiago, Chile, this week and the “contours” of ...

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• 1 December

  Switzerland’s 1,000 franc bill among world’s most valuable

  

    Bloomberg A 53-year-old Swiss man who lost more than 6,000 francs ($5,900) in cash when it fell out of his car has reclaimed it, according to the Zurich police. The man, who hails from eastern Switzerland, was able to reclaim the bundle of large-denomination notes from the city’s lost-and-found office on Wednesday after an 85-year-old pensioner discovered the stash ...

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• 1 December

  Kenya seeks banks’ advice to raise $1.5bn in bonds, loans

    Bloomberg Kenya has invited banks to submit proposals on how it can tap international markets for as much as $1.5 billion to finance a budget deficit and boost foreign-currency reserves, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. East Africa’s largest economy will return to the international debt market in the first quarter of 2017, when it ...

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• 1 December

  A reindeer’s perilous journey in Swedish Lapland

  

    Dikanäs / AFP A herd of reindeer moves silently down the mountain, their silver coats and majestic antlers blending into the Swedish tundra as their herder leads them to their winter grazing grounds in the plains below. The annual pilgrimage, called transhumance, takes on almost sacred meaning for Sweden’s indigenous Sami reindeer herders nowadays, as they face modern-day threats ...

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• 1 December

  Jantar Mantar: India’s protest street

  

    New Delhi / AFP At one end of a backstreet in downtown Delhi a group of women hold a vigil to demand rapists be executed, while at the other acolytes of a spiritual leader arrested for sexual assault demand his release. Anyone seeking a glimpse of the bewildering range of issues animating voters in the world’s largest democracy should ...

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• 1 December

  Indonesia targets Google, FB in push for more tax

  

    Bloomberg Indonesia is widening its tax net to target global technology giants like Google and Facebook Inc., a strategy that’s raising red flags for fear it may deter foreign investment. Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati is seeking to squeeze more revenue out of an economy that’s been hit by weak commodity prices and subdued demand from China, Indonesia’s biggest ...

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• 1 December

  China oil giant ex-chief warns drillers becoming ‘dinosaurs’

  

    Bloomberg China’s biggest state-owned companies will see “dramatic changes” in the next few years as they may downsize and become more efficient, according to the former chairman of two of the country’s biggest producers. Chinese oil companies have “tremendous room” to improve efficiency and will be “suffering for the next few years” amid the oil crash that’s pushed prices ...

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