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Skopje / AFP Macedonia’s main opposition party said it will boycott a “sham” election in June, as parliament dissolved ahead of the vote which is supposed to end a political crisis. The June 5 election is part of a European Union-backed deal reached last year between the government and the opposition to end months of turmoil. But Zoran Zaev, leader ...

In December 2014, the Umbrella Movement, Hong Kong protests that had started on September 22, ended. Major roads, which had for three months been occupied by protesters, now were bustling again with traffic. Students returned to university empty-handed and suffrage-less. The protests, once lively with energy from the potential of tangible change, were extinguished without so much as an official ...

One of the biggest unanswered questions of Britain’s looming referendum is how much capital might flee the nation if it decides to go it alone. As it stands, foreign investors do better in Britain than British investors abroad, and that investment has been a big driver in the U.K. economy. It also helps explain why there’s so much concern about ...

FRANKFURT / REUTERS Euro zone banks should be encouraged to keep more of their profits rather than pay dividends, to bolster their capital and finance new loans, the head of research of the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) said on Thursday. The euro zone has been battling low economic growth and sluggish lending for years, and banks have complained that ...

NEW DELHI / AFP A group of Indian banks rejected on Thursday embattled businessman Vijay Mallya’s offer to repay $600 million in unpaid loans, less than half of what his defunct airline owes them. The banks told the Supreme Court in New Delhi that they wanted the 60-year-old flamboyant entrepreneur to return to India so they could negotiate with him ...

MADRID / AP A union representing bank workers says Spain’s biggest bank is planning to lay off 1,200 workers as part of a restructuring plan that will also shutter more than 400 branches. The UGT union says Banco Santander SA’s plan calls for half of the employees to take early retirement and receive 70 percent of their annual pay. UGT ...

BLOOMBERG Chase Bank Kenya Ltd. shareholders are committed to recapitalising the lender placed under receivership to re-open the institution “as quickly as possible,” the central bank Governor Patrick Njoroge said. The closely held East African lender went into statutory management on Thursday to protect it from its creditors a day after two executives stepped down following the restatements of its ...

Bloomberg Singapore Airlines Ltd. raised its stake in Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd. a week after future ownership of the A$1.3 billion ($987 million) airline was put in doubt. The Singapore carrier increased the shareholding to 23.11 percent from 22.91 percent, it said in a statement. The airline said it paid A$3.18 million to settle a series of equity swaps, or ...

MONTREAL / Reuters Global airline passenger traffic grew 6.8 percent in 2015, with the Middle East region growing the fastest, preliminary data released on Wednesday by the United Nations’ civil aviation agency showed. US carriers were ranked the top three in the world by revenue passenger kilometer, American Airlines Group taking the top position, the International Civil Aviation Organisation said ...

Bloomberg Air France will invest 140 million euros ($159 million) extending a cabin refurbishment to its Airbus Group SE A330 fleet that will include lie-flat business-class seats from Zodiac Aerospace, the embattled supplier that has struggled to fulfill orders. The upgrade will begin late next year and finish in 2018, the airline said in a statement. Each of the twin-aisle ...