Geneva / AFP Richemont, the world’s second-biggest luxury goods group, is planning to cut up to 350 jobs in Switzerland this year amid a “difficult” watch market, a Swiss newspaper reported Saturday. Richemont, second only to France’s LVMH in the luxury world, is “studying an adjustment of the production capacities of some watch manufacturers,” Le Temps daily reported, quoting an ...
Read More »German airlines to set up med testing
Berlin / BLOOMBERG Germany will step up surprise tests for airline pilots to detect medications and drugs nearly a year after a Germanwings co-pilot suffering from depression deliberately crashed his plane, the SuddeutscheZeitung newspaper reported on Saturday. The Munich paper, citing a document which outlined a series of measures approved in Berlin Friday, reported that the new programme will come ...
Read More »German bonds on best run in a year as traders await CPI data
Bloomberg With German government bonds on their longest winning streak in more than a year, investors are set to scour inflation data next week for clues as to whether the European Central Bank will provide more stimulus next month. A measure of euro-region inflation expectations stayed near a record low this week even as the central bank pledged it is ...
Read More »Trump cautions of job losses
South Carolina / Bloomberg On the eve of South Carolina’s Republican primary, billionaire Donald Trump suggested that one of the state’s top employers could lose jobs if he isn’t elected president because, he claimed, no one else will be as good a negotiator with the Chinese. “Boeing is building massive plants in China,†he said at a rally in Myrtle ...
Read More »Endorsements show Republican race’s redrawn battlelines
South Carolina / Bloomberg South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley shook up the Republican presidential race this week by endorsing Florida Senator Marco Rubio. But much of the endorsement action is back in Washington, where a Bloomberg Politics analysis illustrates Ted Cruz’s clear dominance with hard-core conservatives; the battle between Rubio and Jeb Bush for establishment support; and John Kasich’s potential ...
Read More »World Bank sees modest economic drag from Zika
Bogota / AP The spread of Zika will have a modest drag on economies in Latin America, with tourism-dependent Caribbean nations most at risk, the World Bank said. It made $150 million immediately available to help fight the virus. The World Health Organization has declared a global health emergency in response to the Zika outbreak and the U.S. is urging ...
Read More »Colombia declares rate rise, budget cut
Bloomberg Colombia became the second Latin American nation this week to raise interest rates, cut government spending and announce steps to shore up its currency as commodity prices tumble. A majority of the seven-member board voted to increase the policy rate a quarter point to 6.25 percent, bank Governor Jose Dario Uribe told reporters in Bogota after the meeting. The ...
Read More »Judge to lift Argentina debt injunction
Bloomberg Argentina persuaded a U.S. judge to drop court orders barring the country from issuing new bonds or servicing its restructured debt, a dramatic shift in the 15-year standoff between the South American nation and its international creditors. U.S. District Judge Thomas Griesa agreed to drop the injunctions once Argentina repeals laws barring payment of its defaulted debt and makes ...
Read More »UAE hotels dish out innovative deals
Ritika Sharma / Emirates Business From slashing your dining bills according to the temperature on that particular day; discounts based on stock market plunges to molecular gastronomy adding nitrogen to your food and brunching with dolfins underwater, UAE hotels are exploring innovative food and beverage (F&B) concepts to stay atop and fight the mounting competition in the industry. While some ...
Read More »Big data: Future of agriculture in Emirates
Alkesh Sharma / Emirates Business Imagine a UAE farmer sitting in the cabin of his high-tech tractors. Through the glass windows he is able to oversee hectares of crops while monitoring couple of computer screens and he can point out the exact locations in the field where his worker had missed a seed or the location that is facing a ...
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