Santander opts tech-heavy board to reshape bank

Bloomberg Ana Botin, chairman of Banco Santander SA, has appointed a tech-heavy advisory board in a sign that information technology has become crucial to her growth plans at the Spanish lender. “I can’t think of a precedent where you’ve seen a panel of this nature,” says Julian Skan, a managing director at Accenture Plc in London who advises banks on ...

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Slippery banknotes become latest problem for British banks

Bloomberg As they grapple with shrinking profitability and the threat of a British exit from the European Union, the UK’s banks also face another challenge, slippery banknotes. Lenders from HSBC Holdings Plc to Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc are working to upgrade or replace thousands of cash machines before the Bank of England starts to switch paper money with ...

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Kazakhstan goes to polls in parliamentary vote

Astana / AFP Citizens of energy-rich Kazakhstan went to the polls on Sunday in an early parliamentary election expected to provide a commanding majority for ageing autocrat President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s ruling Nur Otan party. Close to 10 million voters are eligible to cast votes in a ballot held early amid economic gloom in the Central Asian state and featuring six ...

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Pakistan province will celebrate Hindu holiday

Karachi / AFP Pakistan’s southern Sindh province has announced a public holiday to celebrate Holi next week, the first time the Hindu “festival of colours” will be officially marked in the overwhelmingly Muslim country. The move comes days after Pakistan’s federal parliament passed a non-binding resolution that called for the country to observe Hindu and Christian holidays. “We have announced ...

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Fire hits home of witness to ‘Palestine arson’ case

Nablus / AFP Fire broke out on Sunday in the home of a key witness to an arson attack by Jewish extremists that killed a Palestinian family last year but he survived, police and residents said. The home of Ibrahim Dawabsha is located in Duma in the occupied West Bank, the same village where a July firebombing killed an 18-month-old ...

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Investigators launch probe into Russia flydubai crash

Rostov-on-Don / AFP Investigators in southern Russia on Sunday were probing the causes of a flydubai passenger jet crash that killed all 62 people on board, as emergency workers at the site wrapped up the salvage operation. The Boeing 737, which flew from Dubai to the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, exploded into a fireball early Saturday after missing the ...

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IS link probed in Istanbul suicide blast

Istanbul / AFP Turkish investigators were scrambling on Sunday to identify the bomber who blew himself up in the heart of Istanbul, killing four foreigners in the latest bloodshed to rock the country. No group has yet claimed responsibility for Saturday’s blast, which killed three Israelis and an Iranian. The attack came six days after a suicide car bombing at ...

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Exiled Tibetans elect leader as Dalai Lama steps back

Dharamsala / AFP Tens of thousands of exiled Tibetans voted on Sunday for a new leader tasked with sustaining their struggle for greater autonomy in their Chinese-ruled homeland as the Dalai Lama retreats from the political frontline. While Tibetans from across the world were set to vote, those in the picturesque Indian hill town of Dharamsala where the Dalai Lama ...

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The mistaken bipartisan attack on free trade

Of the many dangerous trends in the 2016 election, the revolt against free trade that has captured both parties could do the most long-term damage. That’s because protectionism would undermine future growth of the US economy and subvert America’s role as global leader. Globalization has undeniably hurt some American workers and cost some manufacturing jobs. But there’s strong evidence that ...

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