Lufthansa offers humility, higher pay to pacify pilot conflict

  Bloomberg Deutsche Lufthansa AG sought to defuse an escalating pilots strike by offering an improved wage deal as well as a show of humility. The German airline proposed a 4.4 percent raise plus a bonus that will exceed 20,000 euros ($21,200) per pilot on average, dropping a demand for employee concessions on benefits. In a move away from more ...

Read More »

Fastjet to move headquarters to S Africa

  Bloomberg Fastjet Plc is considering expanding in South Africa as new Chief Executive Officer Nico Bezuidenhout evaluates growth opportunities for the unprofitable discount airline and says the continent’s most industrialized economy is too big to stay out of. While the Africa-focused carrier already connects Johannesburg with its hubs in Tanzania and Zimbabwe, it has no internal services in South ...

Read More »

Coca-Cola opens first factory in Gaza Strip

  Gaza City / AFP Coca-Cola formally has opened its first factory in the Gaza Strip, the company announced, in a move that could create hundreds of jobs in the beleaguered Palestinian enclave. The bottling facility had been partially open for several months but began full operations after a ceremony Wednesday. The $20-million (19-million euro) investment is the company’s first ...

Read More »

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 ...

Read More »

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 ...

Read More »

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 ...

Read More »

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 ...

Read More »

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 ...

Read More »

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 ...

Read More »

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 ...

Read More »
Send this to a friend