Bloomberg Fatalities in crashes of small private planes have fallen to the lowest levels in decades as industry and government work to address an area of aviation that has lagged behind jetliners in dramatic safety improvements. While aviation crash analysts caution that it’s still too early to say for sure that the data represents a long-term trend, the declining ...
Read More »A look at Wal-Mart’s food lab
AP Wal-Mart opened a 12,000-square-foot culinary and innovation center at its headquarters in June as a place where the nation’s largest food retailer can work with major suppliers to come up with new food ideas, and develop ideas on its own to bolster its store-brand selection. HERE’S A PEEK AT THE FOOD LAB WHAT IT IS: The center has ...
Read More »You may hate Delta now, but here’s why you’ll be back
Bloomberg It’s been a messy summer for US airlines and their passengers, with half the Big Four carriers suffering technology meltdowns over the past month. July and August are peak season for airlines in terms of passenger loads, making the type of systemwide glitches that befell Delta Air Lines Inc. and Southwest Airlines Co. all the tougher to navigate ...
Read More »Instability fears in Jordan as growth slows
DHIBAN / AP Sabri Mashaaleh feels misled and angry: The 29-year-old studied counseling expecting to find a civil service job, in line with what used to be a typical life path for college-educated Jordanians. Four years later, he’s still unemployed. His last hopes were crushed earlier this summer when troops tore down the tent in his small, remote hometown ...
Read More »IMF steps deeper into ME Cauldron with loan to Egypt
Bloomberg The International Monetary Fund is stepping up lending in a region where economic reformers haven’t exactly had the most success. Hoping to restore the confidence of foreign investors, Egypt announced an initial agreement on Thursday to borrow $12 billion over three years from the IMF, joining Iraq, Tunisia and Jordan in taking money from the Washington-based fund. Egypt’s ...
Read More »Egypt public prosecutor orders arrest in wheat corruption case
CAIRO/ Reuters Egypt’s public prosecutor has ordered the arrest of 13 people for 15 days pending an investigation into their role in a wheat procurement corruption scandal, judicial sources said. Egypt, the world’s largest wheat importer, has been mired in controversy over its wheat supplies, with industry officials claiming that over 2 million tonnes of the 5 million tonnes ...
Read More »In Uganda, solar power plant amid African bush electrifies hope
SOROTI / AP In this electricity-starved rural part of Uganda, men ride bicycles several kilometers (miles) to the nearest market town simply to charge their phones. That should change with the construction nearby of one of the largest solar plants in sub-Saharan Africa, where two-thirds of the population is without electricity and countries increasingly explore alternative sources of power. ...
Read More »China stability falters as factory output slows
AFP China’s recent economic stabilization faltered in July as factory output, retail sales and investment all slowed. Industrial production rose 6 percent from a year earlier in July, the National Bureau of Statistics said Friday. Retail sales climbed 10.2 percent last month, while fixed-asset investment increased 8.1 percent in the first seven months of the year. All three readings ...
Read More »Indonesia eyes investment through tax-haven areas
Bloomberg Indonesia is considering options for setting up tax-haven jurisdictions as it tries to lure back billions of dollars through its amnesty program to fund infrastructure projects and finance the widening budget deficit, Coordinating Maritime Minister Luhut Panjaitan said on Sunday. News of the haven plan follows an announcement by the government on Aug. 11 that it would allow ...
Read More »KrisEnergy exploring options as debt covenants come under stress
Bloomberg The energy collapse continues to rack up victims in Singapore. This time it’s KrisEnergy Ltd., an oil and gas producer that said on Sunday it is exploring equity issuance, refinancing and asset sales to strengthen its capital structure as its debt covenants may come under stress. The announcement came just weeks after oil services firm Swiber Holdings Ltd. ...
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