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Families of crash victims appeal US Judge's decision to dismiss Boeing criminal charges
Families of victims of the two Boeing 737 MAX crashes in which 346 people died asked a U.S. court of appeals on Thursday to overturn a judge’s decision to allow the Justice Department to dismiss a criminal complaint against the planemaker. Judge Reed O'Connor of the U.S. District Court Fort Worth, Texas last week approved the Justice Department's request, but harshly criticised the government's choice. He did not believe that it was in the public's interest to dismiss the case which had initially been pursued by the Biden administration, and resulted in an initial admission of guilt. The families requested that the 5th Circuit Court reverse his decision. The families claimed that the Justice Department had violated their rights when it reached a deferred prosecutor agreement with Boeing on a fraud charge arising from false statements the planemaker made to Federal Aviation Administration. Paul Cassell is an attorney for some families. He said, "We don't believe the courts should be silent while injustices are committed." "The charges against Boeing can't be simply dropped." Boeing did not respond immediately to a comment request on Thursday. Last week, the Justice Department rejected the judge's criticism. It said that it thought the deal was the "most just outcome." O'Connor stated in 2023, "Boeing's crimes may be considered as the deadliest corporate crimes in U.S. history." He claimed he did not have the authority to refuse the government's deal with Boeing even though the agreement "fails" to provide the accountability necessary to ensure the safety for the flying public. Boeing agreed last year to plead guilty on a charge of criminal fraud conspiracy after the fatal 737 MAX crash in Indonesia and Ethiopia, in 2018 and 2019. In May, after Donald Trump became president of the United States, the Justice Department changed its course and no longer demanded a guilty plea. Boeing has agreed to pay $444.5 in addition to the $243.6 million fine, plus $455 million for the improvement of safety and compliance programs. The FAA proposed fining Boeing $3 million in September for a number of safety violations. These included actions related to an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX-9 mid-air emergency that occurred on January 20, 2024, as well as for interfering the independence of safety officials. A jury in Chicago ordered Boeing on Wednesday to pay over $28 million to Shikha Garg's family, an environmental worker for the United Nations who died in the crash. Boeing has agreed to not appeal the decision and will pay the $35.85million verdict plus 26% interest. (Reporting and editing by Leslie Adler, Jamie Freed, and David Shepardson)
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US Airlines reduces flight reductions for Friday despite FAA order of 6%
Cirium, an aviation analytics company, and airline officials report that U.S. carriers have cut fewer flights on Friday than required by the requirement to cut 6% domestic flights from the 40 busiest American Airports. Federal Aviation Administration announced late Wednesday that it would not increase cancellation requirements and freeze mandatory flight reductions at 6%. This was in line with what had been previously announced. Cirium reported that airlines cancelled just 1.4% of flights for Friday after cancelling 3.5% on Wednesday and Thursday. The FAA may revise or add to the order. United Airlines announced that it had cancelled 134 flights on Friday, almost 3%, after cancelling 22 flights on Thursday. The FAA has not yet commented. Under condition of anonymity, other airlines confirmed that they did not plan to reduce 6% of their flights on Friday. Prior to the FAA revising its order, airlines were expected to cancel 10% of flights in the 40 busiest international airports and 8% of flights within the United States on Thursday. The FAA decided to reduce the number of cancellations on Wednesday after air traffic control absences had decreased dramatically in recent weeks, just before Congress gave final approval to an agreement to reopen government which was signed by President Donald Trump. The FAA said that it would continue to evaluate whether the system could gradually return to normal operation. FlightAware's flight tracking website reported that airlines canceled 1,020 of their flights on Thursday, in accordance with the FAA requirement. Cirium reported that carriers had canceled flights by 4:20 pm. ET only cancelled 371 flights on Friday. The FAA reported staffing problems at Reagan Washington National Airport and Newark Airports on Thursday, causing delays at both airports. However, there were significantly fewer issues compared to before the government reopened. There are about 3,500 fewer air traffic controllers than the FAA needs to meet its target staffing levels. Before the shutdown, many had already been working six-day weekends and mandatory overtime. FlightAware reports that flight operations have improved, with only 3,000 delays on Friday, compared to 4,000 on Tuesday, and almost 10,000 on Monday. Since October 1, when the 43 day shutdown began, air traffic absences led to tens-of-thousands of cancellations and delays. (Reporting and editing by Leslie Adler & Rod Nickel; Reporting by David Shepardson)
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Siemens Energy pays first dividend for four years and raises its mid-term outlook
Siemens Energy, a German company, announced on Thursday that it would pay its first dividend for four years and also raise its outlook for the mid-term period due to strong demand in gas turbines, power transmission technologies, and services. Christian Bruch, CEO of the company's wind-turbine division, said that the success "was hard-earned" and not a result of chance. He was referring to the years of cost cutting and restructuring in response to a quality crisis. Siemens Energy, which is Germany's sixth-most valuable listed company, has since then benefited from an increase in demand for energy equipment. This was partly due to global AI investments including power-hungry data centers. Siemens Energy has proposed a dividend per share of 0.70 euro ($0.82) for the fiscal year ending in September. This is the highest payout ever since the company spun off its former parent Siemens AG, in 2020. It also beats the 0.56 euro LSEG survey. DATA CENTRES DRIVE ENERGY DESIRE Siemens Energy shares, listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, closed up 2.5% after the news. Siemens Energy expects to see sales grow at least 10% annually in the period 2025-2028. The profit margin will also increase to between 14% and 16% by 2028. The group, which produces everything from wind and gas turbines to power transmission equipment and electrolysers, had expected a growth rate of high single digits until 2028 with a margin between 10% and 12%. Siemens Energy stated that the demand for electricity and the need to upgrade or expand power grids will continue to increase, driven also by "the continued digitalization of the industry, and the share renewable energies, as well as the strong growth in data centers". Siemens Energy, which competes against GE Vernova, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, expects a profit before special items in 2026 of 9-11%. This is up from 6%. The fourth-quarter revenue was 10.4 billion euro, driven by the company's power grid division which had its highest quarterly sales to date. This helped support a record order backlog of 138 billion euro. (1 dollar = 0.8575 euro) (Reporting and editing by Lisa Shumaker, Diane Craft and Tom Kaeckenhoff)
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Alstom increases revenue forecast for 2025 after beating first-half sales
Alstom, a French train manufacturer, raised its organic sales forecast for 2025 after reporting a half-year revenue that was above expectations. This was due to strong demand for high-speed trains. Alstom, the manufacturer of trains and signalling for urban and regional railway networks, expects its organic sales to rise over 5% in comparison with previous guidance between 3% and 5%. "Strong growth in sales across all product lines shows our ability to accelerate delivery of backlog and achieve growth for the full year above our initial expectations." Henri Poupart Lafarge, chief executive of Henri Poupart Lafarge. Organically, revenue grew 8% to 9,06 billion euros ($10.57billion) in the first six months of the year. According to a consensus compiled by the company, analysts had predicted 8.97 billion euro. The growth was driven primarily by "strong performance" across Europe where the group's revenue increased 8.5% on an annual basis in the first half. Alstom signed several large contracts in the first quarter of this year, including a contract worth 6.9 billion zlotys ($1.9 billion) with Poland's long-distance railway operator PKP and a 1.4-billion-euro Alstom order for high-speed trains from French rail operator SNCF Voyageurs. The group has confirmed its rest of the guidance for the year.
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Spanish police bust a ring suspected of trafficking minors from France
The Spanish police announced on Thursday that they had broken up an international criminal ring suspected of trafficking minors to France from the Canary Islands. They arrested 11 people during an operation spanning Lanzarote and Madrid, as well as Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Police said that four suspects were placed in detention pending trial on charges of organised crime, document fraud and child pornography. An investigation was launched after 14 minors disappeared from centres run by the state on the Canary Islands in the period between 2024 and 2025. The police said that the group used contacts and routes in Morocco, Ivory Coast, and Spain to transport the children to France and provided them with fake documents. Lanzarote police officers searched two homes and seized cash, electronic devices, personal documents and other items. Police said that the investigation is still ongoing to find the missing minors, and track down international connections. (Reporting and editing by Alexandra Hudson, Jesus Calero)
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Hackers from abroad have targeted the systems of a major Russian port operator, says a large Russian port operator
Port Alliance, a Russian group that operates a network for sea cargo terminals said Thursday that foreign hackers targeted its systems in three-day attacks, including a distributed denial-of service (DDoS), and a hacking attempt. In a press release, it said that key elements of its digital network had been targeted in order to disrupt exports of coal and mineral fertilizers at its sea terminals located in the Baltic Sea, Black Sea region, Far East, and Arctic regions. Port Alliance reported that the attack was successfully repulsed and that operations were not affected. The most basic web attack is the denial of service. It works by flooding targeted servers with fake requests for data. This makes it impossible for any legitimate web traffic. Since Russia sent tens and thousands of troops to Ukraine in 2022, Russian authorities and companies have reported numerous attempts at DDoS attacks and hacking from outside. Ukraine and certain Western countries have accused Russia of cyberattacks. Port Alliance operates cargo terminals in five Russian ports. (Reporting and writing by Gleb Stlyarov, Anton Kolodyazhnyy and Andrew Osborn; editing by Andrew Osborn).
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Poste Italiane does not see any major impact of EU plan to charge low-value parcels
Matteo Del Fante, the chief executive officer of Poste Italiane, said that the plan by the European Union to levy a 2-euro fee on small parcels coming from outside the EU will not have a major impact on the company's volume. Del Fante said that such a move could also delay plans by Chinese ecommerce platforms to establish their own logistics network in the region. Why it's important The proposed measure is designed to stop the flow of cheap goods from China and other non-member nations entering the EU. This would affect Chinese ecommerce imports by companies like Shein or Temu. Poste Italiane, a state-owned logistics operator, handles millions of parcels each year. Any change in the cross-border fee could be relevant to their business model. Quotes Del Fante, during a call with analysts after the results were announced, said that "usually the market adjusts... One or even two euros won't really change the appeal of these platforms." It is less attractive for Chinese platforms to set up infrastructure in Italy. The Chinese platforms have also started to organise their own logistics, based on what's happening in the world. This type of barrier makes investment in a particular region seem more distant. CONTEXT The European Commission proposed a 2-euro fee but it's not clear when this would be implemented. Brussels has announced that it wants to accelerate the levying of customs duty on low-value parcels coming into the European Union, in an effort to curb cheap Chinese imports which arrive by the millions each year. Some EU nations appear to be preparing to introduce handling fees at the national level. Italy will introduce a tax to protect the fashion industry by the end the year, said the industry minister on Wednesday. Poste is Italy's second largest logistics company behind Amazon.
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Shares of UK retailer B&M hit record low after weak start to the festive quarter
B&M, a British discount retailer, reported a weak start for the crucial Christmas quarter on Thursday, sending its share price to a new record low. However, its CEO is hopeful that a strong position with festive gifts and decorations can improve their performance. Helen Cowing, an experienced finance executive, was appointed interim finance director a month following the disclosure of an accounting mistake that resulted in a profit warning as well as the departure of their previous finance chief. Five months after taking on the position, CEO Tjeerd Gegen has already laid out a turnaround plan that focuses on reducing inventory and sharpening prices to combat falling sales, inconsistent pricing, and too complex product lines. "The golden quarter is yet to come, the peak of business." Jegen said on Thursday that B&M's strength is in its Christmas decorations and gifts across all food categories as well as non-food items. Profits Under Pressure B&M has approximately 1,300 stores worldwide that sell everything from toys and food to garden furniture, electrical goods and other items. Jegen stated that the company was looking to compete with full-priced supermarkets, and they were exploring a channel online to tap into the social media-driven buying. It said, however, that UK like-forlike sales were below the upper end of the forecast range when it began its third fiscal quarter. The range is from a single-digit increase to a single-digit decrease. Analysts at Jefferies said that B&M is undergoing change, but it's not happening fast enough to save current trading. B&M shares fell as much as 5% to 155.6 pence before 1240 GMT. Cowing previously served as Chief Financial Officer at the transport operator Mobico and European coffee service provider Selecta. He also worked for fashion retailer FatFace. B&M's adjusted operating profit fell 31.5% to 177 millions pounds ($238million) in the six-month period ended September 27, B&M reported.
Singapore Airlines CEO: Boeing 777-9 delays will not have a major impact on the airline
Goh Choon Phong, the CEO of Singapore Airlines, said that the airline does not expect a significant impact due to the delayed delivery of Boeing 777-9 aircraft.
"SIA's fleet plan has always included flexibility. In this case, despite the delay, he did not expect any major impacts.
Boeing has pushed back the delivery date of its long delayed 777X programme to 2027.
Goh refused to disclose compensation discussions between Boeing and the airline.
He said: "As to delivery delays or future aircraft supply, I'd just say that SIA is in a privileged situation as one of the top carriers. You can expect us to receive some preferential treatment."
Singapore Airlines reported Thursday that it had a
Profits for the first half of this year fell by 68%
Losses at Air India in India, rising costs, and increased competition have all affected the airline. (Reporting and editing by John Mair; Xinghui KOK)
(source: Reuters)