Airport
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FILE PHOTO: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, accompanied by Vice President Fuat Oktay and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, talks during a news confrence at Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul, Turkey April 8, 2019. Kayhan Ozer/Presidential Press Office/Handout via REUTERS
April 9, 2019
By Daren Butler and Tuvan Gumrukcu
ISTANBUL/ANKARA (Reuters) – President Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party (AKP) will demand a new vote in Istanbul, a senior party official said on Tuesday after its bid was rejected for a citywide recount of March 31 election results that appeared to hand the party defeat.
Initial results show the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) narrowly won control of Turkey’s biggest city in the mayoral elections, seemingly bringing an end to the 25-year rule there by the AKP and its Islamist predecessors.
Since the vote, the AKP has filed a series of requests for recounts in the city. Overnight, the High Election Board (YSK) rejected a request to recount all votes across 31 of Istanbul’s districts, the party’s representative at the YSK said.
The YSK agreed only to a recount of 51 ballot boxes, spread across 21 of the city’s total 39 districts, but the AKP called this decision “unfathomable”.
Speaking to reporters in Istanbul, AKP Deputy Chairman Ali Ihsan Yavuz said his party would file an extraordinary appeal to the YSK for a fresh vote in Istanbul over what he said were irregularities that directly impacted the outcome.
“We will file our extraordinary appeal today. We will say that there have been events that directly impacted the outcome of the elections and that we demand the renewal of the elections in Istanbul,” Yavuz said. He later tweeted that the appeal could happen “in coming days”.
He said if the YSK rejected the party’s appeal to renew the votes, doubt over the elections would remain until the next mayoral elections are due in five years.
Erdogan said on Monday the local elections were marred by “organized crime” at ballot boxes in Istanbul, raising the possibility of re-running the vote in the city of some 15 million residents.
Erdogan’s comments, his strongest challenge yet to the election process in Istanbul, briefly drove the lira down and also weighed on Turkish stocks. The lira was steady at 5.6850 to the dollar on Tuesday.
In Istanbul, CHP candidate Ekrem Imamoglu called on the YSK to finalize the election results as soon as possible and said the AKP was to blame for the uncertainty surrounding the vote.
“If they’re looking for the perpetrators, they should look in the mirror. Look in the mirror if you want to see who is responsible for this,” he said.
‘SORE LOSERS’
The loss in Istanbul, if confirmed, would be a setback for Erdogan’s efforts to pull Turkey out of recession. He has dominated Turkish politics for more than 16 years on the back of stellar economic growth.
To justify its calls for recounts and for a full re-run of the elections, the AKP said there were illegal appointments of representatives at ballot boxes and irregularities across the city.
The CHP said the AKP’s appeals were unlawful.
“You are complaining and appealing nonstop, and this shows one of two things. Either you are so incompetent that you can’t even get an election right, or you are such sore losers that you can’t accept defeat,” CHP spokesman Faik Oztrak said.
The YSK’s decision on the AKP’s appeal for a fresh vote in Istanbul will be final. If rejected, the ongoing recounts across the city will be completed and the results finalised.
If the appeal is accepted, the re-run of elections in Istanbul would be held on the first Sunday 60 days after the initial elections, which would be June 2.
Erdogan’s party also lost the mayoralty in the capital Ankara to CHP candidate Mansur Yavas despite seeking recounts across the city. Yavas received his mandate on Monday after the YSK upheld the initial results.
Erdogan said the scale of irregularities his party had uncovered meant the margin of votes between Istanbul’s top two candidates, currently at less than 15,000 in a city of 10 million voters, was too narrow for the opposition to claim victory.
However, his AKP candidate and former prime minister Binali Yildirim had declared victory by some 3,000 votes in Istanbul on election night, before conceding that Imamoglu held a lead.
(Additional reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen and Ece Toksabay; Writing by Daren Butler and Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Jonathan Spicer, Catherine Evans and Frances Kerry)
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FILE PHOTO: A logo of Groupe ADP (Aeroports de Paris) is seen during the company’s Investor day in Paris, France, April 5, 2019. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann/File Photo
April 9, 2019
PARIS (Reuters) – France’s opposition Socialist Party on Tuesday said it had enough support in parliament to start the process of forcing a national referendum on the government’s plan to privatize airport operator ADP, a Socialist lawmaker said.
The next threshold that must be met for a referendum on the possible privatization of ADP is for a nationwide petition to garner 4.5 million signatories.
The sale of all or part of the state’s 50.6 percent stake in ADP is part of the government’s strategy to cut the budget deficit and finance a long-promised 10 billion euro ($11.3 billion) innovation fund.
In March, the National Assembly, where Macron’s En Marche party holds a strong majority, approved draft legislation for the possible privatization of ADP, lottery operator Francaise des Jeux and for a reduction in France’s stake in utility Engie.
The bill was then rejected by the opposition-led Senate and returns back to the lower house this week, where it will likely be definitively approved on Thursday.
While the government would welcome the financial windfall that would be generated by the sale of its ADP stake, the move is politically delicate. Many opposition lawmakers and voters disapprove of handing control of the strategic asset to the private sector.
Socialist member of parliament Boris Vallaud said that 197 lawmakers from both the right and left had given support to launching procedures for a referendum on the issue. Only 185 signatures were needed.
(Reporting by Elizabeth Pineau; Writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Leigh Thomas)
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Main opposition New Democracy conservative party leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis speaks during an interview with Reuters at the party’s headquarters in Athens, Greece, April 8, 2019. Picture taken April 8, 2019. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis
April 9, 2019
By Michele Kambas and Renee Maltezou
ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece’s potential next prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, says he plans to unblock privatizations, cut taxes and enact meaningful reforms to attract investment, increase state efficiency and make the pension system viable.
With opinion polls putting him more than 10 points ahead of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, the conservative leader is confident an EU election next month will prove to be a springboard to winning a national vote expected by the autumn.
“We’ll be implementing them (reforms) not because they are part of a program but because we truly believe that they are necessary to make the Greek economy more competitive,” Mitsotakis told Reuters from the headquarters of New Democracy, Greece’s main opposition party.
By implementing reforms, he says Greece can persuade its lenders, who still monitor the economy even after it officially exited its 280 billion euro financial crisis bailouts, to lower their targets and convince investors that it is out of the woods.
The 51-year-old scion of a powerful family of politicians considers Greece’s post-bailout primary surplus targets “too high”, but says that they must be respected “at least in the short term”.
Greece tapped international bond markets with a 10-year bond earlier this year, its first such issue in a decade. But at 18 percent the unemployment rate remains the highest in the euro zone and so is its debt, standing at 180 percent of output.
The economy is not the only issue for a future Greek leader to grapple with.
Mitsotakis maintains deep reservations at the deal brokered by the leftist government recognizing the neighboring state with the name North Macedonia. Skopje should not expect an automatic entry pass into the European Union now the name dispute is resolved, Mitsotakis said.
With many Greeks still struggling with the effects of creditor-mandated austerity though, the upcoming elections will undoubtedly become a referendum on how firebrand leftist Tsipras, elected in 2015, handled the crisis.
Mitsotakis camp is already on a war footing ahead of the EU parliamentary vote on May 26. People come and go from his office, adorned with paintings, pictures of his family and his late father – a former prime minister – books, a model ship named “Leadership” and a stuffed toy lion.
People who know him say an unflappable demeanor denotes an attention to detail, a workaholic who came in as an outsider to win the party leadership in 2016.
Greece emerged from the third bailout nine months ago.
But Mitsotakis says it has not turned a corner – it is just comparatively better than 2015, when he says bungled negotiation tactics by Tsipras’s government almost got it thrown out of the euro zone. Tsipras says he had no other option but to accept it.
“VICIOUS CIRCLE”
The economic monitoring framework includes meeting an annual primary budget surplus – excluding debt servicing costs – of 3.5 percent of GDP until 2022.
“Once we deliver the reforms, I think that would be the right time to discuss the primary surpluses,” he said.
Apart from pushing hard on “emblematic investments”, such as a real estate project at the former Athens airport and a Chinese investment at Greece’s largest port in Piraeus, his gameplan includes cutting corporate tax to 20 percent from 28 percent and tax on dividends to 5 from 10 percent within two years.
The middle-class is overtaxed, he said: “They’ve taken more money out of people’s pockets than it was necessary so I plan to return some of it back to people and to the corporations.”
Greece sees growth at 2.5 percent this year. But Mitsotakis said the country needed at least 4 percent economic growth “to convince everyone that it has broken out of the vicious circle”.
“At the end of the day what is going to make our debt sustainable is if Greece is going to move to a different growth trajectory,” he said.
Mitsotakis’s party stridently opposed the deal recognizing the ex-Yugoslav Republic as North Macedonia, a view shared by many believing the name claimed by the northern state is an appropriation of Greek culture and heritage.
“Although we don’t like the agreement we’ll respect it,” the leader said. “But we’ll work to improve aspects or consequences of the agreement that are currently not in our interest.”
For years, the wrangle has stopped the small state from joining NATO and the EU.
North Macedonia is expected to join the alliance in 2020. But joining the EU, which includes each member state approving a candidate’s compliance in various policy areas, is a longer process.
“I don’t think anyone should expect Greece to agree to open and close chapters when there are still outstanding issues which have not been addressed by the agreement,” Mitsotakis said.
“Of course we fully retain the right to block this process if we think that our national interests are not met.”
(Reporting by Renee Maltezou and Michele Kambas; Editing by Alison Williams)
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FILE PHOTO: People walk past an American Airlines logo on a wall at John F. Kennedy (JFK) airport in in New York November 27, 2013. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo
April 9, 2019
(Reuters) – American Airlines Co Group Inc said on Tuesday its first-quarter revenue per available seat mile would be below its previous forecast due to the groundings of Boeing 737 MAX planes and the U.S. government shutdown.
The airline said it now expects https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/4515/000000620119000014/a8kinvestorupdateex991q1-19.htm the closely followed measure of airline performance to be flat to up 1 percent compared with the prior forecast of flat to 2 percent growth.
(Reporting by Rachit Vats in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
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FILE PHOTO: The logo of Brazilian aviation company Embraer is seen during the Latin American Business Aviation Conference & Exhibition fair (LABACE) at Congonhas Airport in Sao Paulo, Brazil August 14, 2018. REUTERS/Paulo Whitaker/File Photo
April 9, 2019
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian planemaker Embraer SA appointed Francisco Gomes Neto, current chief executive officer of bus body maker Marcopolo, as its new CEO and president, the company said in a filing on Tuesday.
Embraer’s board of directors will decide on his nomination on April 22. Gomes will replace Paulo Cesar Silva, who will leave the company this month, as previously announced.
(Reporting by Carolina Mandl; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
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FILE PHOTO: Houses are seen at edge of the caldera at the volcanic island of Santorini. September 13, 2011. REUTERS/Michael Perry/File Photo
April 9, 2019
ATHENS (Reuters) – Greek airline Sky Express said on Tuesday it had signed an agreement with Air France KLM to cooperate on flights connecting Paris and Amsterdam with the Greek islands.
Tourism accounts for about a quarter of economic output in Greece, which saw a record number of about 33 million visitors last year.
The privately owned carrier, which competes with Aegean Airlines’ subsidiary Olympic Airways on domestic routes, flies to 24 Greek destinations on ATR42 and ATR72 twin engine turboprop aircraft.
Sky Express said the deal would allow passengers to travel across its network with the convenience of a single ticket reservation.
“(This) simplifies travel arrangements for Air France- KLM and Sky Express, since all baggage transfer services are being provided at the connecting airport,” Sky Express said.
Air France offers 39 weekly flights to Athens from Paris-Charles de Gaulle, in addition to KLM’s 14 weekly flights from Amsterdam-Schiphol.
(Reporting by George Georgiopoulos; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
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FILE PHOTO: The Boeing logo is pictured at the Latin American Business Aviation Conference & Exhibition fair (LABACE) at Congonhas Airport in Sao Paulo, Brazil August 14, 2018. REUTERS/Paulo Whitaker/File Photo
April 9, 2019
By Philip Blenkinsop and Tim Hepher
BRUSSELS/PARIS (Reuters) – The European Union has begun preparations to retaliate over Boeing subsidies, an EU official said on Tuesday, a day after Washington listed EU products it plans to hit with tariffs in their aircraft dispute.
The U.S. Trade Representative https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/press-releases/2019/april/ustr-proposes-products-tariff on Monday proposed a range of EU products ranging from large commercial aircraft and parts to dairy products and wine to target as retaliation for subsidies given to Airbus.
A European Commission source said on Tuesday the level of proposed U.S. countermeasures was “greatly exaggerated”, adding the amount of retaliation could only be determined by a World Trade Organization arbitrator.
“In the parallel Boeing dispute, the determination of EU retaliation rights is also coming closer and the EU will request the WTO-appointed arbitrator to determine the EU’s retaliation rights,” the Commision source said, adding the Commission was preparing so that it could take action after the arbitrator’s decision.
Airbus said it saw no legal basis for the U.S. move and warned of deepening transatlantic trade tensions.
The European Union is already facing U.S. tariffs on its steel and aluminum exports and U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to hit EU cars with punitive duties.
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told a conference in Paris that the two sides needed to reach a friendly agreement.
“When I see the situation global growth is in, I don’t think we can afford to have a trade conflict even if only on the specific issues of the aircraft industry in the United States and Europe,” he said.
The two sides are closing in on the climax of a record subsidy dispute that has been grinding its way through the WTO for almost 15 years.
Both sides have won partial victories in claiming Airbus and Boeing received unlawful subsidies but disagree on the amount involved and whether each has complied with earlier WTO rulings.
MORE TIT-FOR-TAT?
The U.S. tariffs proposal put pressure on shares in European makers of aircraft and aerospace suppliers, wine, cheese and luxury goods.
At 0950 GMT, Airbus shares were down 1.6 percent. Airbus suppliers such as Safran and Leonardo lost between 1.0 percent and 1.2 percent. MTU Aero Engines was 2.5 percent weaker and Rolls-Royce down 1.3 percent.
“Get ready for more tit-for-tat scrapping to follow,” said John Woolfitt of London brokerage Atlantic Markets.
The WTO ruled last year that the European Union had failed to remove illegal subsidies for two aeroplane programs, the A350 and the A380.
The two sides are now in arbitration to decide the size of any countermeasures.
Airbus said it had taken measures to comply with the “relatively minor” elements outstanding regarding subsidies it had received.
German engineering lobby group the VDMA, which represents major exporters, said the European Union should swiftly move to negotiate a free trade agreement with the United States.
“Punitive tariffs are no solution to the problem; they only lead to a spiraling isolation,” Ulrich Ackermann, the VDMA’s head of foreign trade, said in a statement.
Germany is particularly apprehensive of possible U.S. tariffs on car imports. The United States is a major market for Volkswagen, Mercedes maker Daimler and BMW.
Moody’s said on Tuesday potential U.S. tariffs on imported autos and parts represented a significant risk to global growth and would hinder economic momentum in Germany, Japan and Korea.
(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; additional reporting by Tim Hepher, Richard Lough and Leigh Thomas in Paris, Helen Reid, Thyagaraju Adinarayan and Georgina Prodhan in London; Editing by Keith Weir)
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FILE PHOTO: Algeria’s Senate President Abdelkader Bensalah waits for the arrival of French President Emmanuel Macron at Houari Boumediene airport in Algiers, Algeria December 6, 2017. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra/File Photo
April 9, 2019
ALGIERS (Reuters) – Algeria’s parliament appointed on Tuesday the upper house chairman Abdelkader Bensalah as interim president for the next 90 days following the resignation of Abdelaziz Bouteflika, a Reuters witness said.
Bensalah will run the country until new elections are held, according to the North African country’s constitution.
(Reporting By Hamid Oul Ahmed, writing by Aziz El Yaakoubi; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
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A crater is seen at the blast site after an air strike at Mitiga airport in Tripoli, Libya April 8, 2019. REUTERS/Hani Amara
April 9, 2019
GENEVA (Reuters) – Health facilities near Tripoli have reported 47 people killed and 181 wounded in recent days as eastern forces seek to take Libya’s capital from an internationally-recognized government, the United Nations’ health body said on Tuesday.
The renewed conflict in a nation splintered since the 2011 toppling of Muammar Gaddafi also risks draining medical supplies, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned.
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
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FILE PHOTO: A general view of the El Sharara oilfield, Libya December 3, 2014. REUTERS/Ismail Zitouny/File Photo
April 9, 2019
By Henning Gloystein
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices on Tuesday reached their highest since November as concerns over exports from war-torn Libya stoked tightness in the market, with global supply already hit by OPEC-led production cuts and U.S. sanctions on Iran and Venezuela.
International benchmark Brent futures touched their strongest level since last November at $71.34 per barrel on Tuesday, and were still at $71.16 at 0057 GMT, up 6 cents, or 0.1 percent, from their last close.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures also hit a November 2018 high, at $64.77 per barrel, before easing to $64.58, which was still 18 cents, or 0.3 percent, above their last settlement.
“Renewed fighting in Libya … has seen Brent crude break above $70 per barrel,” said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank.
Libya is a significant supplier of oil to Europe, producing around 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude in March.
A warplane attacked Tripoli’s only functioning airport on Monday as eastern forces advancing on the Libyan capital disregarded international appeals for a truce in the latest of a cycle of warfare since Muammar Gaddafi’s fall in 2011.
Hansen said the fighting in Libya added to an already tense market, which has been tightened this year by U.S. sanctions on oil exporters Iran and Venezuela as well as supply cuts led by the producer club of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
As a result, Brent and WTI crude oil futures have risen by 41 and 31 percent respectively since the start of the year.
(Reporting by Henning Gloystein; Editing by Joseph Radford)
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