The News Caravan

Tag: bring

  • Onetime GOP ‘bomb-thrower’ tries to bring calm to SVB crisis

    Onetime GOP ‘bomb-thrower’ tries to bring calm to SVB crisis

    [ad_1]

    The methodical approach makes him a clear outlier in the GOP’s Trump era, which is significantly rowdier and more populist than the tea party that arose from the last financial crisis. McHenry says administration officials have responded well so far and that he’ll dig into how the failure happened in the days to come.

    “I worked with McHenry during this,” Senate Banking Chair Sherrod Brown, a progressive Ohio Democrat, said of the latest meltdown. “He seems to be responsible.”

    McHenry’s attempt to convey restraint at this early stage is at odds with other Republicans who are eager to beat up on President Joe Biden by casting the bank rescue as a culture war concern — raising questions about how many will follow his lead.

    It’s a statesman-like role the former upstart is playing across a number of issues confronting the GOP, from the debt limit to diversity, indicating that Democrats may have at least some top Republicans they can work with on the heaviest economic issues confronting the U.S.

    “Everybody’s got their own opinion,” said Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), when asked about the House GOP’s emerging position under McHenry’s lead. “All I know is, I wouldn’t have bailed them out — a bunch of rich, left-wing, you know, political snobs.”

    McHenry entered Congress in 2005 at 29, providing little hint to people getting to know him in those early days that he would become one of the GOP’s leading pragmatists and dealmakers.

    A Roll Call columnist at the time called him “the GOP’s attack dog-in-training,” as he fought Democrats in an ethics battle against then-Majority Leader Tom Delay, who was indicted for criminal conspiracy. He joined the conservative Republican Study Committee, chaired by Mike Pence, and in the wake of that year’s major domestic crisis — Hurricane Katrina — McHenry called for cutting funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to rebuild schools.

    “He was extremely right-wing,” said Cam Fine, the former head of the Independent Community Bankers of America, which works closely with the Financial Services Committee. “He was pretty bombastic, quite frankly, and said a lot of things that you kind of shook your head at a little bit. … He was a ball of energy.”

    People close to McHenry said he realized over time that he didn’t want to pursue higher office and should get serious about his work in the House – in particular at the Financial Services Committee.

    Former House Speaker Paul Ryan, who advised McHenry to prioritize a committee chairmanship over leadership, said he was “a bomb thrower when he first came in … and then he dramatically matured.”

    “At some point he decided, I’m going to get bored running around like a crazy person here and I’m not going to matter — if I take it seriously I can make a difference,” said Scott Stewart, a former McHenry roommate who got to know him from their days as College Republicans.

    “He then committed to deeply understanding financial services and became a serious conservative without being a jerk.”

    In the ensuing years, McHenry followed a dual track through the ranks of House Republicans, moving up in seniority at the Financial Services Committee but also in House leadership, eventually becoming one of the GOP’s top vote counters as chief deputy whip.

    He became the top Republican on House Financial Services in 2019 and then chair this year.

    Before calamity struck the banking system the last few days, McHenry was determined to flex his dealmaking skills by finding bipartisan compromises with the Financial Services Committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), on things like cryptocurrency legislation. Waters led the committee before Democrats lost the House in the 2022 election.

    Soon after he became chair, McHenry drew flak from FOX News host Tucker Carlson and other conservative pundits by not completely eliminating from the committee’s oversight agenda a top priority for Waters — diversity and inclusion.

    “We do have a good relationship,” Waters said. “That’s not to say that good relationship is going to make me change my mind about some of his philosophy, and vice versa. … But I respect him. He respects me.”

    He was also emerging as a peacemaker in the fractious House GOP.

    McHenry helped Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) lock down the votes he needed to become speaker, a partnership that thrust the bow-tied Republican into the national spotlight as he negotiated with conservative rebels who dragged out the process for days, paralyzing the chamber.

    “He can relate to new young members who throw a lot of bombs,” Ryan said.

    His ability to draw together different factions of the party won him high praise from some of McCarthy’s closest allies.

    “He’s one of the brightest guys up here,” Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) said. “He’s got great instincts and has that amazing balance that is rare up here of being both a policy nerd and [having] really good strategic instincts.”

    His other big project this year was to try to steer Republicans toward a resolution of the debt-limit stalemate. He’s taken the position that holding U.S. borrowing authority hostage in exchange for spending cuts could be a disaster for markets, rankling conservatives like former Trump OMB Director Russell Vought, who said in an email: “I don’t have faith in Patrick McHenry.”

    So to those who know him, it’s no surprise that McHenry has tried to guide the House GOP to take a breath before going on the attack over the Biden administration’s rescue of depositors at the failed Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.

    It’s a challenge as a growing number of Republicans like Paul cast the administration’s move as a mistake.

    “This is America,” said Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) when asked about the House Republican response. “Everybody’s entitled to their opinion. But it’s currently a bailout.”

    Rep. Andy Barr of Kentucky, one of McHenry’s committee deputies, said, “Job No. 1 is for us to be the adults in a serious situation.”

    “This isn’t about poking either side of the aisle,” said Rep, Blaine Luetkemeyer of Missouri, another member of McHenry’s committee leadership team. “This is a time when we feel our country’s future is at risk here.”

    “We’ve got to rally around him and pull everybody together.”

    Sam Sutton contributed reporting.

    [ad_2]
    #Onetime #GOP #bombthrower #bring #calm #SVB #crisis
    ( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

  • Delhi Assembly: BJP to bring no-confidence motion against Kejriwal, AAP to attack Centre, LG

    Delhi Assembly: BJP to bring no-confidence motion against Kejriwal, AAP to attack Centre, LG

    [ad_1]

    New Delhi: The budget session of the Delhi Assembly, starting Friday, is likely to witness heated exchanges between the treasury and opposition benches, with the ruling AAP targeting LG V K Saxena and the Centre over the arrest of Manish Sisodia and the BJP bringing a no-confidence motion against the Arvind Kejriwal government.

    The session will start with an address by the lieutenant governor (LG) and the budget will be presented on March 21, officials said.

    A senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader said that the session will have discussions on the arrest of former deputy chief minister Sisodia and how the lieutenant governor was interfering in the works of the elected government.

    “The party will also raise the issue of the LG being involved in an incident with noted social activist Medha Patkar in 2002. We will also raise the issue of misuse of CBI and ED by the BJP-ruled Centre and the LG’s interference in government functioning,” he said.

    Another senior functionary of the AAP said, “The misuse of CBI and ED by the Centre is the biggest issue. The world’s best education minister, Manish Sisodia, has been put behind bars in a false case. This is the biggest issue of Delhi.”

    Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said in a statement that the BJP will bring a no-confidence motion against the Arvind Kejriwal government over its involvement in “corruption”.

    The BJP MLAs, in a joint statement, said that they will corner the Kejriwal government as its two ministers were behind bars and it was facing allegations of “scams” involving liquor policy, classroom construction, electricity subsidy, and snooping by its Feedback Unit.

    “In such a situation, this government has no moral or constitutional right to be in office and a no-confidence motion is being brought against the government,” it said.

    Bidhuri said the budget session has been called only for five days, out of which the provision of question hour has been kept only on two days.

    “This is like attacking the rights of the legislators and this government is continuously robbing the rights of the legislators,” he alleged.

    The BJP will demand that the session be extended by at least 10 days, he said.

    The BJP MLAs have given notices to discuss the serious problems of Delhi in the Assembly and they want that all issues should be discussed so that the truth can come before the public, he said.

    Issues such as corruption, air pollution, drinking water crisis, collapse of the transport system, non-opening of new schools and colleges, lack of teachers, irregularities in mohalla clinics, and the Yamuna pollution will be raised by the opposition MLAs, he said.

    Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said the session will focus on making Delhi a modern, clean and development-oriented city.

    “There will be more focus on providing funds for sanitation, cleaning garbage mountains, making world class infrastructure in Delhi, making it development oriented in terms of good transport, making well connected network and bringing more electric buses.”

    The annual budget for 2023-24 will be presented by Kailash Gahlot who assumed the charge as finance minister after the arrest of Sisodia by the CBI in connection with an alleged liquor policy scam.

    (Except for the headline, the story has not been edited by Siasat staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

    [ad_2]
    #Delhi #Assembly #BJP #bring #noconfidence #motion #Kejriwal #AAP #attack #Centre

    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • The crypto ‘contagion’ that helped bring down SVB

    The crypto ‘contagion’ that helped bring down SVB

    [ad_1]

    As U.S. banking regulators begin their post-mortem of Silicon Valley Bank, some pundits are pointing the finger at crypto markets, whose own collapse over the past year left the tech-focused lender hopelessly exposed.

    The conventional wisdom about crypto is that it’s “self-referential” — a separate universe to conventional finance — and that its inherent volatility can be contained. The emerging “contagion” theory is that there are enough linkages for extreme turmoil to spill over, much as a virus can sometimes jump from one species to another.

    That’s what happened here, according to Barney Frank, the former U.S. congressman who wrote sweeping new banking rules after the banking crisis in 2008, and joined the crypto-friendly Signature Bank as a board member in 2015.

    “I think, if it hadn’t been for FTX and the extreme nervousness about crypto, that this wouldn’t have happened,” Frank told POLITICO this week. “That wasn’t something that could have been anticipated by regulators.”

    FTX, the crypto exchange that collapsed in November amid allegations of massive fraud, capped a year of turmoil in crypto markets, as investors began withdrawing funds from riskier ventures in response to rising interest rates, which in turn exposed the shaky foundations underpinning the industry. The ensuing “crypto winter” saw the value of the industry plummet by two-thirds, from a peak of $3 trillion in 2021.

    Policymakers sought to reassure the public that volatility in the crypto market, blighted by scams and charlatans who sought to profit from investors’ fear of missing out, would naturally be contained. With the collapse of SVB, that claim is facing its biggest test yet.

    Patient zero

    Under the contagion theory, “patient zero” could be traced back to the implosion of TerraUSD, an “algorithmic stablecoin” that relied on financial engineering to keep its value on par with the U.S. dollar. That promise fell short in May last year following a mass sell-off, creating panic among investors who had used the virtual asset as a safe haven to park cash between taking punts on the crypto market. The origin of the crash is still subject to debate but rising interest rates are often cited as one of the main culprits. 

    TerraUSD’s demise was catastrophic for a major crypto hedge fund called Three Arrows Capital, dubbed 3AC. The money managers had invested $200 million into Luna, a crypto token whose value was used to prop up TerraUSD, which had become the third largest stablecoin on the market. A British Virgin Islands court ordered 3AC to liquidate its assets at the end of June.

    The fund’s end created even more problems for the industry. Major crypto lending businesses, such as BlockFi, Celsius Network and Voyager, had lent hundreds of millions of dollars to 3AC to finance its market bets and were now facing massive losses.

    Customers who had deposited their digital assets with the industry lender were suddenly locked out of their accounts, prompting FTX — then the third largest crypto exchange — to step in and bail out BlockFi and Voyager. Meanwhile, central banks continued to raise rates.

    The contagion seemed under control for a few months until revelations emerged in November that FTX had been using client cash to finance risky bets elsewhere. The exchange folded soon after, as its customers rushed to get their money out of the platform. BlockFi and Voyager, meanwhile, were left stranded.

    Outbreak widens

    This is the point where the outbreak of risk in the crypto industry might have jumped species into the banking sector. 

    Silvergate Bank and Signature Bank, two smaller banks that also failed last week, had extensive business with crypto exchanges, including FTX. Silvergate tried to downplay its exposure to FTX but ended up reporting a $1 billion loss over the last three months of 2022 after investors withdrew more than $8 billion in deposits. Signature also did its best to distance itself from FTX, which made up some 0.1 percent of its deposits. 

    GettyImages 1440504626
    FTX, the crypto exchange that collapsed in November amid allegations of massive fraud, capped a year of turmoil in crypto markets | Leon Neal/Getty Images

    SVB had no direct link to FTX, but was not immune to the broader contagion. Its depositors, including tech startups, crypto firms and VCs, started burning their cash reserves to run their businesses after venture capital funding dried up.

    “SVB and Silvergate had the same balance sheet structure and risks — massive duration mismatch, lots of uninsured runnable deposits backed by securities not marked to market, and inadequate regulatory capital because unrealized fair value losses excluded,” former Natwest banker and industry expert Frances Coppola told POLITICO.

    Eventually, the deposit drain forced SVB to liquidate underwater assets to accommodate its clients, while trying to handle losses on bond portfolios and an outsized bet on interest rates. As word got out, the withdrawals turned into a bank run as frictionless and hype-driven as a crypto bubble.

    Zachary Warmbrodt and Izabella Kaminska contributed reporting from Washington and London, respectively.

    This article has been updated to correct the value of the crypto industry.



    [ad_2]
    #crypto #contagion #helped #bring #SVB
    ( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

  • BBC to bring back Gary Lineker; social media guidelines to be reviewed

    BBC to bring back Gary Lineker; social media guidelines to be reviewed

    [ad_1]

    After BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation)’s sports coverage was disrupted for the second consecutive day on Sunday, its director-general Tim Davie said that its star sports presenter Gary Lineker will be back on air with his Match of the Day program this weekend.

    In a statement released on Monday, Davie announced an independent committee will be formed to review the channel’s existing social media guidance with full transparency.

    “Impartiality is important to BBC. It is also important to the public. The BBC has a commitment to impartiality in its Character and a commitment to freedom of expression. That is a difficult balancing act. The BBC’s social media guidance is designed to help manage these sometimes difficult challenges and I am aware there is a need to ensure that the guidance is up to its task. It should be clear, proportionate and appropriate,” the statement read.

    Davie also stated that Lineker is a valued part of the BBC and he is looking forward to working with him this weekend.

    Responding to the statement, Gary Lineker appreciated BBC’s decision and looked forward to getting back on air.

    What happened

    Gary Lineker is a former English football captain. After retirement, he joined the BBC as a sports broadcaster and ran the show Match of the Day which covered international football matches.

    Gary is known for his strong political views that often land him in trouble with the government. On March 7 Lineker criticized the UK’s Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s immigration policy about stopping immigrants, on social media.

    In his tweet, the 62-year-old described the policy as ‘awful’ and compared it to the Nazi regime. “Good heavens, this is beyond awful” to a video posted on Twitter by the British Home Office announcing the government’s asylum seeker policy. There is no huge influx. We take far fewer refugees than other major European countries. This is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s, and I’m out of order?”

    His tweet led to many coming heavily on him who said it was inappropriate and unacceptable. In order to control the storm, BBC suspended Match of the Day triggering massive walkouts by staff in solidarity.

    There is mounting pressure on the top team to resolve the crisis after the BBC, which operates through a taxpayer-funded license fee, said it considered Lineker posting such views on social media as a breach of its impartiality guidelines.

    UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt told Sky News that he “profoundly” disagrees with Lineker’s comments, but stopped short of demanding an apology.

    “The central thing that people want to know is that there isn’t any kind of political agenda in the way the BBC goes about its business, which I’m not saying there is, but that is the confidence people need to have,” he said.



    [ad_2]
    #BBC #bring #Gary #Lineker #social #media #guidelines #reviewed

    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Elderly woman dies after bring dragged by car in Ambala

    Elderly woman dies after bring dragged by car in Ambala

    [ad_1]

    Ambala: An elderly woman was killed allegedly after being dragged by a car for about 50 meters on the Ambala-Chandigarh highway on Friday, police said.

    The accident occurred near Baldev Nagar Chowk, killing Lakshmi Devi (63) on the spot, they said.

    Devi’s husband Jai Kumar, in his complaint, said that his wife was returning home after dropping their daughter Seema when she was hit by a speeding car, they said.

    According to police, the woman fell on top of the car and her clothes got stuck in the vehicle.

    Instead of stopping the car, the driver allegedly dragged Lakshmi for about 50 metres, Kumar said in his complaint.

    As people started gathering at the spot, the accused fled, leaving the vehicle behind, police said.

    A case has been registered against the unknown driver and an investigation is underway, they said, adding the vehicle has been seized.

    The body has been sent for post-mortem, they said.

    [ad_2]
    #Elderly #woman #dies #bring #dragged #car #Ambala

    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Fake investment declarations bring no jobs, Nara Lokesh takes a dig at AP govt

    Fake investment declarations bring no jobs, Nara Lokesh takes a dig at AP govt

    [ad_1]

    Amaravati: Telugu Desam Party (TDP) general secretary Nara Lokesh on Monday said fake investments declarations will bring no jobs to the people of Andhra Pradesh. He was referring to the chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s recent announcement of investment proposals worth Rs 13 lakh crore at the Global Investors Summit (GIS).

    Jagan on Friday said the state has received investment proposals worth Rs 13 lakh crore with an employment opportunity for six lakh people.

    Lokesh accused the Andhra Pradesh government of deceiving the people by re-announcing old investment deals at the recently held Global Investors Summit with companies like Aurobindo, Greenko and Adani.

    Speaking to the media at Vepulabayalu in Annamayya district, Lokesh said, “On forging any deal, governments openly declare all the details. During Chandrababu Naidu’s regime all information regarding investments and deals was exhibited online.”

    “The YSRCP-led government is not showcasing any MoUs, agreements, deals, endorsements from the companies on documents,” Lokesh said, adding that the government and the companies have exchanged MoUs in “non-paper format only.”

    He claimed that the company Indosol began with an initial investment of Rs 1 lakh but the company announced investments worth Rs 76,000 crore in the state.

    “All the directors of the company are from Pulivendula,” said Lokesh about Indosol. “Jagan is offering 25,000 acres of land to this company. Another company, ACB, with a turnover of Rs 120 crores that employs 250 people has promised an investment of Rs 1.2 lakh crores. How can we believe it?” he questioned.

    Speaking about the absence of Andhra Pradesh at WEF 2023 summit in Davos, he said, “Jagan conveniently missed the World Economic Forum in 2023. Can any aspiring state afford to miss a forum like WEF?”

    On investment opportunities created by the TDP government, Lokesh said, “Between 2014 and 2019, we established a plethora of industries. Speaking in the Assembly, the late Mekapati Goutham Reddy said that 39,450 industries were established between 2014 and 2019 by the erstwhile TDP government, creating 5,13,350 jobs.”

    [ad_2]
    #Fake #investment #declarations #bring #jobs #Nara #Lokesh #takes #dig #govt

    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Apple may bring Continuity features to its AR headset

    Apple may bring Continuity features to its AR headset

    [ad_1]

    San Francisco: Tech giant Apple is planning to bring “Continuity” features to its upcoming augmented reality (AR)– mixed reality (MR) headset.

    The tech giant has filed a patent application titled “Multi-Device Continuity for use with Extended Reality (XR) Systems,” reports Gizmochina.

    This indicates that the upcoming headset will come with support for Continuity features like Handoff or Universal Control that are already available on existing gadgets.

    The iPhone maker essentially uses the term “Continuity” to represent that its products are supported by many platforms and can communicate with one another without any issues.

    Therefore, it is expected the new upcoming headset will feature Continuity for seamless connection between users’ Apple products as long as users are signed into the same Apple ID on all of their devices.

    The patent also illustrated how the technique would function. While using the headset, users can read an email that their iPhone received.

    With wireless communication technologies like WiFi and Bluetooth, the connection will be made possible.

    In January this year, it was reported that Apple will bring health and wellness experiences in its upcoming MR headset.

    Meanwhile, another report mentioned the tech giant was developing software that will give users an easier way to create their own AR applications on its upcoming headset.

    It was also rumoured that the MR headset will use motors to automatically adjust lenses for perfect images.

    [ad_2]
    #Apple #bring #Continuity #features #headset

    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Only JPC probe into Adani row can bring out truth: Congress

    Only JPC probe into Adani row can bring out truth: Congress

    [ad_1]

    New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday said no panel other than a joint parliamentary committee can bring out the truth in the Adani row and the industrialist’s relationship with the prime minister and asserted that it will raise the demand in Parliament when it meets again on March 13.

    Congress general secretary, communications, Jairam Ramesh said he had stated on February 16 that any panel by the Supreme Court would only look into violations of SEBI rules and regulations and will not be able to bring out the truth in the Adani issue.

    “If the prime minister and the government are to be held accountable, any committee other than the JPC will be nothing but an exercise in legitimisation and exoneration,” he told reporters here, asserting that he had stated this earlier too.

    “In the Adani case, the Supreme Court committee is limited only to the investigation of violations of SEBI law and regulation. The truth of what has been the relationship between Prime Minister Modi and (Gautam) Adani will never come to the fore if JPC is not formed,” he said.

    The Congress party wants that a JPC be instituted and will raise the demand in the Parliament session beginning March 13, he noted.

    The Congress leader also asserted that it has been posing a set of three questions to the prime minister everyday but has not received any answers, and they will remain unanswered by the SC-appointed panel formed to look into the issue.

    Meanwhile, Congress leader Praveen Chakravarty, who is also head of the party’s data analytics department, urged “experts” such as Nandan Nilekani and K V Kamath on the SC-appointed panel to “not be timid” as they usually are and “be bold and diligent” in their investigation.

    Ramesh said on February 16 he had stated that any committee formed by the Supreme Curt into the Adani-Hindenburg issue would be nothing but an exercise in legitimisation and exoneration.

    Asked whether the Congress was not in favour of the Supreme Court setting up a panel, he said “we are not confident that the truth in Adani issue will come out” through it.

    The Congress and some other opposition parties have been demanding the constitution of a joint parliamentary committee to look into the Adani issue in the wake of charges of stock manipulation and financial irregularities raised by US firm Hindenburg that led to meltdown of stocks of Adani Group companies on Indian bourses.

    The party had also stalled proceedings in both houses of Parliament over the issue and it is likely to step up the heat over its demand in the forthcoming budget session of Parliament.

    The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered setting up of a six-member committee headed by former apex court judge Justice A M Sapre to investigate the recent Adani Group shares crash triggered by the Hindenburg Research’s fraud allegations and other regulatory aspects related to stock markets.

    The court asked the panel to submit its report in a sealed cover within two months.

    The top court observed that the PILs pertained to “the loss of investors’ wealth over the past few weeks due to the steep decline of share prices of Adani Group companies, precipitated by the Hindenburg Research report which alleged manipulations and malpractices by the Adani Group companies” and also directed market regulator SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) to complete its ongoing probe into the issue in two months and file a status report.

    Besides former apex court judge Justice Sapre, the other members of the court-appointed panel will be O P Bhat (former Chairman of SBI), Justice J P Devadhar (retired judge of the Bombay High Court), K V Kamath, Nandan Nilekani and Somasekharan Sundaresan.

    [ad_2]
    #JPC #probe #Adani #row #bring #truth #Congress

    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • WhatsApp may bring ‘schedule group calls’ to future update

    WhatsApp may bring ‘schedule group calls’ to future update

    [ad_1]

    WhatsApp may soon let users share high quality photos on iOS beta

    San Francisco: Meta-owned WhatsApp is reportedly working on a new feature called “schedule group calls”, which it may bring in a future update to Android and iOS users.

    According to WABetaInfo, the feature is under development, so it is not ready to be released to beta testers.

    The feature will make it easier for users to plan a call with other members of the group.

    The feature will include a new context menu that introduces a scheduling option when the feature is enabled for users’ accounts in the future, according to the report.

    Moreover, users can choose when the group call starts and assign a name to the scheduled call.

    The report further mentioned that the group call scheduling feature is compatible with both audio and video calls. Also, when the call starts, all group members will be notified so they can quickly join it.

    Meanwhile, WhatsApp is reportedly working on a feature which will allow users to edit messages on the platform, on iOS beta.

    The new feature will give users up to 15 minutes to edit their messages to fix any mistakes or include any additional information to the original message.

    This feature is currently under development and is not ready to be released to beta testers.

    Subscribe us on The Siasat Daily - Google News

    [ad_2]
    #WhatsApp #bring #schedule #group #calls #future #update

    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Strikes bring air traffic to standstill in Germany

    Strikes bring air traffic to standstill in Germany

    [ad_1]

    Berlin: Collective bargaining strikes of public sector employees as well as ground staff and flight control at seven German airports have brought air traffic in the country to a virtual standstill.

    Around 2,340 flights were to be canceled, affecting almost 300,000 passengers, the German Airports Association (ADV) said, urging that “solutions must be found at the negotiating table and not on the backs of passengers”, Xinhua news agency reported.

    Germany’s flag carrier Lufthansa alone had to cancel more than 1,300 flights. There are no departures from Frankfurt and Munich on Friday at all.

    “There is still a catastrophic labor shortage among ground handling workers — travelers clearly felt that last summer,” Christine Behle, deputy chairwoman of the trade union Verdi, said on Wednesday when announcing the strikes. “To change this situation, they must be given an attractive wage increase.

    Staff shortages caused by job cuts during the pandemic and various strike actions affected Europe’s entire aviation industry last summer and led to international travel chaos with thousands of cancellations. At many airports, queues reached lengths of a kilometer or more.

    As air traffic is recovering from the pandemic, the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation (Eurocontrol) warned that this summer could get even worse. “2023 will pose the biggest challenge in terms of coping with capacity issues and keeping delays down that the network has faced in over a decade,” Director General Eamonn Brennan said.

    It was not a good week for German air travelers. On Wednesday, a company-wide information technology outage at Lufthansa caused by damaged fiber optic cables during road construction work already led to numerous flight cancellations.

    [ad_2]
    #Strikes #bring #air #traffic #standstill #Germany

    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )