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☆ Judge dismisses another lawsuit against Ed Sheeran
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Lauren Del Valle | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

The suit was filed in 2018 after SAS unsuccessfully tried to join in as a plaintiff in the Townsend family’s suit. Still, the legal battle over “Thinking Out Loud” is not over for Sheeran and his co-defendants. Representatives for Sheeran declined to comment on Stanton’s dismissal of the case. Another lawsuit that splintered from the original SAS suit against Sheeran and his co-defendants is also still pending in Manhattan federal court. Pullman says the sound recording of “Let’s Get It On” coupled with its sheet music, both of which are registered with the US Copyright Office, will prove their case against Sheeran.

☆ Airline SAS's rescue moves closer as court clears fundraising plan
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 15 (Reuters) - SAS's (SAS.ST) rescue has moved a step closer after a U.S. court approved a revised plan from the Scandinavian airline to raise equity. The long-suffering airline filed for U.S Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year. The court approval of the fundraising proposal - a key element of the "SAS Forward" rescue plan - means investors may start placing bids for a stake in the airline. In the updated plan, SAS said that without the support of Denmark the emergence from Chapter 11 "will face significant uncertainty, cost, and delay." It said it now planned to complete the Chapter 11 process "in the latter part of the second half of 2023".

☆ Sweden's SAS receives US court approval for equity bid
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 15 (Reuters) - Sweden's SAS AB (SAS.ST) said on Monday the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York has approved equity solicitation procedures which will allow the airline to secure available terms and conditions for new equity capital. The final deadline for potential investors to bid will take place in approximately 13 weeks, the company said. "We will conduct a competitive and broad solicitation process to secure equity capital that will help drive our airline forward and facilitate our emergence from the Chapter 11 process," Anko van der Werff, president and chief executive officer of SAS said. Last month, the Scandinavian airline had initiated steps to raise equity and bids as part of its ongoing Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the United States. The airline earlier said the final sum would depend on the bidding process and generation of additional liquidity by the airline.

BRUSSELS, May 10 (Reuters) - Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) suffered a setback on Wednesday after Europe's second-highest court sided with Ryanair (RYA.I) and annulled a European Union competition regulator's decision clearing its state bailout. The court also ruled in Ryanair's favour on Wednesday against pandemic state aid measures for SAS (SAS.ST), saying recapitalisation measures did not include sufficient measures to incentivise the Swedish and Danish governments to exit quickly. "We have seen the ruling by the General Court in the EU and will now review the content of the ruling as well as possible ways to proceed. Lufthansa and several other European airlines received state aid following a protracted travel slump due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all of which were approved by the EU executive subject to conditions. The Commission can appeal to the Court of the Justice of the European Union, Europe's highest, on points of law.

☆ EU's Vestager says 'all options on the table' after Lufthansa/SAS rulings
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The court sided with Ryanair (RYA.I) in annulling the EU's decision clearing the German government's 6-billion-euro ($6.6 billion) rescue package for Lufthansa. EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said she was analysing the rulings as a matter of urgency, aware of the uncertainty on the market. "While it is too early to give any indication as to what the appropriate course of action may be, at this stage all options are on the table," Vestager said in a statement. "There is no immediate and direct link between today's judgments and the ongoing work on the future restructuring of SAS." Reporting by Foo Yun Chee, Writing by Gabriela Baczynska, Editing by Chris ReeseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Slovak caretaker PM quits months before early elections
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Heger is due to meet President Zuzana Caputova, who has the power to appoint a new caretaker prime minister, later on Sunday. Heger has faced opposition calls to make way for a technocrat administration to lead the central European country until early elections to take place in September. Polls find the public favours the biggest opposition party, which is led by former prime minister Robert Fico and has opposed increasing military aid to neighbouring Ukraine. Heger lost a no-confidence vote in December last year and in January he agreed to early elections as the best solution, leaving him in a caretaker role. It was not certain whether Caputova would name a new prime minister on Sunday.

☆ Slovak's caretaker PM quits after political wrangling
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 7 (Reuters) - Slovakia's Prime Minister Eduard Heger said on Sunday he had asked the president to relieve him of his duties, after ministers' resignations weakened his cabinet that is serving in a caretaker capacity before elections in September. Heger is due to meet President Zuzana Caputova, who has the power to appoint a new caretaker prime minister, later on Sunday. Heger has faced calls from the opposition to make way for a technocrat administration to lead the central European country until early elections to take place in September. In common with other European states, Slovakia has provided households and companies with payments to mitigate the impact of high energy costs and wider inflation. Reporting by Jason Hovet in Prague Editing by Peter GraffOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Slovak foreign minister quits in fresh blow to ailing cabinet
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 5 (Reuters) - Slovakia's foreign minister offered his resignation on Friday, the president said, dealing a fresh blow to the centre-right cabinet which has already been serving in a caretaker capacity ahead of elections in September. Rastislav Kacer's departure follows a string of other ministerial resignations and piles pressure on Prime Minister Eduard Heger, who had been facing mounting opposition calls to quit and make way for a technocrat government. Caputova, whose role gives her the power to appoint a new prime minister, said she would discuss the situation with Heger and parliament speaker Boris Kollar on her return. SaS joined a leftist opposition party in voting through a no-confidence motion in December, accusing the government of not helping people cope with the higher energy costs. The prime minister said he would not comment until he meets the president.

SAS has lost almost 60% of its value since it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last July, seeking to slash costs and debt after wage talks with pilots collapsed. Apollo will mainly work with aviation regulators in Sweden and Denmark to secure approval, the first source said. The move comes as the airline looks for large investors and seeks to raise equity as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan. Denmark's finance ministry told Reuters it was looking for one or more shareholders to take a majority stake in SAS. The company also became the largest shareholder in Mexican airline Aeromexico (GRPAF.PK) in 2020 following Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.

☆ Moscow's 'special' forces: An inside look at how Russia's famed Spetsnaz really operate
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Mark Galeotti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +24 min

Russia's Spetsnaz forces are often depicted as a kind of Russian super troops. Osprey PublishingMost countries' special forces emphasize physical fitness, determination and aggression. Special people, for special tasksMembers of the Russian military's 16th Separate Special Purpose Brigade during an exercise in 2018. Even so, being better than most of the Soviet army's miserable and recalcitrant conscript forces did not make most of them truly special, special forces. The special operations commandMembers of Russian's 22nd Separate Guards Special Purpose Brigade during an exercise in November 2017.

Cloetta AB, (CLOEb.ST) a Swedish confectioner which makes Lakerol lozenges that use gum arabic, has "ample" stock of the ingredient, a spokesperson said in an email. Global production of gum arabic is about 120,000 tonnes a year, worth $1.1 billion, according to estimates cited by Kerry Group. "Both buyers and sellers are clueless on when things will normalise.”Alwaleed Ali, who owns AGP Innovations Co Ltd, a gum arabic exporting business, said his customers are looking for alternative countries to source gum arabic. It accounts for the livelihoods of thousands of people and the more expensive variety can cost about $3,000 a tonne, according to Gum Sudan. There is a poorer quality, cheaper gum from outside of Sudan, but the preferred ingredient is only found in acacia trees in Sudan, South Sudan and Chad, Alnoor said.

☆ US woman arrested in Sydney after airport staff find a golden gun in her luggage
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Tara Subramaniam | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —An American woman has been arrested in Sydney after arriving on a flight from Los Angeles with 24-carat gold-plated handgun packed in her luggage. Depending on the outcome, she could be removed from the country, according to the ABF. Australian Border Force officers detected the gun in the woman's luggage. Gun violence has reached record levels in the United States, which is the only nation in the world where civilian firearms outnumber people. The US also has more deaths from gun violence than any other developed country per capita.

☆ Inside the AI talent wars: Tech companies are ransacking university AI programs at Stanford, MIT, and Cornell in search of engineers
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Driven by the recent AI boom, companies are raiding top college campuses for rare technical talent. She's currently on leave from her Stanford AI Ph.D. program to focus on Moonhub. In 2011, new AI Ph.D. graduates took jobs in the tech industry and academia in about equal measure. But since then, the majority of new grads have headed to the AI industry, with nearly double the percentage of AI Ph.D. grads taking industry jobs versus academic roles in 2021, according to Stanford's Institute for Human-Centered AI's 2023 AI Index Report. "All AI companies have roles for people with Ph.D.s and without," said Attaluri, the soon-to-be researcher at DeepMind.

☆ SAS will not use second tranche of $700 mln Apollo loan
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

COPENHAGEN, April 17 (Reuters) - SAS (SAS.ST) will not be using the second tranche of its $700 million debtor-in-possession (DIP) term loan in the second quarter of the year, due to stronger than expected development of the airline's liquidity, the airline said on Monday. SAS may, depending on the development of its liquidity, continue discussions with Apollo regarding access to the second tranche of the DIP term loan at a later stage of the Chapter 11 process. The airline will continue to pursue other financing initiatives that could boost its liquidity at a lower cost than a near-term use of the second tranche of the DIP term loan. Reporting by Louise Breusch Rasmussen, editing by Terje SolsvikOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Inside the AI talent wars: Tech companies are ransacking university AI programs at Stanford, MIT, and Cornell in search of rare talent
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

MONTREAL, April 5 (Reuters) - Honeywell International (HON.O) on Wednesday will announce a first deal for its most powerful generator, which would power a European-Canadian startup's hybrid electric cargo airship. Multiple startups are working on electric or hybrid aircraft to meet aviation's long-term climate goals. Flying Whales would use four generators per airship. The French parent company Flying Whales SAS and its Quebec based subsidiary have raised 162 million euros ($177.57 million) over three financing rounds. The first flight of the LCA60T airship in France is expected in late 2025 with entry into service planned for 2027, Flying Whales said.

☆ 18 countries sent sharpshooters to a US military base in Germany to see who has the best sniper team in Europe
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Stavros Atlamazoglou | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The 2022 version of the European Best Sniper Team Competition was one of the largest ever. The European Best Sniper Team CompetitionEstonian troops in a replica of a downed UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter during the European Best Sniper Team Competition on August 6. An Italian sniper team in a replica of a downed helicopter during the European Best Sniper Team Competition on August 6. The winnersCompetitors in the "1917" event during the European Best Sniper Team Competition on August 6. Snipers and modern warfareA Finnish Army sniper team at the European Best Sniper Team Competition on August 7.

☆ Crypto Company Circle Focuses on Growth After Canceled SPAC Merger
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Mark Maurer | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

Circle is still hiring even as many crypto companies are laying off staff and some have filed for bankruptcy following the run on the stablecoin TerraUSD last spring. The crypto company had been preparing to go public via a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company, a move to access the capital market, enhance its transparency and further expand operations internationally. A SPAC typically has as long as two years to find its merger partner, clear the SEC’s review process and complete the deal. Circle, which was founded in 2013, intends to make another bid to go public, though likely not this year, Mr. Fox-Geen said. Circle in 2021 said that Poloniex LLC, its discontinued crypto exchange business, paid $10.4 million to settle a case brought by the SEC.

☆ Indian shares set for muted start on U.S. rate hike worries, geopolitical concerns
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BENGALURU, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Indian shares were set for a muted start on Monday, on worries that the U.S. Fed would go higher for longer with interest rates, while rising concerns after North Korea fired more ballistic missiles further dampened investor mood. India's NSE stock futures listed on the Singapore exchange were up 0.14% at 17,961.50 as of 7:58 a.m. IST. Investors await the minutes of the Fed's meeting, due on Wednesday, to gauge the U.S. central bank's future rate hiking path. Talks of Russia ramping-up attacks in Ukraine ahead of the one-year anniversary of its invasion also added to geopolitical concerns. read more($1 = 82.7310 Indian rupees)Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita BhattacharjeeOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ French car parts group Faurecia to sell SAS cockpit unit to Motherson
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PARIS, Feb 19 (Reuters) - French car parts maker Faurecia (EPED.PA) has agreed to sell its SAS Cockpit Modules arm to automotive supplier Motherson Group (SAMD.NS), in a transaction based on an enterprise value of 540 million euros ($577.5 million), Faurecia said on Sunday. Faurecia last year took over German rival Hella (HLE.DE) to form a new European car parts company called FORVIA, and Faurecia chief Patrick Koller said the sale of the SAS business would help FORVIA to focus better on its core activities. "I am convinced that this transaction would unlock additional value for SAS," Koller said in a statement. "This would also allow FORVIA to focus on its core business activities developing breakthrough technologies and would fulfil our non-strategic asset divestment programme of 1 billion euros by end-2023," he added. ($1 = 0.9351 euros)Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by David Goodman and David HolmesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

STOCKHOLM, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Scandinavian airline SAS (SAS.ST) said it was hit by a cyber attack Tuesday evening and urged customers to refrain from using its app but later said it had fixed the problem. News reports said the hack paralysed the carrier's website and leaked customer information from its app. Karin Nyman, head of press at SAS, told Reuters at 2035 GMT that the company was working to remedy the attack on its app and website. "We aren't able to say a lot more right now as we are right in the attack right now," she said, adding that the app was at that point working fine. According to TT, customers who tried to log into the SAS app were logged onto the wrong accounts and had access to personal details of other people.

☆ This college dropout sold his first company for six figures at 21. Here's his recipe for success
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Goh Chiew Tong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

When Kevin Kim dropped out of college at 21 to become an entrepreneur, it seemed like a huge gamble. Kim had just sold his first company — which he started when he was just 18 — for "six figures." His e-commerce company imported streetwear from South Korea and sold it all over North America, he told CNBC Make It. The importance of company culture cannot be underestimated, Kim stressed, if one wants to build an "iconic long-term company." Kevin Kim Co-founder and CEO, Stadium Live

☆ Norwegian airline Flyr files for bankruptcy
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Terje Solsvik | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

OSLO, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Loss-making Norwegian airline Flyr (FLYR.OL) said on Tuesday it would file for bankruptcy after failing to raise the cash it needed for its operations. More than 400 employees will lose their jobs as a result of the bankruptcy, Flyr founder and board Chair Erik Braathen told Norwegian daily Dagbladet. Flyr is the latest Nordic carrier to hit financial difficulties in recent years as the pandemic, soaring energy costs and falling consumer confidence dented demand. SAS is itself undergoing a reorganisation under U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection proceedings, while Norwegian Air in 2021 underwent restructuring supervised by an Irish court, emerging as a slimmed-down regional airline. ($1 = 9.9939 Norwegian crowns)Reporting by Terje Solsvik Editing by Bernadette Baum, Mark Potter and Mark HeinrichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

It's easy to earn United miles without stepping on a plane, and because they don't expire, you can use miles when you're ready to travel. There are six United credit cards to consider if you just want to earn United miles and enjoy some day-of-travel perks to boot. Review: Ink Business Preferred card reviewBilt Mastercard® 4.5 /5 A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star 4.5 out of 5 Stars Intro offer N/A Rewards Earn 3X point on dining. Earn United miles by flying United and its partnersOf course, the other main way to stock up on a lot of United MileagePlus miles is to fly United and its other airline partners. Earn United miles with other travelIn addition to just flights, you can earn United miles by booking stays with United's hotel partners, sailings through United Cruises, and entire trips through United Vacations, as well as partner car rentals.

☆ Norwegian airline Flyr says it faces liquidity crunch, shares fall 78%
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

OSLO, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Loss-making Norwegian airline Flyr (FLYR.OL) said on Monday it had failed to raise the cash it needs from shareholders and other potential investors, leaving it in a "critical short-term liquidity situation". Flyr's share price, already weakened by the budget carrier's financial woes, fell 78% in early trade to an all-time low of 0.0015 Norwegian crowns. The company said it had tried in recent days to secure funding of 330 million Norwegian crowns ($33.27 million) but the effort failed. "Market conditions and continued uncertainty with regards to airline travel and earnings through 2023 have deterred investors from committing capital for the required period of time," Flyr said. ($1 = 9.9175 Norwegian crowns)Reporting by Terje Solsvik, Editing by Louise Heavens and Christina FincherOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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