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European Business News (96-07-04)European Business News (EBN) Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The European Business News Server at <http://www.ebn.co.uk/>Page last updated July 4 14:40 CETCONTENTS
[01] Yeltsin reappoints Victor Chernomyrdin as Prime MinisterA triumphant Boris Yeltsin vowed Thursday to rebuild Russia as a great power and end the country's bitter political divisions after voters re-elected him and decisively rejected communism.'Let's not divide the country into winners and losers. ... We have one Russia ... one destiny. And that means one future,' Yeltsin said during a nationally televised address. Yeltsin's Communist challenger, Gennady Zyuganov, initially declined to concede defeat and hinted at election fraud. But communist aides said they expected their leader to admit defeat later Thursday and accept the result. Yeltsin asked Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin to stay on and form a new cabinet to continue democratic and market reforms. The appointment must be approved by the Communist-dominated Parliament. Gennady Seleznyov, the Communist speaker of the Duma, the lower house of parliament, told the ITAR-Tass news agency that parliament was likely to approve Chernomyrdin's nomination. [02] Air France workers strikeAir France pilots and other workers striked Thursday against the ailing airline's planned European reorganization, expected to eliminate 950 jobs. A spokeswoman for Air France Europe, said the walkout would affect only flights within France. Last Friday, a similar protest grounded 65,000 frustrated travellers. Executives plan to merge Air France Europe into its other European operations. France-only pilots have refused a deep pay cut to bring themselves into line with pilots flying internationally.[03] Anglo American Platinum to fire 8,000 'illegal' strikersAnglo American Platinum Corp., a South African platinum producer, said it will fire another 8,000 workers who refuse to end an ''illegal'' strike at its Rustenburg mine.The company said in a statement that the employees have refused to comply with a court order to return to work. The company has dismissed about 13,000 workers since industrial action began June 25. [04] EU launches inquiry into transatlantic airline link upsThe European Union Commission has requested British Airways and AMR Corp.'s American Airlines unit, along with five existing transatlantic airline alliances, send it details of their agreements for antitrust scrutiny.The commission wants to look at agreements between: Deutsche Lufthansa and UAL Corp.'s United Airlines unit; Scandinavian Airlines System, also with United; SwissAir, Sabena and Austrian Airlines' agreement with Delta Air Lines Inc.; KLM Royal Dutch Airlines' agreement with Northwest Airlines Corp. ; and British Air's existing agreement with USAir Group Inc. The commission said ''it appears that these agreements will substantially restrict competition on the routes between the U.S. and Europe as well as on some intra-European routes.'' E.U. Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock said the commission has the power to block such agreements. He noted a decision by the European Court of Justice gave the commission powers to rule on multilateral or bilateral accords between E.U. and non-E.U. airlines. Kinnock recently received approval from E.U. transport ministers to negotiate an ''open skies'' agreement with the U.S. [05] Germany's Kirch wins global broadcasting rights to two football World CupsThe world broadcasting rights to football's World Cup in 2002 and 2006 have been awarded to a Swiss-German joint venture for a total of dlrs 2.2 billion.Football's world governing body FIFA said Wednesday the Sporis/Kirch company was granted rights to the 2002 World Cup for dlrs 1 billion and the 2006 Cup for dlrs 1.2 billion. The 2002 competition will be jointly staged in Japan and South Korea. The site of the 2006 World Cup has not been decided yet. FIFA said it would continue to negotiate with the Sporis/Kirch group on a proposal from FIFA president Joao Havelange for a share of the income above the guaranteed minimum. The exact terms of the negotiations remain confidential, FIFA said. FIFA said the Swiss/German offer was superior to other bids from CWL of Switzerland, IMG of the United States and the International Television Consortium. The Kirch group, based in Munich, is controlled by German media mogul Leo Kirch. Sporis Holding is the holding company for the Lucerne, Switzerland- based ISL Group, which executes the marketing rights for FIFA. The rights awarded are worldwide, except for the United States, which are marketed separately. The dlrs 1 billion contract is four times higher than the marketing figure for the 1994 World Cup in the United States. For World Cup 1998 in France, the total worldwide rights, including FIFA's agreement with ABC Television for the U.S. rights, totals dlrs 184 million. The contract for the marketing rights for the 2002 World Cup will not be negotiated, FIFA announced, until the two organizing committees in Japan and South Korea agree on organizational issues. [06] Shell picks finalists for Brent Spar disposalTwenty-one companies have been chosen to compete for the contract to dispose of the controversial Brent Spar oil platform, Shell U.K. said Wednesday.'As the 21 contractors line up to compete today, they face an unprecedented engineering challenge. Brent Spar is a unique structure, which needs a unique solution,' said Eric Faulds, decommissioning manager for Shell U.K. Exploration and Production. Shell's original plan to scuttle the Brent Spar in the North Atlantic last year led to a confrontation with the environmental group Greenpeace. Activists boarded the platform, and protests across Europe prompted Shell to back down. The platform is now in the sheltered anchorage at Erfjord in Norway. Shell set a July 31 deadline for the companies to submit outlines of their proposals for disposing of the 14,500 ton platform, which is 137 meters (450 feet) tall. The proposals will be published for public comment, and then Shell plans to narrow the list to six. [07] General Electric posts 10% pretax profit riseU.K.'s General Electric Co. PLC reported a 10% rise in its pretax profit for the year ended March 31, 1996, reflecting increased profits at its three principal businesses of electronics systems and defense, power systems, and telecommunications.[08] Air France seen merging domestic unitState-owned carrier Air France is likely to fully merge its domestic unit after pilots for the domestic operation refused to accept a substantial pay cut, airline officials said, according to Wednesday's Wall Street Journal Europe.Such a decision would depart from previous plans to create a new Air France Europe that would combine the domestic unit - formerly known as Air Inter - with the parent company's European operations. An announcement is expected Thursday. 'We've been led to that solution,' said an Air France spokeswoman, because Air France Chairman Christian Blanc was determined to ensure parity between all pilots. The domestic pilots now enjoy a pay premium of up to 15%. Page last updated July 4 14:40 CETFrom the European Business News (EBN) Server at http://www.ebn.co.uk/European Business News (EBN) Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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