The US transportation department has imposed a $2 million penalty on JetBlue Airways for persistent delays on its east coast routes. Half of the fine would be distributed as compensation to affected passengers. This marks the first instance of an airline being fined for chronic delays on specific routes, which the department attributed to JetBlue’s “unrealistic scheduling,” the agency said. Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg criticised the airline, stating, “Illegal chronic flight delays make flying unreliable for travelers. Today’s action puts the entire airline industry on notice that we expect their flight schedules to reflect reality.” JetBlue, however, shifted part of the blame onto the government’s air traffic control system. Spokesperson Derek Dombrowski said the airline had invested “tens of millions of dollars to reduce flight delays” caused by air traffic control challenges in key markets, including the Northeast and Florida which led to improved on-time performance in 2024, especially during peak summer travel. Dombrowski called the incoming Trump administration to modernise outdated air traffic control systems and address staffing shortages among controllers. The department identified chronic delays on JetBlue flights between June 2022 and November 2023. Problematic routes included flights from New York’s JFK Airport to Raleigh-Durham, Fort Lauderdale, and Orlando, as well as flights from Windsor Locks, Connecticut, to Fort Lauderdale.
Settlement
JetBlue has since agreed to a settlement over delays on four specific routes. “While we’ve reached a settlement to resolve this matter regarding four (routes) in 2022 and 2023, we believe accountability for reliable air travel equally lies with the US government, which operates our nation’s air traffic control system,” Dombrowski revealed.
Chronic delays
Under the regulations set by the transportation department, airlines must not publish unrealistic schedules, ensuring departure and arrival times reflect operational realities. A flight is deemed chronically delayed if it operates at least 10 times a month and arrives more than 30 minutes late in over half of those instances.
A contingent of 150 Guatemalan soldiers has arrived in Haiti, tasked with helping to restore order amid the chaos wrought by armed gangs.
A first group of 75 soldiers arrived on Friday and another 75 on Saturday, all drafted from the military police, according to Guatemala’s government.
A state of emergency has been in place across the Caribbean nation for months as the government battles violent gangs that have taken control of much of the capital Port-au-Prince.
The forces are in Haiti to boost a United Nations-backed security mission led by Kenya that has so far failed to prevent violence from escalating.
Kenya sent nearly 400 police officers in June and July last year to help combat the gangs.
This was the first tranche of a UN-approved international force that will be made up of 2,500 officers from various countries.
A small number of forces from Jamaica, Belize and El Salvador are also in Haiti as part of the mission and the US is the operation’s largest funder.
The Ouest Department – a region including Port-au-Prince – was originally put under a state of emergency on 3 March, after escalating violence gripped the capital.
Chronic instability, dictatorships and natural disasters in recent decades have left Haiti the poorest nation in the Americas.
New Delhi: As foreign institutional investors’ (FII) selling in India continues to dominate headlines, the clear message is that FII selling is due to high valuations in the secondary market and in the primary market where the valuations are fair, they have been sustained investors, market watchers said on Saturday.
Amid persistent FII outflows, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) have also maintained their optimistic stance. According to experts, the general perception that the market has turned weak due to sustained FII selling during the last three months is largely true.
“However, what is not generally appreciated is that even while selling in the cash market through exchanges, FIIs have been buyers through the primary market. They have been big investors through the Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) route,” said Dr V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.
For the month of December, FIIs sold equity for Rs 2,590 crore through the exchanges, but they bought equity for Rs 18,036 crore through the ‘primary market and others’ category.
In 2024, FIIs sold equity heavily for Rs 121,210 crore but they bought equity for Rs 121,637 crore through the primary market. Therefore, FIIs have net bought for Rs 427 crores in 2024.
“FIIs are likely to continue to sell going forward, so long as the dollar continues to rally and the US bonds yield attractive returns. The dollar index at around 109 and the 10-year bond yield above 4.5 per cent are strong headwinds for FII flows,” explained Kumar.
Despite stock market volatility amid geo-political uncertainties, FIIs remained net investors in the country, as the country’s economy showed tremendous resilience. According to Manoj Purohit, Partner and Leader, Financial Services Tax, Tax and Regulatory Services, BDO India, the return of foreign participants to India market can be attributed to various factors.
Primarily, on the macro front, the recent policy announcements in the US impacting the peer countries, settling geopolitical situation among Middle East countries, the well-controlled inflation, and interest rate check are some of the factors, he mentioned.
Chile’s president visited the South Pole on Friday in a bid to fortify his country’s territorial claims to part of Antarctica, as competition in the region is growing bit by bit.
Gabriel Boric, the president, and a delegation of officials visited Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, a U.S. research base; the first time, his office said, that a Latin American president in office has set foot on the freezing continent.
Mr. Boric called the trip “a landmark” and “a confirmation of our claim of sovereignty in this space.”
At the other end of the world, the Arctic has drawn notice with climate change making the region more important for global trade, opening up access to its natural resources and intensifying military competition there. Antarctica, by contrast, remained comparatively under the radar.
But more than a century after explorers raced to plant flags in the frigid polar desert, countries are once again starting to openly vie for influence in the region.
The area is governed by the Antarctic Treaty System, which mandates that “Antarctica shall be used for peaceful purposes only.” The Cold-War era pact and subsequent agreements aimed to make Antarctica a military-free zone and manage competing territorial claims.
For decades, the system largely succeeded in establishing an international consensus for the region, according to a 2023 report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based research institute.
Many nations have long-established or new facilities on Antarctica conducting scientific research, some of which could also be used to explore the region’s strategic and commercial potential. Competition to do so has quietly intensified in recent years, and looks likely to continue doing so, according to the report.
The Antarctic’s harsh environment and the treaty system have constrained access to its resources, but the region has a rich marine environment and potential reserves of oil, gas and minerals. The barren landscape is also a good spot for countries to place technology with military applications.
Russia has increased efforts to build monitoring stations for GLONASS, its version of the Global Positioning System, which has experts say also have military use. At least three Russian stations were already operating in Antarctica in 2015.
China in 2023 announced plans to build new satellite stations in Antarctica, another project with potential military applications.
The treaty bans mining in the region, protecting small reserves of iron ore, coal and chromium. Estimates vary greatly, but the region could also hold vast reserves of oil and natural gas. To the dismay of environmentalists, China and Russia are pursuing loosened restrictions on krill fishing.
Facets of the treaty that involve environmental protections will be up for review in 2048, but could be undermined before then.
Some signatories of the Antarctic treaty have also staked territorial claims — a number of which overlap — while others do not recognize the territorial claims of other countries. Chile is one of the few countries claiming territory, and it has installed a permanent settlement called Villa Las Estrellas.
Chile sought to strengthen its territorial claims in May 2024, holding a meeting with defense officials in the Antarctic as a symbol of sovereignty amid tension over Russia’s reported geological surveys in the Weddell Sea, an Antarctic region off South America’s southernmost tip.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy has gone to Mar-a-Lago to visit President-elect Donald J. Trump for an informal meeting being held on Saturday, three people familiar with the trip said.
The trip comes just a few days before Ms. Meloni is set to welcome President Biden in Rome for an official visit to Italy and the Vatican on Jan. 9 to 12.
Ms. Meloni and Mr. Trump have expressed mutual appreciation in the past, and her trip is one of the first few visits by a foreign leader to the president-elect’s estate in Florida since his election. The meeting reinforces the hopes of Ms. Meloni’s supporters that the conservative Italian prime minister will become Mr. Trump’s go-to ally in Europe.
Much of that role would involve mediating tensions between other European leaders and Mr. Trump, who has threatened to start a trade war with the continent as well as to reduce American backing for some NATO countries and for Ukraine in its war with Russia.
The agenda of the meeting was unclear on Saturday night, but observers expected the two leaders would discuss those issues.
Another possible topic, according to observers, is the detention in Iran of a prominent Italian reporter, Cecilia Sala.It happened a few days after Italy arrested, at the request of the United States,an Iranian suspected of providing drone components to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.Iran has routinely detained foreigners and dual citizens to trade them for money and people.
One person briefed on the meeting said Ms. Meloni had pressed aggressively for it.
She also has a good relationship with Elon Musk, which her supporters hope will bolster her international standing once Mr. Trump becomes president.
Since being elected, Mr. Trump has welcomed to Mar-a-Lago Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, a champion of “illiberal democracy,” as well as Argentina’s firebrand right-wing president, Javier Milei. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada became the first Group of Seven leader to visit Mr. Trump in Florida since the election, after a threat to impose tariffs on Canada.
Apple CEO Tim Cook will donate $1 million from his wealth to US President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration fund ahead of his swearing-in on January 20, reported Axios.
Chief Executive of Apple, Tim Cook, during a visit to the firm’s UK headquarters in London. (File image)(AFP)
Tim Cook’s decision to donate follows several high-profile financial donations and other contributions to Donald Trump’s inaugural committee.
Among them are Amazon, Open AI, Toyota Motor of North America and crypto companies Kraken, Ripple, and Ondo.
The report notes that Cook believes the inauguration is a great American tradition and is donating to the “spirit of unity.” Apple, the biggest US taxpayer, is not expected to donate as a company.
Tim Cook’s move to donate comes after Apple agreed to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit accusing the company of using its virtual assistant Siri to eavesdrop on people using its iPhone and other devices.
The five-year-old lawsuit claimed that Apple secretively activated Siri to record conversations for over a decade.
The company, whose CEO Tim Cook describes privacy as “a fundamental human right”, has not acknowledged any wrongdoing in its settlement.
If approved by a California federal court, the settlement could enable millions of Apple customers to file claims for up to $20 per device covered by the proposal. News agency AP reported, citing court documents, that only 3% to 5% of eligible consumers are expected to file claims.
Toyota Motor of North America is donating $1 million, following similar contributions from Ford Motor and General Motors. The American automakers are also contributing vehicles to the event.
Uber Technologies and its CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, donated $1 million each.
Amazon will donate $1 million and also livestream the event on its OTT platform Prime Video.
Ken Griffin, the founder of Citadel LLC hedge fund, also plans to donate $1 million. Griffin did not donate to Trump’s presidential campaign ahead of the election.
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, Premier League runners-up over the past two seasons, travelled to the south coast on Saturday hunting a fourth straight league win.
Seventeen-year-old Ethan Nwaneri, in for the injured Bukayo Saka, put them on course for all three points in the first half.
But Joao Pedro levelled from the penalty spot following a clash of heads between the Brazilian and William Saliba just after the hour mark, prompting a furious reaction from Arteta.
“We’re also very disappointed with the penalty and the way it was given,” Arteta said. “I’ve never seen that in my life, and Saliba touches the ball, so it’s never a penalty for me.”
Arsenal’s William Saliba fouls Brighton & Hove Albion’s Joao Pedro to concede a penalty [Dylan Martinez/Reuters]
The 1-1 draw means the second-placed Gunners are five points behind Liverpool, having played two games more, with Arne Slot’s in-form leaders hosting crisis-hit Manchester United on Sunday.
“We knew it was going to be competitive and challenging,” added Arteta. “But we did compete, and it wasn’t our best day.
“We’re playing every three days as well, and today we lost too many simple things. Doing the simple things, we have to do them right, and today wasn’t to those standards.”
Man City return to winning ways against West Ham
Manchester City, who beat Leicester last week for just their second win in 14 games, have now won successive matches for the first time since October after pummelling West Ham 4-1 earlier on Saturday.
The defending champions took an early lead against West Ham through a Vladimir Coufal own goal and Erling Haaland headed in Savinho’s deep cross shortly before the break.
The Norwegian claimed his second 10 minutes after the interval, dinking the ball over Alphonse Areola after a fine pass from Savinho, to take his league haul to 16 goals, one behind Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah.
Phil Foden made it 4-0 before Niclas Fullkrug grabbed a consolation for Julen Lopetegui’s men, who suffered a 5-0 mauling by Premier League leaders Liverpool last week.
Arsenal’s draw at Brighton means Liverpool can go eight points clear, with a game in hand…
Despite their shocking run of results, sixth-placed City are just two points behind fourth-placed Chelsea, but Guardiola said his team were still not back in the groove.
“I’m very pleased for the result, but you cannot ask me if the old City is back,” he said. “If you saw the game, we are not.
“You saw many times during the years what we have done with the opponents.”
Newcastle, Chelsea and Aston Villa up their chase; Tottenham falter
In the early kickoff, Newcastle United came from behind to clinch a fifth straight Premier League win and heap more misery on injury-hit Tottenham Hotspur. The home side went ahead in the fourth minute through Dominic Solanke.
Newcastle levelled two minutes later when Anthony Gordon arrowed an effort into the bottom corner, but Postecoglou stood in disbelief on the touchline looking at referee Andrew Madley after Joelinton intercepted Lucas Bergvall’s pass with his hand in the build-up.
VAR deemed Joelinton’s arm to be in a natural position and the contact to be accidental. In-form Alexander Isak scored what turned out to be the winner towards the end of the first period.
The 2-1 victory, watched by new England manager Thomas Tuchel, leaves Newcastle in fifth spot, which may yet prove enough to secure a place in the Champions League next season. But Spurs have slumped to 12th in the table after five defeats in seven matches.
Postecoglou said he was proud of his players but was the “angriest I think I have ever been in my career”.
“I think it’s clear,” said the Australian. “Now whether people agree with me or not, whether it wasn’t handball or it was accidental, I’m just not interested in any of that discussion.
“I know what everyone wants me to say, but all I’ll say is that on any other day, on a fair and even playing ground, we would have won that game. Simple as that.”
Alexander Isak scores Newcastle United’s second goal past Brandon Austin of Tottenham Hotspur [Alex Pantling/Getty Images]
Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea were breathing down Liverpool’s necks just two weeks ago but have taken only two points from four games over the festive period.
Cole Palmer gave the visitors a first-half lead, but they could not capitalise on their possession and Jean-Philippe Mateta levelled in the 82nd minute.
“Two weeks ago, three weeks ago, we were talking about the title race … but this moment of the season, I knew that is going to happen in any season for any team, that you have some moment that you are not able to win games,” said Maresca.
Aston Villa beat relegation-threatened Leicester 2-1 at home, with goals from Ross Barkley and Leon Bailey.
Brentford recorded their first league win on the road this season, smashing hapless Southampton 5-0, and Bournemouth beat Everton 1-0.
MUMBAI: Bank of Baroda reported provisional figures as of Dec 31, 2024, showing a substantial growth in retail lending, which helped the bank achieve an 11.7% year-on-year increase in global business to Rs 25.6 lakh crore. The bank’s global advances increased by 11.7% to Rs 11.7 lakh crore as of December 2024, while global deposits grew by 11.8% to around Rs 13.9 lakh crore during the same period. Domestic deposits rose by 9.2%, increasing from Rs 10.7 lakh crore in Dec 2023 to Rs 11.7 lakh crore in Dec 2024. Domestic advances showed an 11.8% growth, reaching Rs 9.6 lakh crore compared to Rs 8.6 lakh crore in 2023. Domestic retail advances witnessed a significant jump of 19.5%, growing from Rs 2 lakh crore in 2023 to Rs 2.4 lakh crore in 2024. The growth in global deposits, from Rs 12.5 lakh crore in 2023 to Rs 13.9 lakh crore in 2024, reflects an 11.8% increase. Meanwhile, global advances rose from Rs 10.5 lakh crore in 2023 to Rs 11.7 lakh crore in 2024, marking an 11.7% rise. The bank has said that these are provisional figures and are subject to audit and review by the bank’s statutory central auditoRs
Austria’s Chancellor Karl Nehammer says he will resign in the coming days, both as chancellor and party leader, after talks about forming a coalition government collapsed.
The chancellor said his party – the conservative People’s Party (ÖVP) – and the Social Democrats had failed to agree on key issues.
The liberal Neos, another party involved in the talks, also pulled out on Friday.
The collapse of the talks could lead to the conservatives negotiating with the far-right, or to a new election taking place, analysts have said.
The Russia-friendly FPÖ has been in a ruling coalition before. It would likely welcome a new election as opinion polls suggest its popularity has grown further since September.
The FPÖ has said in a statement on X that three months have been lost by the coalition talks and adds that “instead of stability, we have chaos”.
The party has called for Social Democrat leader Andreas Babler to also resign and said President Alexander Van der Bellen bears “a significant share of responsibility for the chaos that has arisen and the lost time”.
The FPÖ won almost 29% of the vote in September’s election, the People’s Party came second with 26.3% and the Social Democrats third, with 21%.
There was a high turnout of 77.3% as Austrian voters took part in an election dominated by the twin issues of migration and asylum, as well as a flagging economy and the war in Ukraine.
The FPÖ’s Kickl promised to build “Fortress Austria”, to restore Austrians’ security and prosperity.
The party wants firm rules on legal immigration and it has promoted the idea of remigration, which involves sending asylum seekers to their original countries.
The FPÖ was founded by former Nazis in the 1950s.
Two days before last year’s general election vote some of its candidates were caught on video at a funeral where an SS song was sung.
The party later denied the song, dating back to 1814, had any link to “National Socialist sentiments”.
Guwahati: The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has issued legal notices to 20 leaders of Greater Cooch Behar People’s Association (GCPA) for blocking train services at Jorai Railway Station in West Bengal’s Alipurduar Division on December 11 last year, officials said here on Saturday.
Demanding separate Greater Cooch Behar state, more than 5,000 agitators blockaded the railway lines at Jorai Railway Station in Alipurduar Division on December 11 last year leading to the cutting off the entire northeastern region from the rest of the country through the railway network. The GCPA has been spearheading the agitation for the past many years.
NFR’s Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) Kapinjal Kishore Sharma said as a result of this forced rail blockade, railways had to suffer a financial loss of Rs 5.61 crore. “Due to the financial loss incurred because of the blockade, Railways had served a compensation notice through the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Alipurduar to the 20 leaders of GCPA who led the agitation on December 11 last year. In due course of time, action would be taken as per law to make up the losses,” he said.
Sharma said that as a result of the rail blockade, several trains had to be cancelled and several trains were diverted through the alternate route. Passengers travelling by trains suffered a lot, he added.
The CPRO also said that the agitators created nuisances and hampered the railway working system and the blockade was completely unauthorised and the agitators violated several sections of laws by obstructing the train movement, endangering passenger safety and trespassing into railway premises.
On duty Railway Protection Force, Government Railway Police personnel and local police officials tried to resist the agitators several times through the public address system, and loudhailer and gave instruction for the withdrawal of the agitation. However, the agitators denied withdrawing the obstruction from the railway track. All the steps taken by the on-duty security staff were being done as per the law, the official said.
Sharma said that the railway is seen as a soft target for many agitator groups, though the demands of the group are in no way concerned with the railways. The offences committed by such groups are extremely severe and have far-reaching consequences directly putting passenger safety at huge risk, he pointed out.
The CPRO said that the railways would always work to keep its passengers’ trust in safety and security upheld and never inspire such groups with their illegitimate demands to see railways as an easy and soft target.
The NFR operates in the northeastern states and in seven districts of West Bengal and five districts of north Bihar.
