WASHINGTON (AP) — A machinists strike. Another safety problem involving its troubled top-selling airliner. A plunging stock price. 2024 was already a dispiriting year for Boeing, the American aviation giant. But when one of the company's jets crash-landed in South Korea on Sunday, killing all but two of the 181 people on board, it brought to a close an especially unfortunate year for Boeing. The cause of the crash remains under investigation, and aviation experts were quick to distinguish Sunday's incident from the company’s earlier safety problems. Alan Price, a former chief pilot at Delta Air Lines who is now a consultant, said it would be inappropriate to link the incident Sunday to two fatal crashes involving Boeing’s troubled 737 Max jetliner in 2018 and 2019. In January this year, a door plug blew off a 737 Max while it was in flight, raising more questions about the plane. The Boeing 737-800 that crash-landed in Korea, Price noted, is “a very proven airplane. "It’s different from the Max ...It’s a very safe airplane.’’ For decades, Boeing has maintained a role as one of the giants of American manufacturing. But the the past year's repeated troubles have been damaging. The company's stock price is down more than 30% in 2024. The company's reputation for safety was especially tarnished by the 737 Max crashes, which occurred off the coast of Indonesia and in Ethiopia less than five months apart in 2018 and 2019 and left a combined 346 people dead. In the five years since then, Boeing has lost more than $23 billion. And it has fallen behind its European rival, Airbus, in selling and delivering new planes. Last fall, 33,000 Boeing machinists went on strike, crippling the production of the 737 Max, the company's bestseller, the 777 airliner and 767 cargo plane. The walkout lasted seven weeks, until members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers agreed to an offer that included 38% pay raises over four years. In January, a door plug blew off a 737 Max during an Alaska Airlines flight. Federal regulators responded by imposing limits on Boeing aircraft production that they said would remain in place until they felt confident about manufacturing safety at the company. In July, Boeing agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud for deceiving the Federal Aviation Administration regulators who approved the 737 Max. Acting on Boeing’s incomplete disclosures, the FAA approved minimal, computer-based training instead of more intensive training in flight simulators. Simulator training would have increased the cost for airlines to operate the Max and might have pushed some to buy planes from Airbus instead. (Prosecutors said they lacked evidence to argue that Boeing’s deception had played a role in the crashes.) But the plea deal was rejected this month by a federal judge in Texas, Reed O’Connor , who decided that diversity, inclusion and equity or DEI policies in the government and at Boeing could result in race being a factor in choosing an official to oversee Boeing’s compliance with the agreement. Boeing has sought to change its culture. Under intense pressure over safety issues, David Calhoun departed as CEO in August. Since January, 70,000 Boeing employees have participated in meetings to discuss ways to improve safety.The gunman who stalked and killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fled New York City by bus, police officials told CNN on Friday. Video of the suspected shooter leaving the scene of the shooting Wednesday showed him riding a bicycle to Central Park and later taking a taxi cab to a bus depot, Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told CNN. Here's the latest: Police believe gunman who killed UnitedHealthcare CEO has left New York City The gunman who killed the CEO of the largest U.S. health insurer may have fled the city on a bus, New York City police officials told CNN on Friday. Video of the suspected shooter leaving the scene of the shooting Wednesday showed him riding a bicycle to Central Park and later taking a taxi cab to a bus depot, Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told CNN. “We have reason to believe that the person in question has left New York City,” Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. Gunman’s steps after killing UnitedHealthcare’s CEO give police new clues The gunman who killed the CEO of the largest U.S. health insurer made sure to wear a mask during the shooting yet left a trail of evidence in view of the nation’s biggest city and its network of security cameras that have aided authorities piecing together his movements and his identity. A law enforcement official said Friday that new surveillance footage shows the suspect riding the subway and visiting establishments in Manhattan and provided more clues about his actions in the days before he ambushed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson . The gunman’s whereabouts and identity remain unknown Friday, as did the reason for Wednesday’s killing. New York City police say evidence firmly points to it being a targeted attack . ▶ Read more about the search for the gunman For many companies, investor meetings are seen as a risk In many companies, investor meetings like the one UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was walking to when he was fatally shot are viewed as very risky because details on the location and who will be speaking are highly publicized. “It gives people an opportunity to arrive well in advance and take a look at the room, take a look at how people would probably come and go out of a location,” said Dave Komendat, president of DSKomendat Risk Management Services, which is based in the greater Seattle area. Some firms respond by beefing up security. For example, tech companies routinely require everyone attending a major event, such as Apple’s annual unveiling of the next iPhone or a shareholder meeting, to go through airport-style security checkpoints before entering. Others forgo in-person meetings with shareholders. ▶ Read more about how companies protect their leaders Police have obtained other surveillance images of the person wanted for questioning Those images include New York’s subway system, a law enforcement official said. In establishments where the person was captured on camera, he always appeared to pay with cash, the official said. The official wasn’t authorized to discuss details of the ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. — Mike Balsamo Another health insurer taking precautions after the shooting Medica, a Minnesota-based nonprofit health care firm that serves 1.5 million customers in 12 states, said it’s temporarily closing all six locations. The firm has offices in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska and North Dakota, and employs about 3,000 people. Employees will work from home, Medica spokesman Greg Bury said in an email Friday. “The safety of Medica employees is our top priority and we have increased security both for all of our employees,” a statement from Medica said. “Although we have received no specific threats related to our campuses, our office buildings will be temporarily closed out of an abundance of caution.” Bury also said biographical information on the company’s executives was taken down from its website as a precaution. Government health insurance provider Centene Corp. says its Investor Day will now be virtual The insurer cited the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in its announcement about the Dec. 12 event. “All of us at Centene are deeply saddened by Brian Thompson’s death and want to express our support for all of those affected. Health insurance is a big industry and a small community; many members of the CenTeam crossed paths with Brian during their careers,” Centene CEO Sarah M. London said in a news release. “He was a person with a deep sense of empathy and clear passion for improving access to care. Our hearts are with his family and his colleagues during this difficult time.” Centene Corp. has grown in recent years to become the largest insurer in Medicaid, the state- and federally funded program that covers care for people with low incomes. Insurers manage Medicaid coverage for states, and Centene has more than 13 million people enrolled in that coverage. UnitedHealth Group says it’s focused on supporting Brian Thompson’s family The insurance company also said it’s focused on ensuring the safety of employees and assisting investigators. “While our hearts are broken, we have been touched by the huge outpouring of kindness and support in the hours since this horrific crime took place,” the company said. NY Mayor Eric Adams provided no new information on investigation’s progress during interviews But he said Friday that he’s confident police will arrest the shooter. “We are on the right road to apprehend him and bring him to justice,” Adams said on TV station WPIX. Hours after the shooting, UnitedHealthcare removed photographs of its executives from its website Later, it removed their names and biographies entirely. Investigators believe the suspect may have traveled to NY last month on a bus that originated in Atlanta Police and federal agents have been collecting information from Greyhound in an attempt to identify the suspect and are working to determine whether he purchased the ticket to New York in late November, a law enforcement official said. Investigators were also trying to obtain additional information from a cellphone recovered from a pedestrian plaza through which the shooter fled. Killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO spotlights complex challenge companies face in protecting top brass The fatal shooting of Brian Thompson while walking alone on a New York City sidewalk has put a spotlight on the widely varied approaches companies take to protect their leaders against threats. Experts say today’s political, economic and technological climate is only going to make the job of evaluating threats against executives and taking action to protect them even more difficult, experts say. Some organizations have a protective intelligence group that uses digital tools such as machine learning or artificial intelligence to comb through online comments to detect threats not only on social media platforms such as X but also on the dark web, says Komendat. They look for what’s being said about the company, its employees and its leadership to uncover risks. ▶ Read more about the steps companies take to protect their leadership Police test DNA and fingerprints on discarded bottle as they hunt for UnitedHealthcare CEO’s killer Police said Thursday they found a water bottle and protein bar wrapper from a trash can near the scene of the ambush and think the suspect bought them from a Starbucks minutes before the shooting. The items were being tested by the city’s medical examiner. The Associated Press
Splitting the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) board in two opens up the bank’s experts to focus more specifically on monetary policy. While this is expected to relieve pressure on operations as criticism over cash rate decisions continue to churn, the timing with next year’s federal election is raising more questions. It’s now more than a week since delayed amendments to the Reserve Bank Act successfully passed through the Senate, making a new dawn for the structure of the central bank and its decision-making. The passing came as a surprise, with the creation of a dual structure for the board having been put on the political backburner after the bill’s stipulations failed to materialise in July as first planned. Confirmation the board will be split in two from February come at a crucial point for the bank, which has faced mounting criticism in recent months for its hard line on interest rates. The Reserve Bank Act passed through the Senate late on 28 November and more than five months after expected. Picture: Getty The cash rate in Australia is currently at a 13-year high of 4.35% and out of step with comparable nations. The board is currently in its final meeting for 2024, though with the cash rate having remained unchanged for 13 months and core inflation still high, it’s unlikely mortgage holders can expect a reprieve tomorrow. Under its new structure, the RBA will function with two boards as it moves into 2025 – one board focused on monetary policy, and therefore on interest rates, and a board managing governance. It’s a year already tipped for cuts, with the big bank economists expecting up to three rate cuts in the next 12 months. Speaking at a Committee for Economic Development of Australia event on the same day of the Act’s succession, governor Michele Bullock continued to toe an ambiguous line on whether the dual structure would fix concerns brought to the fore in last year’s independent review of the bank. “The concept is that the monetary policy board can now concentrate just on monetary policy,” she said. “Having said that, we’ve already made a lot of changes as I set out to the way we operate the board and we are already leaning into some of these changes.” Reserve Bank of Australia governor Michele Bullock said the current board has already begun making headway on changes recommended in the review. Picture: Martin Ollman The independent review into the RBA last year determined that more transparency was needed around setting the cash rate and managing and changing it accordingly. Better scrutiny is something Ms Bullock suggests the bank will greatly benefit from. “There’s a lot we do which is not to do with monetary policy at the moment and I am accountable for all of that,” she said. “I am the accountable authority, not the board. With the new framework, the governance board will be accountable for the operations of the bank, which is a substantial amount.” A change in the amount of singular authority held by the governor could go a long way in restoring faith around the bank’s candour. The testing COVID and post-COVID environments have been marred with political sparring as well as concerns over how the treasury and the RBA interact, raising public concerns over the motivations for delaying a rate cut. The RBA faced criticism in the review about its board members and their inability to effectively challenge the governor on decisions, after it was revealed in the reviews that not one recommendation of an executive had been voted against in over a decade. While a lack of rigor in cash rate decision-making was disputed strongly by then-governor Philip Lowe, the board has remained immobile on rates in recent months. This is despite some easing of external inflationary pressures and has not escaped criticism. Next year however, the new, specialist, nine-member monetary policy board will be dedicated to setting the target for the cash rate. This board will be made up of a governor, deputy governor, treasury secretary and six external members. The existing RBA board has spent much of 2024 as a political football. The incumbent Labor Party wants to see more technical macroeconomic expertise on the back of the review findings, while the opposition has raised its concerns about a politically motivated appointment. While board members technically serve apolitically, certain members are indeed appointed by the government. Speaking to Mortgage Choice last month , Challenger chief economist and former RBA executive Jonathan Kearns said the selection of board members “should not depend on the government of the day”. Ahead of next year’s federal election, the embattled Labor Party now has its own opportunity to divorce itself from direct association with the painful and restrictive monetary policy of 2024. Treasurer Jim Chalmers struck a deal with the Greens and the Senate crossbench to push through the reforms, leaving time for Mr Chalmers to appoint several new figures ahead of an election. Whether these new figures will bow to calls for rate relief remains to be seen. Treasurer Jim Chalmers has a chance to overhaul Labor's fortunes with his appointments to the new RBA board. Picture: Getty Mortgage repayments as a percentage of household disposable income are now 10.2%, a 15-year high the Australian Council of Trade Unions said showed the need for “urgent” action. “The Reserve Bank’s approach on interest rates is making working people’s mortgages unaffordable and its weighing down our economy,” secretary Sally McManus said. Latest data from PropTrack for November shows national home prices reached a new peak in November following 23 consecutive months of growth. Ms McManus said: “The banks needs to follow the rest of the world and decisively cut rates.” As of last Friday, the ASX 30-Day Interbank Cash Rate Futures tracker indicates a 9% expectation of a rate cut tomorrow.Shopping malls were once the center of the universe for suburban teens, until the internet made it easier to shop and socialize from right at home. But Gen Z is rejecting the online obsessions of Gen X and millennials by returning to the once-forsaken halls of shopping malls. It’s part of... ... a general trend of shopping in person, rather than online, which has also contributed to the revival of . The mall revival is a different beast, though. Gen Z shoppers want items quicker, to spend time with their friends, and to share their shopping adventures on social media. Nearly 63% of Gen Zers plan to shop at physical stores this holiday season, , while only ~50% plan to use retailers’ apps and websites. Take mall staple Abercrombie & Fitch: 60% of sales for its millennial-skewing mainline brand come digitally, but only 30% of sales for its Gen Z-friendly Hollister label are online. Malls are courting these shoppers with more experiential offerings (mini golf, Instagram photo ops, etc.), plus hotter retailers that attract more attention than dying anchor stores. Too online as it is Gen Z was raised on the internet, even before covid killed a lot of in-person bonding experiences. Roberta Katz, a Stanford University researcher who studies Gen Z, they want to embrace the real world’s advantages. They have also become jaded by the digital retailers that supposedly “killed” malls the last time around. Thirty-nine percent of Gen Z shoppers are “tired of hearing about Amazon,” data from research firm Mintel 60% of Gen Z shoppers believe Amazon is “too powerful.” Nearly 50% of Gen Z shoppers try to actively avoid Amazon, compared to 20% of boomers and 40% of millennials. After growing up with the toothless smile on Amazon boxes and the cold sterility of Zoom classrooms, Gen Z seems happy to touch the proverbial grass.
The gunman who stalked and killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fled New York City by bus, police officials told CNN on Friday. Video of the suspected shooter leaving the scene of the shooting Wednesday showed him riding a bicycle to Central Park and later taking a taxi cab to a bus depot, Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told CNN. Here's the latest: The gunman who killed the CEO of the largest U.S. health insurer may have fled the city on a bus, New York City police officials told CNN on Friday. Video of the suspected shooter leaving the scene of the shooting Wednesday showed him riding a bicycle to Central Park and later taking a taxi cab to a bus depot, Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told CNN. “We have reason to believe that the person in question has left New York City,” Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. The gunman who killed the CEO of the largest U.S. health insurer made sure to wear a mask during the shooting yet left a trail of evidence in view of the nation’s biggest city and its network of security cameras that have aided authorities piecing together his movements and his identity. A law enforcement official said Friday that new surveillance footage shows the suspect riding the subway and visiting establishments in Manhattan and provided more clues about his actions in the days before he ambushed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson . The gunman’s whereabouts and identity remain unknown Friday, as did the reason for Wednesday’s killing. New York City police say evidence firmly points to it being a targeted attack . ▶ Read more about the search for the gunman In many companies, investor meetings like the one UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was walking to when he was fatally shot are viewed as very risky because details on the location and who will be speaking are highly publicized. “It gives people an opportunity to arrive well in advance and take a look at the room, take a look at how people would probably come and go out of a location,” said Dave Komendat, president of DSKomendat Risk Management Services, which is based in the greater Seattle area. Some firms respond by beefing up security. For example, tech companies routinely require everyone attending a major event, such as Apple’s annual unveiling of the next iPhone or a shareholder meeting, to go through airport-style security checkpoints before entering. Others forgo in-person meetings with shareholders. ▶ Read more about how companies protect their leaders Those images include New York’s subway system, a law enforcement official said. In establishments where the person was captured on camera, he always appeared to pay with cash, the official said. The official wasn’t authorized to discuss details of the ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. — Mike Balsamo Medica, a Minnesota-based nonprofit health care firm that serves 1.5 million customers in 12 states, said it’s temporarily closing all six locations. The firm has offices in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska and North Dakota, and employs about 3,000 people. Employees will work from home, Medica spokesman Greg Bury said in an email Friday. “The safety of Medica employees is our top priority and we have increased security both for all of our employees,” a statement from Medica said. “Although we have received no specific threats related to our campuses, our office buildings will be temporarily closed out of an abundance of caution.” Bury also said biographical information on the company’s executives was taken down from its website as a precaution. The insurer cited the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in its announcement about the Dec. 12 event. “All of us at Centene are deeply saddened by Brian Thompson’s death and want to express our support for all of those affected. Health insurance is a big industry and a small community; many members of the CenTeam crossed paths with Brian during their careers,” Centene CEO Sarah M. London said in a news release. “He was a person with a deep sense of empathy and clear passion for improving access to care. Our hearts are with his family and his colleagues during this difficult time.” Centene Corp. has grown in recent years to become the largest insurer in Medicaid, the state- and federally funded program that covers care for people with low incomes. Insurers manage Medicaid coverage for states, and Centene has more than 13 million people enrolled in that coverage. The insurance company also said it’s focused on ensuring the safety of employees and assisting investigators. “While our hearts are broken, we have been touched by the huge outpouring of kindness and support in the hours since this horrific crime took place,” the company said. But he said Friday that he’s confident police will arrest the shooter. “We are on the right road to apprehend him and bring him to justice,” Adams said on TV station WPIX. Later, it removed their names and biographies entirely. Police and federal agents have been collecting information from Greyhound in an attempt to identify the suspect and are working to determine whether he purchased the ticket to New York in late November, a law enforcement official said. Investigators were also trying to obtain additional information from a cellphone recovered from a pedestrian plaza through which the shooter fled. The fatal shooting of Brian Thompson while walking alone on a New York City sidewalk has put a spotlight on the widely varied approaches companies take to protect their leaders against threats. Experts say today’s political, economic and technological climate is only going to make the job of evaluating threats against executives and taking action to protect them even more difficult, experts say. Some organizations have a protective intelligence group that uses digital tools such as machine learning or artificial intelligence to comb through online comments to detect threats not only on social media platforms such as X but also on the dark web, says Komendat. They look for what’s being said about the company, its employees and its leadership to uncover risks. ▶ Read more about the steps companies take to protect their leadership Police said Thursday they found a water bottle and protein bar wrapper from a trash can near the scene of the ambush and think the suspect bought them from a Starbucks minutes before the shooting. The items were being tested by the city’s medical examiner.Coronation Street star Georgia May Foote sparks concern as she reveals she’s been too ill to eat for five days