An Italian investors’ group has said it will go ahead with a rescue offer for the airline Alitalia, despite the lack of agreement with some trade unions.The group, the Cai, said it had made a binding offer – shortly after walking out of negotiations over the airline.Talks had earlier broken down because only four out of Alitalia’s nine unions had agreed to the Cai’s terms.The Cai had set a Friday night deadline for a deal to be reached over securing Alitalia’s future. Without a binding rescue offer, Alitalia would have been forced to seek new funding within weeks to keep itself going – or risk bankruptcy.The investors, the Compagnia Aerea Italiana (Cai), have been holding lengthy talks with Alitalia’s trade unions over job cuts and other savings.The unions had accepted Cai’s takeover of Alitalia in principle – but the airline’s pilot and staff unions have not agreed to the Cai’s detailed terms.
Daily Archives: November 1st, 2008
Accidents can occur even at relatively benign roadside crags. Still, there are certain mountains that command respect from even the most experienced climbers, mountains that continue to inspire awe and anxiety decades after their first ascents.Here are 11 of the world’s most dangerous mountains.
1. Annapurna
Since its first ascent in 1950, Annapurna has been climbed by more than 130 people, but 53 have died trying. This high fatality rate makes Annapurna, the 10th highest mountain in the world, the most statistically dangerous of the 8,000 meter peaks. For more information on getting close to this mountain, check out Trekking the Annapurna Sanctuary in .
2. K2
The world’s second highest mountain is known among climbers as one of the most technically difficult in the world. Ascents of even the easiest route require crossing a complicated glacier, ascending steep sections of rock, and negotiating a path around a series of ice pillars, called seracs, which are prone to collapse without warning. The technical difficulty of this mountain makes it one of the most committing and dangerous in the world.
VIRGIN Atlantic has sacked 13 cabin crew staff after they criticised some of the British airline’s passengers on the social networking website Facebook.The airline opened an investigation on October 23 following complaints from passengers and other Virgin staff members over the cabin crew’s Facebook discussion.”It was found that all 13 staff participated in a discussion on the networking site Facebook, which brought the company into disrepute and insulted some of our passengers,” Virgin Atlantic spokesman Paul Charles said.”There’s a time and a place for Facebook. But there’s no justification for it to be used as a sounding board for staff of any company to criticise the very passengers who ultimately pay their salaries.”Mr Charles said the web discussion had been removed from Facebook, though he was unable to say whether that had been done by the social networking site or a cabin crew member.Virgin Atlantic, 49 per cent owned by Singapore Airlines, is controlled by entrepreneur Richard Branson’s Virgin Group.The airline specialises in long-haul flights to North America, the Caribbean, and Asia.
