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Judge rejects request to sideline a San Jose State volleyball player on grounds she’s transgenderUBS Group is returning to wealth management in Australia after it exited almost a decade ago, tapping the Credit Suisse franchise it bought to make a renewed charge. The firm is targeting the rising number of rich women and family offices in the country, according to its local wealth chief. For a nation of less than 30 million people, it’s become a key market for UBS. It plans to grow the more than US$30 billion in high net worth money it manages there as part of the firm’s wider Asia-Pacific expansion goals. UBS has vaulted back to the upper tier of Australian wealth managers after the merger of the two Swiss banks provided a pathway back into a market it had exited in 2015. It’s now up against foreign players such as Morgan Stanley as well as domestic-focused firms such as Shaw and Partners, vying for business in one of the world’s fastest-growing wealth markets. “UBS should never have left wealth management, basically,” Michael Marr, UBS’s head of global wealth management for Australia and New Zealand and a nearly 15-year veteran of Credit Suisse, said. UBS’ purchase of its smaller Swiss rival gave it a business that had grown “very very quickly”, he added. High net worth wealth in Australia grew 7.9 per cent last year, second only to India among Asia-Pacific countries and above the global average of 4.7 per cent, according to a Capgemini report. To be sure, recovering the lost market share will not be straightforward in a highly competitive industry. Morgan Stanley’s website says it’s the largest international wealth manager in Australia, with more than A$41 billion (S$36 billion) in client assets, and more than 100 financial advisers. Newly-installed UBS global co-head of wealth management, Iqbal Khan, has reflected on the importance of the Asia Pacific. His own relocation from Zurich to Hong Kong “is the first time UBS has actually had a global divisional lead in Asia, which marks a massive transition for UBS”, he said this month. “We have been very strong at UBS in markets and banking but we did not have wealth management and actually being able to add wealth management to it gives us a one-stop shop for our clients here in Australia,” he said. With the Credit Suisse merger, the firm’s investment banking deal flow is already being offered through the wealth arm’s direct investment group, which arranges placements into private deal opportunities. It was recently used to give some Australian clients exposure to Elon Musk’s startup xAI, Marr said. Marr added that moving to UBS has also helped with some family offices because the wealth team puts them directly in touch with its equities execution floor, rather than using the division as a broker. Among the fastest newcomers to the high net worth category are women and not-for-profits, according to Marr. Both have gone from “niche a couple of years ago and now are a huge opportunity”, he said. The firm has a rough threshold in the Asia-Pacific of about US$5 million as the minimum qualifier to be considered a high net-worth individual. Women now outnumber men as clients at UBS’s Australia business. With the number of female millionaires growing at 6 per cent annually, nearly double that of men, it’s becoming a top priority for the Swiss bank, Marr said. To meet the demand, the bank’s assembled a strong gender mix across its 28 client advisors in Australia, he said. Meanwhile, requests for tenders to the bank coming from the not-for-profit sector and endowments grew five-fold over the last five years and the average investment has grown from between A$10 million to A$20 million to above A$100 million, Marr said. Much of the interest has been driven by a thirst to diversify out of real estate and into assets such as private equity and sustainable investments. “They want to give out a bit more and want a slightly more liquid corpus to manage,” Marr said about the non-profit sector. “It varies but the level of sophistication now, the requests and follow-on questions we get, you really need to be on your game to cover that sector.” BLOOMBERG
Airports and highways are expected to be jam-packed during Thanksgiving week, a holiday period likely to end with another record day for air travel in the United States. AAA predicts that nearly 80 million Americans will venture at least 50 miles from home between Tuesday and next Monday, most of them by car. However, travelers could be impacted by ongoing weather challenges and those flying to their destinations could be grounded by delays brought on by airline staffing shortages and an airport service workers strike . Here's the latest: Looking to de-stress while waiting for your flight? Many airports have a fleet of therapy dogs — designated fidos and puppers that are eager to receive pets and snuggles from weary travelers. Rules and schedules vary from airport to airport, but the group AirportTherapyDogs uses online crowdsourcing to share the locations of therapy dogs across its various social media accounts. Today, Gracie, a toy Australian shepherd, and Budge, an English bulldog, wandered the concourses at Denver International Airport, and an American Staffordshire Terrier named Hugo greeted travelers at Punta Gorda Airport in Florida. Some airports even feature other therapy pals. San Francisco International Airport’s fleet of animals includes a Flemish Giant rabbit and a hypoallergenic pig. “We cannot live on the wages that we are being paid,” ABM cabin cleaner Priscilla Hoyle said at a rally earlier Monday. “I can honestly say it’s hard every single day with my children, working a full-time job but having to look my kids in the eyes and sit there and say, ‘I don’t know if we’re going to have a home today.’” Timothy Lowe II, a wheelchair attendant, said he has to figure out where to spend the night because he doesn’t make enough for a deposit on a home. “We just want to be able to have everything that’s a necessity paid for by the job that hired us to do a great job so they can make billions,” he said. ABM said it is “committed to addressing concerns swiftly” and that there are avenues for employees to communicate issues, including a national hotline and a “general open door policy for managers at our worksite.” Employees of ABM and Prospect Airport Services cast ballots Friday to authorize the work stoppage at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, a hub for American Airlines. They described living paycheck to paycheck while performing jobs that keep planes running on schedule. Most of them earn $12.50 to $19 an hour, union officials said. Rev. Glencie Rhedrick of Charlotte Clergy Coalition for Justice said those workers should make $22 to $25 an hour. The strike is expected to last 24 hours. Several hundred workers participated in the work stoppage. Forty-four fights have been canceled today and nearly 1,900 were delayed by midday on the East Coast, according to FlightAware . According to the organization’s cheekily named MiseryMap , San Francisco International Airport is having the most hiccups right now, with 53 delays and three cancellations between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. EST. While that might sound like a lot of delays, they might not be so bad compared to last Friday when the airport suffered 671 delays and 69 cancellations. In an apparent effort to reduce the headaches caused by airport line cutting, American Airlines has rolled out boarding technology that alerts gate agents with an audible sound if a passenger tries to scan a ticket ahead of their assigned group. This new software won’t accept a boarding pass before the group it’s assigned to is called, so customers who get to the gate prematurely will be asked to go back and wait their turn. As of Wednesday, the airline announced, the technology is now being used in more than 100 U.S. airports that American flies out of. The official expansion arrives after successful tests in three of these locations — Albuquerque International Sunport, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Tucson International Airport. ▶ Read more about American Airlines’ new boarding technology Travel can be stressful in the best of times. Now add in the high-level anxiety that seems to be baked into every holiday season and it’s clear travelers could use some help calming frazzled nerves. Here are a few ways to make your holiday journey a little less stressful: 1. Make a checklist of what you need to do and what you need to bring 2. Carry your comfort with you — think noise-canceling headphones, cozy clothes, snacks and extra medication 3. Stay hydrated 4. Keep up to date on delays, gate changes and cancellations with your airline’s app ▶ Read more tips about staying grounded during holiday travel Thanksgiving Day takes place late this year, with the fourth Thursday of November falling on Nov. 28. That shortens the traditional shopping season and changes the rhythm of holiday travel. With more time before the holiday , people tend to spread out their outbound travel over more days, but everyone returns at the same time, said Andrew Watterson, the chief operating officer of Southwest Airlines . “A late Thanksgiving leads to a big crush at the end,” Watterson said. “The Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday after Thanksgiving are usually very busy with Thanksgiving this late.” Airlines did a relatively good job of handling holiday crowds last year, when the weather was mild in most of the country. Fewer than 400 U.S. flights were canceled during Thanksgiving week in 2023 — about one out of every 450 flights. So far in 2024, airlines have canceled about 1.3% of all flights. Drivers should know that Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons will be the worst times to travel by car, but it should be smooth sailing on freeways come Thanksgiving Day, according to transportation analytics company INRIX. On the return home, the best travel times for motorists are before 1 p.m. on Sunday, and before 8 a.m. or after 7 p.m. on Monday, the company said. In metropolitan areas like Boston, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle and Washington, “traffic is expected to be more than double what it typically is on a normal day,” INRIX transportation analyst Bob Pishue said. Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Mike Whitaker said last week that he expects his agency to use special measures at some facilities to deal with an ongoing shortage of air traffic controllers. In the past, those facilities have included airports in New York City and Florida. “If we are short on staff, we will slow traffic as needed to keep the system safe,” Whitaker said. The FAA has long struggled with a shortage of controllers that airline officials expect will last for years, despite the agency’s lofty hiring goals. 5. Auto club and insurance company AAA predicts that nearly 80 million Americans will venture at least 50 miles from home between Tuesday and next Monday. Most of them will travel by car. 6. Drivers should get a slight break on gas prices . The nationwide average price for gasoline was $3.06 a gallon on Sunday, down from $3.27 at this time last year. 7. The Transportation Security Administration expects to screen 18.3 million people at U.S. airports during the same seven-day stretch. That would be 6% more than during the corresponding days last year but fit a pattern set throughout 2024. 8. The TSA predicts that 3 million people will pass through airport security checkpoints on Sunday; more than that could break the record of 3.01 million set on the Sunday after the July Fourth holiday. Tuesday and Wednesday are expected to be the next busiest air travel days of Thanksgiving week. ▶ Read more about Thanksgiving travel across the U.S. Workers who clean airplanes, remove trash and help with wheelchairs at Charlotte’s airport, one of the nation’s busiest, went on strike Monday to demand higher wages. The Service Employees International Union announced the strike in a statement early Monday, saying the workers would demand “an end to poverty wages and respect on the job during the holiday travel season.” The strike was expected to last 24 hours, said union spokesperson Sean Keady. Employees of ABM and Prospect Airport Services cast ballots Friday to authorize the work stoppage at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, a hub for American Airlines. The two companies contract with American, one of the world’s biggest carriers, to provide services such as cleaning airplane interiors, removing trash and escorting passengers in wheelchairs. ▶ Read more about the Charlotte airport workers’ strike Parts of the Midwest and East Coast can expect to see heavy rain into Thanksgiving, and there’s potential for snow in Northeastern states. A storm last week brought rain to New York and New Jersey, where wildfires have raged in recent weeks, and heavy snow to northeastern Pennsylvania. The precipitation was expected to help ease drought conditions after an exceptionally dry fall. Heavy snow fell in northeastern Pennsylvania, including the Pocono Mountains. Higher elevations reported up to 17 inches (43 centimeters), with lesser accumulations in valley cities including Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. Around 35,000 customers in 10 counties were still without power, down from 80,000 a day ago. In the Catskills region of New York, nearly 10,000 people remained without power Sunday morning, two days after a storm dumped heavy snow on parts of the region. Precipitation in West Virginia helped put a dent in the state’s worst drought in at least two decades and boosted ski resorts as they prepare to open in the weeks ahead. ▶ Read more about Thanksgiving week weather forecasts Two people died in the Pacific Northwest after a rapidly intensifying “ bomb cyclone ” hit the West Coast last Tuesday, bringing fierce winds that toppled trees and power lines and damaged homes and cars. Hundreds of thousands lost electricity in Washington state before powerful gusts and record rains moved into Northern California. Forecasters said the risk of flooding and mudslides remained as the region will get more rain starting Sunday. But the latest storm won’t be as intense as last week’s atmospheric river , a long plume of moisture that forms over an ocean and flows over land. “However, there’s still threats, smaller threats, and not as significant in terms of magnitude, that are still going to exist across the West Coast for the next two or three days,” weather service forecaster Rich Otto said. As the rain moves east throughout the week, Otto said, there’s a potential for heavy snowfall at higher elevations of the Sierra Nevada, as well as portions of Utah and Colorado. California’s Mammoth Mountain, which received 2 feet (0.6 meters) of fresh snow in the recent storm, could get another 4 feet (1.2 meters) before the newest system clears out Wednesday, the resort said. Another round of wintry weather could complicate travel leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday, according to forecasts across the U.S., while California and Washington state continue to recover from storm damage and power outages. In California, where two people were found dead in floodwaters on Saturday, authorities braced for more rain while grappling with flooding and small landslides from a previous storm . Here’s a look at some of the regional forecasts: 9. Sierra Nevada: The National Weather Service office issued a winter storm warning through Tuesday, with heavy snow expected at higher elevations and wind gusts potentially reaching 55 mph (88 kph). Total snowfall of roughly 4 feet (1.2 meters) was forecast, with the heaviest accumulations expected Monday and Tuesday. 10. Midwest and Great Lakes: The Midwest and Great Lakes regions will see rain and snow Monday and the East Coast will be the most impacted on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, forecasters said. 11. East Coast: A low pressure system is forecast to bring rain to the Southeast early Thursday before heading to the Northeast. Areas from Boston to New York could see rain and breezy conditions, with snowfall possible in parts of northern New Hampshire, northern Maine and the Adirondacks. If the system tracks further inland, there could be less snow and more rain in the mountains, forecasters said. ▶ Read more about Thanksgiving week weather forecastsB.C. opens disaster aid to atmospheric river flood victimsChina's AIMA brand electric motorbike is now in Bangladesh
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Next year, the cost of parking in the most expensive blue zone in Vilnius could rise to 4 euros per hour (from 2.5 euros currently). The municipality says the changes are long overdue. According to the proposal, from July next year, the parking fee in Vilnius’ blue zone would increase from €2.5 to €4 per hour, in the red zone from €1.5 to €2.5 per hour, in the yellow zone from €0.60 to €1 per hour, and in the green zone from €0.30 to €0.50 per hour. The white zone would also be introduced further away from the city centre at €0.20 per hour. “Currently, parking prices in Vilnius are among the most affordable in the European Union: the cheapest zone has the lowest rate among EU capitals, while the most expensive zone also remains one of the lowest (half the price of Riga and Tallinn),” the municipality said. But is it true? The most expensive place in Europe to leave a car is the centre of Amsterdam, which costs €7.5 per hour. Copenhagen and Tallinn are also expensive, with a €6 charge in their most expensive parking zones. But there are some cities where it is cheaper to park even in the centre. In Sofia, Athens, and Warsaw parking costs €1 per hour in the most expensive zone. The European average is similar to the current price in Vilnius’ blue zone – between €2 and €3. When comparing parking prices in the cheapest zones, Vilnius is indeed the leader. The overall average for the cheapest zones in EU capitals is around €1, with only Helsinki at €2. According to Jonas Damidavičius, Head of Mobility Transformation at the municipal company JUDU, the comparison with other cities is only part of the reasoning behind the change in pricing policy. “We have compared with foreign countries what pricing and principles they apply; we have taken stock of where Vilnius is among other European capitals and cities, and that is what we have come up with,” he said. But the main motivation, he stressed, was to reduce parking occupancy. It is particularly high in the Old Town, where almost 100 percent of the spaces are always occupied, while the aim is to maintain 70 percent occupancy. “When the occupancy rate of parking spaces in the city is approaching or exceeding 85 percent, we need to take steps to reduce the occupancy rate somewhat, to maintain a threshold so that if you want to park your car, it does not cause additional congestion and pollution, so that everyone finds a space,” said Damidavičius. Weekly newsletter every FridayHow to Watch Top 25 Women’s College Basketball Games – Thursday, December 5I am Artemis: Mike Lauer