Europe's Longest-Serving Bank CEO Taps Son After 33 Years
The chairman and chief executive officer of OTP Bank announced at the annual general meeting on Friday that he's finally ceding the CEO role he's held since 1992 — to his son Peter.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Yahoo
E-bike licensing means ‘every bridge is Checkpoint Charlie', comedian says
A 'Checkpoint Charlie' situation has been created near London bridges by councils making contrasting decisions on licensing electric bikes, a comedian said. Irish stand-up Dara O Briain complained that e-bikes are 'stacking up' at river crossings between the boroughs of Hounslow and Richmond in the west of the capital. Lime, one of the rental companies involved, urged councils to collaborate so riders can 'travel seamlessly across boroughs' rather than face a 'patchwork of boundaries'. Hounslow has given permission for Forest and Voi's e-bikes to be used in its area, while Richmond has licensed rival company Lime. The latter said it has agreed to a request by Hounslow for its bikes' electric motors to cut out if riders enter the borough. This causes the bikes to become heavy to ride, resulting in many users ending their trips. The PA news agency saw about 30 bikes near the southern entrance to Chiswick Bridge on Monday night. Some were parked appropriately to the side of pavements, but others had been thrown in bushes or tipped over. O Briain, 53, likened the issue to the Checkpoint Charlie border crossing point between East and West Berlin during the Cold War. In a post on social media platform X, he wrote: 'Hounslow Council have banned Lime bikes, and licensed Forest and Voi; neighbouring Richmond has licensed Lime and banned the others. 'So every bridge is Checkpoint Charlie, with loads of Lime bikes parked on one side and loads of Forest and Voi on the other. Top work everyone!' Richard Dilks, chief executive of shared transport charity CoMoUK, said: 'This rather bizarre set of circumstances is an unfortunate outcome of the current situation in London, where regulation of bike sharing schemes is decided at borough level.' He said the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill going through Parliament could make Transport for London the capital's licensing authority for rental e-bikes, enabling a 'more coherent pan-London approach' to be designed. A spokesperson for Lime said the existing scenario is 'frustrating for riders'. She said: 'We've already been contacted by many of them who are disappointed at the new rules. 'They should not have to experience London as a patchwork of boundaries. 'We want to see councils work together so that residents can travel seamlessly across boroughs, without having to stop at borders.' Alex Berwin, head of policy at Forest, said the issue is 'exactly why we have been calling for a pan-London approach to regulation'. He went on: 'We need a single regulatory framework, one enforcement model and one operational rulebook across the capital, whilst ensuring services support the local needs of each borough.' A Voi spokesperson said its users are 'free to cycle across borough boundaries, but parking must be in designated bays within participating areas'. He added: 'We're working with local leaders and TfL towards a London-wide scheme to make cross-borough journeys simpler.' Hounslow Council and Richmond Council were approached for a comment. Rental e-bike companies say they encourage people to switch from cars to a more sustainable form of travel, but there have been long-standing concerns about users blocking pavements with the bikes after they finish their rides.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
The Night Boeing's 747 Secrets Walked Out Of A Paris Restaurant Tucked In Napkins
Picture this: Paris, late 1960s. The Cold War is anything but cold, and the air is thick with smoke from a cool, weird Citroën DS and Chanel No. 5. Joe Sutter, chief engineer of the now nearly vanished Boeing 747, is heading to a dinner meeting that feels more like a scene from a Bond movie than a business trip. His dining companions aren't airline execs or aluminum suppliers; they're a delegation of aeronautical engineers from the Soviet Union. This wasn't some back-alley deal, either. The U.S. Department of State itself had asked Boeing to trade technical information with its primary global nemesis of the time. The whole thing was a government-sanctioned summit held on the neutral ground of a Parisian restaurant. It begs the question, why on Earth would Uncle Sam ask one of its most important companies to hand over tech to the competition? The answer, it turns out, involved a high-stakes exchange, a desperate need for a rare metal, and a whole lot of vodka. Read more: These Are The Cars You'd Buy If They Were $20,000 Cheaper A Calculated Gambit The dinner in Paris wasn't about fostering international goodwill; it was born from mutual nail-biting desperation. In the late '60s, Boeing was juggling two gargantuan projects threatening to bankrupt the company. First was the 747, a moonshot-level gamble to build the world's largest passenger jet in a 28-month timeframe. The other was the doomed supersonic Boeing 2707, the United States' planned answer to the French-British Concorde and the Soviet Tu-144 transport. America's supersonic transport (SST) program had hit a massive issue with the 2707. To fly at its target speed of Mach 2.7, its airframe needed to be made of titanium to withstand the intense heat from air friction. The problem? Boeing didn't have the expertise to fabricate titanium on that scale, but guess who did? Yup, the Soviet Union. Thanks to its vast reserves and advanced space program, it was the world leader in titanium manufacturing at the time. Meanwhile, the Soviets had their own jumbo-jet-sized problem. Their initial designs of a 747-dupe were conservative, but they were particularly stumped by one thing: why Boeing mounted its engines on pylons under the wings while Soviet designs favored putting them on the rear fuselage. This was the question they brought to Paris. The stage was set for a classic quid pro quo, with Boeing's president, Thornton "T" Wilson, orchestrating the trade. Quid Pro Quo And Some Linens The dinner began with a targeted intelligence operation, as Boeing's SST expert Bob Withington grilled the Soviet engineers on the intricate art of titanium fabrication. The Soviets enthusiastically answered every question openly and in detail. With Boeing's team getting what it needed, Wilson gave Sutter a direct order to not hold anything back. What followed was an impromptu masterclass in airliner design, sketched out on cloth napkins and the tablecloth itself because no paper was handy. A critical oversight if we're being honest, but perhaps both parties thought it too on the nose to bring notebooks. Sutter explained the genius of the wing-mounted pylon design: it provided bending relief and made the engines safer and easier to maintain. As the dinner ended, the Soviet delegation carefully rolled up the inked linens, taking home a paradigm shift in aviation philosophy. The impact was obvious. The Ilyushin Il-86, the Soviets' jumbo jet, underwent a radical redesign shortly after, ditching its rear-engine layout for a four-engine underwing configuration. It did look suspiciously like a 747. It wasn't a direct copy, though — the Il-86 was ultimately ruined by its horribly inefficient, outdated engines, showing that all the know-how in the room doesn't guarantee success. However, its fundamental design was a direct result of the secrets that walked out of a Paris restaurant, tucked away in a handful of napkins. Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox... Read the original article on Jalopnik.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Retrospective plan for Conservation Area banner is refused
A LARGE banner on a Conservation Area building has been described as 'stark and discordant' by planning officers. Bradford Council has this week refused a retrospective application from a Mr Peter to attach an advertising banner on Arden House, on Wellington Street in Bingley. The banner, advertising the Flacks Fit gym, had been fitted on the building without permission. Conservation officers described the building, which dates back to the 1910s and is part of the Bingley Conservation Area, as having 'classically influenced architectural style.' Refusing the application, planners said: 'This banner is prominently located and poorly related to the architectural features of the building. 'It overlaps some of the window openings. As a result it appears stark and discordant. 'It is apparent that there is pressure for commercial advertising in the area, with a number of sporadic banners and other temporary signs have been fixed to various buildings. It is important that, in granting express consent, the Council does not set a precedent, and that signs do not add cumulatively to advertisement clutter in the locality. 'The sign is close to the grade II listed Bingley Railway Station and is within Bingley Conservation Area so special regard has been given to the proposal in light of the duty under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990.'
