Business Briefs – August 22, 2016

Global Travel Spending Still Growing But at a Slower Pace

NEW YORK (AP) – Global travel spending is still growing, although at a slower pace, despite weakening economies and fears over terrorism.

The World Travel and Tourism Council, a group backed by travel providers with the mission to promote tourism, said in a report Monday that global travel spending for 2016 is expected to grow by 3.1 percent. That is down from a March forecast of 3.3 percent but still outpacing global economic growth, which the group expects to be 2.3 percent.

Italy, German, French Pay Tribute At Eu Symbolic Birthplace

VENTOTENE, Italy (AP) — The leaders of Italy, France and Germany paid their respects Monday at the tomb of one of the founding fathers of European unity in a symbolic bid to relaunch the European project following Britain’s decision to leave the EU.

Standing silently together, Italian Premier Matteo Renzi, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Holland placed three bouquets of blue and yellow flowers — the colors of the European Union — on the simple white marble tombstone of Altiero Spinelli in the cemetery on the island of Ventotene.

Spinelli, along with another intellectual confined to Ventotene in the 1940s by Italy’s fascist rulers, co-wrote the “Ventotene Manifesto” calling for a federation of European states to counter the nationalism that had led Europe to war.

Thrill-Ride Accidents Spark New Demands for Regulation

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – In some parts of the U.S., the thrill rides that hurl kids upside down, whirl them around or send them shooting down slides are checked out by state inspectors before customers climb on. But in other places, they are not required to get the once-over.

The grisly death of a 10-year-old boy on a Kansas water slide and a Ferris wheel accident that injured three little girls at a county fair in Tennessee this summer have focused attention on what safety experts say is an alarming truth about amusement rides: How closely they are regulated varies greatly from state to state.

Duke Energy, NC Agency Disputing Fine for Coal Ash Pollution

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The nation’s largest electric company and North Carolina’s environment agency are negotiating over a fine of about $7 million pollution to punish Duke Energy for a big spill of liquefied coal ash.

Attorneys for the state agency and Duke Energy Corp. said delaying Monday’s scheduled hearing may help resolve the disputed fine for polluting the Dan River in 2014. Duke Energy has called the proposed fine disproportionate and arbitrary.

Spokespeople for both sides declined comment.