A renowned Malian musician said when he came back to Paris on Monday from a concert tour in the US, he opened the case to his kora and found the instrument in pieces. The musician, Ballake Sissoko, 53, blamed the TSA, prompting outrage among his fans on Facebook and international headlines. But the TSA said Thursday that the agency hadn’t opened the case holding the kora, a delicate long-necked harp lute. “It is most unfortunate that Mr. Sissoko’s instrument was damaged in transport,” the agency said. “However, after a thorough review of the claim, it was determined that TSA did not open the instrument case, because it did not trigger an alarm when it was screened for possible explosives.” Sissoko flew from Kennedy International Airport in New York to Paris on an Air France flight Sunday, after he wrapped up the two-week tour, according to his manager, Corinne Serres. When he opened the case to his kora, which had been custom made for him, Serres said, he found it destroyed. Inside the case, Serres said, was what appeared to be a T.S.A. advisory, written in Spanish, telling Sissoko that his case had been picked for a physical inspection to search for “prohibited items.” (Sissoko speaks French.) <br/>
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Aeroflot’s shares have surged 10% since authorities in Moscow suspended commercial flights to China by its Russian rivals to prevent coronavirus spreading. Aeroflot now holds an effective monopoly on Russia-China flights at home and is likely to receive additional volumes of passengers traveling through Moscow to Europe, analysts say. Several rivals have stopped flying to China. As of Friday, only Aeroflot and four Chinese airlines are allowed to fly commercial routes between Russia and China. Those flights are being routed through a separate terminal at Aeroflot’s home airport to screen passengers for infection. Last year, more than 2m Chinese holiday-makers travelled to Russia. “Aeroflot has basically become the only carrier for passengers to China, which means even with the fall in overall passenger traffic there could be an increase in its flight load,” Mikhail Ganelin, an aviation expert at Aton, said. Russia’s flights with China are regulated by a bilateral agreement and Aeroflot cannot increase the number of its flights to China or the size of the planes that fly those routes without Russia signing a new deal. “The maximum that can be extracted from this situation is to fill up the flights they have,” said Boris Rybak, head of the Infomost consultancy.<br/>
Korean Air Lines said Thursday its net losses deepened in 2019 from a year earlier due to a weak won and lower demand. Korean Air's net losses widened to 624.87b won (US$529m) last year from 185.65b won a year earlier, the company said. "Foreign-exchange losses resulting from the won's weakness against the dollar cut into the bottom line," a statement said. The won fell to an average of 1,157.80 against the dollar at the end of 2019 from 1,118.10 at end-2018, according to the Bank of Korea. Operating profit plunged 59% to 261.95b won in 2019 from 640.29b won the year before. Sales fell 2.5% to 12.69t won from 13.02t won during the same period, it said. "A sharp decline in travel demand on Japanese and Hong Kong routes and decreasing cargo-carrying volumes amid a slowing global economy weighed on the annual results," the company said.<br/>