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LONDON, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Former British finance minister Rishi Sunak will be Britain's next prime minister after his rivals quit the race, which analysts said had relieved some of the nervousness around the outlook for the UK economy, boosting domestic markets.The 42-year old will become the country's third prime minister in less than two months, after his predecessor, Liz Truss, was brought down after just six weeks in office by an economic programme that roiled markets.Sunak has yet to speak publicly but told Conservative lawmakers his first priority was delivering economic stability, and then he would look to fulfill the party's 2019 election promises, lawmaker Iain Duncan Smith said.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comThe pound bounced back into positive territory against the dollar, having briefly turned negative, while consumer-sensitive stocks pushed the blue-chip FTSE 100 higher on the day.MARKET REACTION:STOCKS: FTSE 100 (.FTSE) rises 0.9% on the day, supported by consumer sectors and industrials, but is still underperforming the broader European markets, where the STOXX 600 is up 1.9%.FOREX: Sterling rises 0.2% against the dollar to $1.13155, having ricocheted between the day's high of $1.1402 and the low of $1.1275 in volatile trading.BOND MARKETS: Ten-year gilt yields are down 26 basis points on the day at 3.79%.COMMENTS:JOSH MAHONEY, SENIOR MARKET ANALYST, IG GROUP, LONDON:"The news of Rishi Sunak's successful bid to become the new Prime Minister has spared markets any additional uncertainty today, with the UK essentially set to be steered through this crisis by two chancellors.Gilt markets have certainly responded positively, with falling yields bringing hope that we will see borrowing costs continue to ease after a turbulent Truss tenure. Nonetheless, with the pro-growth policies a thing of the past, the pound finds itself under pressure given the warning signs provided by the collapsing PMI surveys released this morning.The hope for many is that tighter central bank and government policies will swiftly drive down inflation without hurting the economy too much. However, traders will remain concerned that the economic fallout is more damaging than expected, and inflation keeps rates higher for longer."PAUL JOHNSON, DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE FOR FISCAL STUDIES, SPEAKING TO BBC TELEVISION:"One of the problems I think that the new prime minister and his new chancellor face is that, given all the uncertainty that's been created over the last few weeks, they may have to make more difficult decisions than they otherwise would have had to. Because the markets are still somewhat spooked and they are going to be wanting to see some clear and decisive action, perhaps more than they would have required (if) we had not had all this upset over the last few weeks."JASON PALTROWITZ, DIRECTOR AND EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT , CORPORATE SERVICES, OTC MARKETS GROUP, NEW YORK:"From a U.S. perspective, this will be viewed as a positive step to creating stability and clarity for the near future. U.S. investors will want to see Sunak and, assuming he stays, Hunt, provide a well thought out and clear strategy to tackle the ongoing economic issues impacting the UK."RUTH GREGORY, SENIOR UK ECONOMIST, CAPITAL ECONOMICS, LONDON:"The fall in gilt yields on the news today that Rishi Sunak will become the UK’s next Prime Minister has reduced the chances of a significant fiscal consolidation. Even so, the new PM will still have to work hard to restore stability in the eyes of the financial markets.This means that the risks to our forecast that the economy will enter a recession involving a peak-to-trough fall in GDP of around 2% are still skewed to the downside."MICHAEL BROWN, HEAD OF MARKET INTELLIGENCE, CAXTON, LONDON:"It seems that the announcement was pretty well priced in by this point - especially after sterling’s notable gains at the Asia open last night. Having said that, Sunak taking over as PM should restore a significant amount of credibility around UK policy, which is likely to limit downside for sterling assets in the near term."DANNI HEWSON, FINANCIAL ANALYST AT AJ BELL, LONDON:"The markets are confident that they know the kind of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is likely going to be because they know the kind of chancellor that he was and clearly he understood how damaging those unfunded tax cuts were likely to be.The yields have come down, which just demonstrates that the markets do feel more comfortable and they feel that once again the UK is getting back to the kind of economy that they would expect from an established economy rather than an emerging economy.With the pound, just because we have a new Prime Minister in place, all of the issues don't just go away and we still have remarkable strength being enjoyed by the dollar."GILES COGHLAN, ANALYST, HYCM, LONDON:“With Rishi Sunak named as the UK’s third prime minister in three months, the question now is whether today's events will mark the beginning of a turn higher for the GBP as confidence returns in the Government’s fiscal plans.However Sunak’s premiership unfolds, there are likely to be more difficult times ahead for the UK economy as it grapples its way out of a worsening downturn and even the prospect of a general election – upheaval which could derail the markets further.That said, there is one aspect of help for the GBP that is often overlooked. On the other side of the Atlantic, a slowdown in Federal Reserve policy would likely help lift the GBP as much, if even not more, than UK fiscal policy.”Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Harry Robertson, Bansuri Mayur, Danilo Masoni, William Schomberg and Samuel Indyk; writing by Amanda Cooper; Editing by Karin StroheckerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
The government has signed an agreement to join an Indo-Pacific trading bloc, although the estimated benefit could only be £1.8bn in GDP.
In announcing the formal plans to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Rishi Sunak administration highlighted the £12trn value of the combined GDPs of all the member nations if the UK is included.
But the government already has free-trade deals with all the member nations, aside from Brunei and Malaysia.
Politics latest: Chances of free trade deal with US 'very low'
And analysis provided to the government estimates the new agreement will boost UK exports by £1.7bn, imports to the UK by £1.6bn and GDP by £1.8bn in the long term.
Speaking to Sophy Ridge on Sunday, Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch said these figures needed to be examined in the context of the benefits of being a member of a trading bloc.
She said: "The contents of the free trade deals that we have with these countries is different from what we're getting with CPTPP.
"That's why it's called the comprehensive - as well as progressive agreement - for the trans-Pacific partnership.
"There is one additional country, which is Malaysia, that we have no agreements whatsoever with, but it isn't just about whether or not we have an agreement.
"We've got agreements with many different countries - it is about the size, shape and scale and the cumulative impact of things like rules of origin, which are pooled between this trading bloc."
It is not the first time the government has lauded its own efforts with CPTPP, with Ms Badenoch and Mr Sunak praising the UK being accepted into the bloc in March.
The UK was already set to benefit from its agreements with the CPTPP regardless of the next phase of membership, with exports estimated to rise by 65% by the start of the next decade - valued at £37bn.
Ms Badenoch pointed out that the Indo-Pacific is forecasted to be where half of global growth will come from by around the middle of the 2030s, and will continue growing into the middle of the century.
Outside the UK government, there was more of a muted welcome for the UK's joining the bloc.
Chris Devonshire-Ellis, the chairman of Dezan Shira & Associates which works with investors across Asia, spoke to the Nikkei overnight.
He said: "The impact appears mainly cosmetic, for the UK to show it made a trade deal after Brexit."
Labour's shadow trade secretary, Nick Thomas-Symonds, said progress in the Indo-Pacific was "long overdue".
He added: "The government's own assessment says CPTPP is worth just 0.08% to UK GDP.
"So ministers also need to set out how this will help the economy and what support will be given to businesses to access any export opportunities.
"The government's trade record is: OBR predict UK exports to fall by 6.6% in 2023, a hit of over £51bn; No promised US or India trade deals; Their own MPs criticising the Australia deal.
"This costs the UK growth and jobs - making the Tory economic crisis even worse."
Trevor Phillips will host Sky News' agenda-setting flagship political talk show when it returns in September | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
By day, Bartosz Bruski works in computer forensics, but in his down time, the 29-year-old unwinds by heading to a trailer park outside Warsaw, where he directs a group of around 60 Polish people who pretend to be ordinary Americans – people from Ohio, to be exact. You might think LARPing (short for live action role play) basically means a bunch of people dressed in medieval outfits, recreating historical battles. Instead, Bartek and his fellow LARP enthusiasts turn a peaceful holiday resort in a Polish forest into an American trailer park, with dozens of participants who stay in character with their assigned family, living at their assigned trailer home for 28 hours at a time. When Bruski’s 4th of July LARP crew went viral at the end of May, the internet – mainly Americans – were baffled to see a reenactment of something so mundane. “This is disinformation. OP literally just googled images of actual Ohioans, posted them, and made up a story of Polish LARPers,” one impressed fan tweeted. “As an Ohio-born guy myself? Not bad,” another said. “Extra points for the Browns jersey.”VICE met Bartek at a Warsaw bistro to find out more about what exactly LARPing as an American involves. This interview was conducted in Polish and translated into English. VICE: Let’s begin with the basics. How would you explain what LARP is to someone who’s never heard of it?Bartosz Bruski: It’s a role-playing game in which the participants take on the role of a character within a closed imaginary world. During the course of the game, under rules that they agree upon in advance, they tell a story together.Why did you decide to do a LARP based in Ohio?It started about five years ago, together with a bunch of friends. We decided to do a LARP. Inspired by Stranger Things and X-Files – we wanted to recreate a small town in the United States where strange things happen and because of that, men in black arrive. We visited various resorts in Poland, looking for one that would perfectly reflect the small town on the edge of the great gloomy forest. We found a resort in Łódź province, near [the city of] Tomaszów Mazowiecki. One of us – I don't remember anymore to whom this glory falls – said it wasn't the place we were looking for, but if we redesigned it a bit it would look like an American trailer park. At the next project meeting we didn't talk about Stranger Things and X-Files, but we talked about American trailer parks. That's how it started.How did you do the research?When it comes to production, that is the look of the game, the costumes and the scenery, we worked mainly on the Internet and how we imagined the scene when we type “4th of July” into Google. But apart from nice fireworks and costumes, it also has a 700 page plot for characters and the whole scenario. This is where we have often worked with sources like, Hillbilly Elegy, Nomadland, and Three Billboards [Outside Ebbing, Missouri]. And from books – for example, I read These Truths: A History of the United States, a great book which gives a different perspective on this country.We grew up with a vision of the States as if it’s the land of milk and honey… Then when you grow up and information is shared more, it turns out that it's not so nice in the States. We came up with [the idea of this] “broken American dream”, and this was the motif for the project.So who’s actually part of your crew?Six of us have put a lot of work into this game – that is me, Pawel and Ewa, who were most responsible for design; Kuba and Ania who dealt with production aspects, mainly production of scenery and props; and Meg, who worked on making this place a gastronomic and social centre of life. We also have a whole team of scriptwriters and a few people who wrote for us different characters because we created over 700 pages of script. We come to the game location beforehand to set it all up and turn the resort into our trailer park. During the game [about a dozen people] are responsible for technical issues, moving, preparing the scenery, events, props, setting off fireworks, erecting the tables; [all] playing various roles of supporting characters. It’s really the work of a whole staff of people. I can safely say that it reached about 200 participants [across all LARPing events], but with the work of several dozen people who have been in this project from the very beginning for almost five years.Have you seen the reaction from Americans on the internet?It's funny because the biggest storm [online] broke out the day before we started preparing for the third round. We were already very involved in the production of the next game and setting up the scenery, so we didn't have much time to write back to people or manage what was happening on the Internet. But that just gave us the energy to produce the next project. What comments stuck with you? Americans very often pay attention to the same things… They keep saying that there aren’t enough old cars, not enough trash, that the BBQs are too small, and that the people are too clean, too slim and too pretty – their words, not mine. They also draw attention to the lack of racial diversity. There were also a few people who wanted to send us parcels from the States, such as the legendary red cups, to make it even more faithful. It's cool that people are interested in it. People very often guess what is in the pictures... For example, they see a character who looks like a sort of itinerant preacher in the middle of a sermon. That was easy. But there's a picture where there's a guy in some sort of American shirt and dark glasses and they write that it's a detective on the trail of a drug trafficking gang that runs trailers like in Breaking Bad. Let's just say they weren't far from the truth.So you include more problematic aspects of life in America, like cooking meth [as Breaking Bad does]?Yes, we have both universal themes, like poverty and unemployment, as well as themes that are very specific to the US – like the horrendous cost of health insurance or the problems caused by universal access to weapons. So our game also deals with crime and we have a drug creation motif like in Breaking Bad. How do Polish people react to LARPing?They very often associate it with fantasy games in various fantasy worlds where people dress up as fantasy characters and play in a field somewhere. It's a branch of our hobby that's very easy to trivialise or turn into a joke about dressed up people who run around in the woods. I can compare it to cinema, it’s a very universal medium – there may not be one film for everyone but there is a film for everyone. I think the same could be said about LARPs – it's a very universal hobby. There is no LARP for everyone, but there is a LARP for everyone, regardless of cultural baggage, age or other conditions. We all LARP when we are children, pretending to be policemen, thieves or playing house – it's just that we grow out of it and we don't nurture that desire to role-play as adults.@ninazabicka | Unemployment |
A massive trade deal with the European Union appears all but doomed after "endgame" negotiations between the two sides collapsed before they even began.
Key points:
- A massive trade deal with the European Union looks doomed as negotiations break down
- Trade Minister Don Farrell plans to walk away from the talks in Osaka due to an unsatisfactory offer
- Despite the potential benefits, disagreements persist over market access for Australian products and naming rights
Trade Minister Don Farrell was due to hold talks with his EU counterpart in Osaka on Monday but told negotiators he was walking away from the deal — for the second time in three months — because the offer on the table is still not good enough.
"I came to Osaka with the intention to finalise a trade agreement with the European Union," he said.
"Unfortunately, we've not been able to make progress.
"Negotiations will continue and I'm hopeful that one day we'll be able to sign a deal that benefits both Australia and our European friends."
The EU is a massive, high-income trading bloc of 445 million people and is one of the few markets with whom Australia currently has no free trade deal.
As a result, the EU imposes strict quotas and high tariffs on Australian agricultural imports which negotiators have been trying to remove or, at the very least, substantially reduce.
In a statement, EU Ambassador to Australia, Gabriele Visentin, "regretted" the lack of progress made in Osaka, saying "there was optimism that a deal was within reach".
"Our negotiating teams made good progress over the recent weeks, including in the days leading up to the Osaka meeting," the Ambassador said.
"The European Commission stands ready to continue negotiations."
Five years after talks began, Australian farmers say the existing offer is a "dud", arguing it barely improves market access for sugar, red meat and dairy and would, in fact, impose conditions or European-mandated restrictions on local farming practices.
The other major sticking point has been EU demands for Australia to give up naming rights to hundreds of products – including prosecco, parmesan and feta – to protect so-called "geographical indications".
Talks have been deadlocked since July when Senator Farrell walked away from Brussels empty-handed, but he was holding out some hope that European negotiators would come to Osaka with an improved offer.
However, Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said the European side had "not budged significantly" since then and expressed frustration about its notoriously protectionist market for agriculture.
"They have not been prepared to put on the table a significantly better offer than what they've offered before," he said.
'Hard but right' decision
With European Parliament elections due mid-next year, Senator Watt warned it could be months, if not years before talks would resume.
"I think it will be quite some time before any Australian government or any EU leadership is able to negotiate a deal and that's a bit of a shame for both Australia and the EU," he said.
A delegation of farming groups, including the National Farmers' Federation (NFF) and Meat and Livestock Australia, is in Osaka with the Trade Minister and has backed his decision to stand firm.
"Today's decision was a hard one, but ultimately it was the right one," NFF President David Jochinke said.
"It should be clear though to the EU from today's events that Minister Farrell isn't willing to throw Aussie farmers under the bus just to get the deal done."
Shadow Trade Minister Kevin Hogan said it was "disappointing" that negotiations had fallen over but acknowledged "the offer for agriculture, particularly beef, sheep and sugar, was not good enough".
"The EU offer on geographical indicators would have also been too restrictive, particularly for products like parmesan, feta and prosecco," he said.
As part of the agreement, the EU has been pushing for greater access to Australia's vast critical minerals, and for the abolition of the $1 billion Luxury Car Tax, which would benefit Australian consumers.
The two sides agree a trade deal would help both markets diversify away from China, which slapped eye-watering tariffs on Australian imports during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in what was widely viewed as economic coercion.
The Albanese government has been gradually restoring trade ties with Beijing since coming to power and it is hoped the prime minister's upcoming trip to China will see a further relaxation of sanctions. | Australia Business & Economics |
Theresa May, the former Conservative PM, says she has a constituent who is a niece of Dom Phillips, the Guardian journalist who went missing in the Amazon. Will the government make this a diplomatic priority?Johnson says the government is deeply concerned about what happened to him. FCDO officials are working with the Brazilians on this. And he says the government has offered to provide all the support that may be needed.Sarah Champion (Lab) says sexual assult victims are being advised that if they seek counselling that might undermine their credility as a witness. Will the PM ensure this does not happen?Johnson does not address the problem directly, but he says the government is trying to ensure sexual assualt victims get better treatment. But some of the legal issues are complicated, he says.David Jones (Con) says the genetic technology (precision breeding) bill, being debated today, only applies to England. Will the PM ensure other countries in the UK can benefit?Johnson says “in a loving way” the government wants to ensure other countries can benefit too.Kerry McCarthy (Lab) asks the PM to suppore more suicide prevention programmes.Johnson says the government wants to focus ever more on mental health. It would be good if Labour supported the government’s health spending, he says.Anna McMorrin (Lab) quotes the new cost of living tsar asking (in a tweet posted before his appointment) why the worst people rise to become PM.Johnson says McMorrin wants to return to the single market and the EU. He is referring to this story.Johnson says he would encourage pensioners to check their eligibility for pension credit.Liz Twist (Lab) says ministers have not held any talks to attempt to avoid the need for next week’s rail strike. Has the PM had a meeting?Johnson says one union leader, asked about this, said: “I don’t negotiate with a Tory government.” He says Labour should condemn the strike.Neale Hanvey (Alba) asks if the PM will schedule a meeting to discuss the case of Jim Fitton, the Briton jailed in Iran for collecting fragments of pottery.Johnson says he is glad Hanvey raised this, and he says he will arrange a meeting with a minister.Henry Smith (Con) says, as planning laws are updated, the “brownfield first” approach will continue.Johnson agrees, and says that principle will still apply.Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, says people in rural communities, like Devon (where his party hopes to win the Tiverton and Honiton byelection next week), are hurting because rural fuel duty relief is not avaiable.Johnson says all households are getting help with the cost of energy under his government’s plans.People do not know what Lib Dem policies are. The Lib Dems are in favour of green taxes, and returning to the common agricultural policy, he says.Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, says Nicola Sturgeon yesterday launched a national conversation on Scotland’s right to choose its own future. Its neighbours are out-performing it, he says. Scotand is being held back by Westminster.Johnson says the UK performs better when it is together.Blackford says the fall in the value of the pound suggests the UK is not doing well. Scotland cannot afford to remain trapped in the failing Westminster system:.Stop the world - Scotland wants to get on.Johnson says there are a record number of people in payroll employment. What could be more foolish than a project that would impose trade barriers between England and Scotland.Andrew Selous (Con) asks about a constituent how now has terminal bowel cancer because a diagnosis was missed. So will the government ensure areas get enough GP capacity.Johnson says they must ensure this happens. The NHS has a duty to take account of population growth, and provide services for new developments.Starmer says he does not want the strikes to go ahead. Johnson does, so that he can “feed on the division”. He starts quoting from what Tory MPs said about Johnson. Reading out the quotes, he invites Tory MPs to say who it was. His favourite was a document describing him as “the Conservative Corbyn”. That was not intended as a compliment, he says. People know the truth, he says. The economy is growing more slowly than in competitor country. The PM sounds “totally deluded”. He is failing to tackle inflation, and failing to help people. And his big idea - going back to Imperial measurements. Under him, the economy is going backwards.Johnson says Starmer tried to get Corbyn elected as PM. And Corbyn is “relatively dynamic compared to [Starmer]”. He says he will continue to take the tough decisions to help the British people. Labour is on the side of the union barons, he says. And Labour is also on the side of the people traffickers. They carp from the sidelines. And no matter how much welly Angela Rayner asks him to apply, that welly is always on the left foo.Starmer says Johnson thinks he is on Love Island. Johnson was warned about inflation last autumn. But he ignored the warnings; he did not act. When will he act that he got it badly wrong when he claimed worries about inflation were unfounded.Johnson says he is helping people with the cost of living. They can do that because they have the “fiscal firepower”, because the economy is in good shape. He challenges Starmer to say he opposes the rail strikes. Let Starmer disagree with the union barons.Starmer says Johnson is not just denying the problem. He is making it worse with his tax rises. When did screwing business turn from a flippant comment to economic policy.Johnson says it is tech week. The superdeduction helps. Under Labour taxes go up, he says. He says on average people are getting a tax cut worth £330. Labour has made promises worth £94bn. That is why Labour governments leave office with unemployment higher then when they came in.Keir Starmer accuses Boris Johnson of being an 'ostrich prime minister' with his head in the sand over the economyStarmer says Johnson is in government, he is not. He says he does not want the strikes to go ahead. But Johnson does - so he can blame Labour.Starmer says Johnson thinks he can perform Jedi mind tricks on the public. But he can’t. The economy has shrunk for the second month in a row. How does it help to have an ostrich PM, with his head in the sand.Johnson says Starmer is running the country down. Employment is at a record high, he says. He says investment levels are higher than in France or Germany. Starmer should be talking the country up, he says.Starmer says Johnson has not answered the question. Why is the UK on course for lower growth?Quoting a Latin legal term, Johnson says he has already answered that. What would help would be for Starmer to denounce the rail strikes, he says.Keir Starmer starts by paying tribute to those who served in the Falklands war. His uncle was among them, he says. He was on HMS Antelope when it went down. Luckily he survived.He says the UK is on course for the lowest growth of any major economy apart from Russia. Why?Johnson says it is because the UK came out for the pandemic early. That would not have happened under Labour, he says.Mike Wood (Con) says government support for households is appreciated. But energy costs are causing problems for energy-intensive production. Will the PM consider how the Black Country can be a pilot for means of decarbonising?Boris Johnson says Wood is a great champion for the Black Country. It has already had investment for a cluster plan to develop decarbonisation. | Inflation |
India-U.K. FTA Talks: Good Progress On Rules Of Origin, Bilateral Investment Treaty
So far 12 rounds of talks are completed and the 13th round will start from Sept. 18.
The talks on the proposed free trade agreement between India and the U.K. are moving and there is "good progress" on issues such as rules of origin and bilateral investment treaty (BIT), a senior official said on Friday.
These were few of the issues where there were differences between the two sides.
"Many things are moving very fast. Like rules of origin and bilateral investment treaty, there is a good progress. Negotiations are happening... Towards the end of the deal, it is the difficult issues which are to be closed and therefore it requires more time and more deliberations," Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal told reporters.
He said that mobility is also one of the subjects which is being negotiated.
The "rules of origin" provision prescribe that minimal processing should happen in the FTA country so that the final manufactured product may be referred as goods originating in that country.
Under this provision, a country that has inked an FTA with India cannot dump goods from some third country in the Indian market by just putting a label on it. It has to undertake a prescribed value addition in that product to export to India. Rules of origin norms help contain dumping of goods.
Investment treaty is being negotiated as a separate agreement between India and the U.K.
These investment treaties help in promoting and protecting investments in each other's country. The main point of contention involved in this pact is about the mechanism for the settlement of disputes.
So far 12 rounds of talks are completed and the 13th round will start from Sept. 18.
On the India-EU (European Union) trade pact, the ministry said that so far 5 round of talks are concluded and the sixth round will take place during Oct. 16 to 20 in Brussels.
The two regions are also discussing EU's carbon tax issue in the Trade and Technology Council (TTC).
On the progress of talks on India-Australia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), an official said that "significant" progress is there on issues like government procurement, rules of origin, sports, innovation, labour, environment, and traditional knowledge.
The official said that the 6th round of talks are expected to conclude soon and the next round will start from next month.
Further, the ministry said that legal scrubbing is in the process of supply chain resilience agreement under the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF).
The process for domestic approval of this agreement is also underway. The Indian team is in Thailand for discussions on clean economy and fair economy agreements of the IPEF.
The secretary also informed that the ministry will be organising a regulatory dialogue in November.
Experts from both domestic and international organisations would participate in that.
The ministry is in touch with Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and FSSAI for the meet.
Regulatory bodies from G20 countries will be called for this dialogue. The meeting would assume significance as regulatory issues like standards, certification, inspection of testing labs have implications on exports. | India Business & Economics |
Anthony Albanese will ask Australia’s most senior intelligence chief, Andrew Shearer, to personally lead a review of the security threats posed by the climate crisis.The move has been backed by a former Australian defence force chief, retired Admiral Chris Barrie, who warned the government to plan for climate risks including disruptions to trade, more severe drought, and increasing demands on emergency services and the military.In a document submitted to the UN outlining Australia’s new 2030 emissions target, the Albanese government confirmed it would order “an urgent climate risk assessment of the implications of climate change for national security, which will be an enduring feature of Australia’s climate action”.During the election campaign, Labor indicated this work would be jointly handled by Shearer, the head of the Office of National Intelligence, and the secretary of the Department of Defence, Greg Moriarty.But Guardian Australia has established that Shearer – the most senior member of Australia’s intelligence community – would now take the lead on the project.The exact scope and terms of reference are currently being drawn up, but the assessment was expected to consider options such as setting up an Office of Climate Threat Intelligence. If created, that office would update the threat assessments on a rolling basis.The prime minister’s office said the details of the threat assessment were currently “being discussed with relevant departments, including the Department of Defence”.“Like many governments around the world, the Albanese government does see climate change as a security issue, as well as being a central environmental and economic issue,” a spokesperson for Albanese’s office said. Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Sign up to receive the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning“The director general of the Office of National Intelligence will coordinate an assessment of the implications for national security of climate change.”A spokesperson for defence said it would “provide input on defence-specific issues”.The Australian Security Leaders Climate Group welcomed the government’s pledge and offered to “practically support the government in undertaking the assessment in whatever ways are appropriate”.Barrie, one of the group’s executive members, said the proposed assessment was important “because a comprehensive assessment of climate security risks has never previously been undertaken in Australia and it should form the basis for any serious climate policy”.“Unless you understand those risks, policy inevitably will be inadequate,” Barrie said.“This is what we are now seeing in Australia because of the accelerating physical impacts of climate change, far faster than forecast, and the damage already caused to our communities by drought, bushfires, floods and storms.”Barrie said climate threats and costs would affect Australia in many ways, including disruptions to vital import and export markets and supply chains. He also cited increasing demands on the health system, degraded and lost natural systems, and escalating adaptation needs.“Globally there will be regional conflicts over shared resources, climate-change enhanced famine, breakdown in social cohesion, forced displacement of populations, and state failure, including in our region,” Barrie said.“At present those risks to Australia are not understood, not properly assessed by governments, and certainly not incorporated into policy.”Barrie said those risks would “continue to escalate in the absence of far stronger climate action than we have seen thus far, globally and here”.He accused the previous government of having “seriously eroded the capacity of key climate change research and public institutions, such as CSIRO and the BOM”.The executive director of the Lowy Institute, Michael Fullilove, will say in a speech on Wednesday he hopes the recent election “signalled the end of Australia’s climate wars, which destroyed several prime ministers and nearly broke our politics”.Fullilove is expected to tell the National Press Club in Canberra that he had “long been perplexed by the inconsistent approaches that Australian conservatives and progressives take to the issues of hard security and climate”.“Many on the right believe that we should lead on security and free-ride on climate. Many on the left believe we should lead on climate and free-ride on security,” Fullilove will say, according to speech extracts distributed in advance.“But these are both good fights – and I’m in favour of fighting both of them.”The Greens and independent crossbenchers are calling on the government to commit to a stronger 2030 emissions reduction target and new curbs on fossil fuels, in order to remain consistent with action required to limit warming to 1.5C.The government has said it will implement the policies it took to the election and seek to legislate the new target when parliament returns late next month.The minister for international development and the Pacific, Pat Conroy, said the government was “deeply committed to taking real and significant climate action at home, and to re-establishing Australia as a climate leader internationally”.Conroy said he planned to travel to the Pacific soon. He noted the Pacific Islands Forum’s Boe Declaration described the climate crisis as the “single greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and wellbeing of the peoples of the Pacific”.The Australian government’s updated climate plans include talking with the Pacific about jointly hosting a future international climate conference.The government also plans to make an annual statement to parliament about climate policy, progress against national targets and international developments. | Australia Business & Economics |
Nov 7 (Reuters) - Data analytics software provider Palantir Technologies Inc (PLTR.N) on Monday forecast better-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue due to a boost from renewals and expansion of U.S. government contracts.The company also said that out of the $1.3 billion worth of contracts closed in the third quarter, roughly $1 billion were from the U.S. government, with its total customer count growing 66%."The significant increase in contract value this quarter was principally driven by the expansion of our work with the United States military," its Chief Executive Officer Alexander Karp said in a letter to shareholders."Our software is at war, in Europe and around the world."However, the company's profit fell slightly short of Wall Street expectations. Its Chief Financial Officer told Reuters that the profit was impacted in part due its investments in special purpose acquisition companies (SPAC).Shares of Palantir, which was co-founded by billionaire entrepreneur Peter Thiel in 2003 to help with U.S. counter-terrorism operations, were down about 1% in premarket trading.For the third quarter, Palantir's revenue rose 22% to $477.9 million, its slowest growth since it went public in 2020.Analysts had expected the Ukraine war to draw in more business to Palantir, but Glazer said that the timing of new government contracts remained uncertain.A strong dollar and a high interest-rate environment also affected its business in Europe.Its CEO Karp said some countries, particularly in Europe, have fallen behind the United States "in their willingness and ability to implement enterprise software systems that challenge existing habits and modes of operation."Still, Palantir hired its largest graduating batch ever during the third quarter, Glazer said.Excluding items, the company earned 1 cent per share during the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with estimates of 2 cents per share.Meanwhile, Palantir also said it expects fourth-quarter revenue to be between $508 million and $510 million, excluding a $5 million forex hit. Analysts on average see revenue at $502.7 million.For fiscal 2022, the company expects revenue between $1.906 billion to $1.908 billion excluding foreign exchange impact.Reporting by Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.VOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Banking & Finance |
Russian one ruble coin and Russian flag displayed on a screen are seen in this multiple exposure illustration photo taken in Krakow, Poland on March 8, 2022.Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty ImagesRussia's ruble hit 52.3 to the dollar on Wednesday, an increase of roughly 1.3% on the previous day and its strongest level since May 2015.That's a world away from its plunge to 139 to the dollar in early March, when the U.S. and European Union started rolling out unprecedented sanctions on Moscow in response to its invasion of Ukraine. The ruble's stunning surge in the following months has given fuel to the Kremlin as "proof" that Western sanctions aren't working. "The idea was clear: crush the Russian economy violently," Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week during the annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. "They did not succeed. Obviously, that didn't happen."In late February, following the ruble's initial tumble and four days after its invasion of Ukraine began on Feb 24., Russia more than doubled the country's key interest rate to a whopping 20% from a prior 9.5%. Since then, the currency's value has improved to the point that it's lowered the interest rate three times to reach 11% in late May.The ruble has actually gotten so strong that Russia's central bank is actively taking measures to try to weaken it, fearing that this will make their exports less competitive. But what's really behind the currency's rise, and can it be sustained? Russia is raking in record oil and gas revenue The reasons are, to put it simply: strikingly high energy prices, capital controls and sanctions themselves. Russia is the world's largest exporter of gas and the second-largest exporter of oil. Its primary customer? The European Union, which has been buying billions of dollars worth of Russian energy per week while simultaneously trying to punish it with sanctions. That's put the EU in an awkward spot – it has now sent exponentially more money to Russia in oil, gas and coal purchases than it has sent Ukraine in aid, which has helped fill the Kremlin's war chest. And with Brent crude prices 60% higher than they were this time last year, even though many Western countries have curbed their Russian oil buying, Moscow is still making a record profit. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu attend a wreath-laying ceremony, which marks the anniversary of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany in 1941, at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the Kremlin wall in Moscow, Russia June 22, 2022. Mikhail Metzel | Sputnik | ReutersIn the Russia-Ukraine war's first 100 days, the Russian Federation raked in $98 billion in revenue from fossil fuel exports, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, a research organization based in Finland. More than half of those earnings came from the EU, at about $60 billion.And while many EU countries are intent on cutting their reliance on Russian energy imports, this process could take years – in 2020, the bloc relied on Russia for 41% of its gas imports and 36% of its oil imports, according to Eurostat.Yes, the EU passed a landmark sanctions package in May partially banning imports of Russian oil by the end of this year, but it had significant exceptions for oil delivered by pipeline, since landlocked countries like Hungary and Slovenia couldn't access alternative oil sources that are shipped by sea. "That exchange rate you see for the ruble is there because Russia is earning record current account surpluses in foreign exchange," Max Hess, a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, told CNBC. That revenue is mostly in dollars and euros via a complex ruble-swap mechanism. "Although Russia may be selling slightly less to the West right now, as the West moves to cutting off [reliance on Russia], they are still selling a ton at all-time high oil and gas prices. So this is bringing in a big current account surplus." Russia's current account surplus from January to May of this year was just over $110 billion, according to Russia's central bank – more than 3.5 times the amount of that period last year. Strict capital controlsCapital controls – or the government's limiting of foreign currency leaving its country – have played a big role here, plus the simple fact that Russia can't import as much any more thanks to sanctions, meaning it's spending less of its money buying stuff from elsewhere. It's really a Potemkin rate, because sending money from Russia abroad given the sanctions — both on Russian individuals and Russian banks — is incredibly difficult.Max HessFellow, Foreign Policy Research Institute"Authorities implemented pretty strict capital controls as soon as sanctions came on," said Nick Stadtmiller, director of emerging markets strategy at Medley Global Advisors in New York. "The result is money is flowing in from exports while there are relatively few capital outflows. The net effect of all this is a stronger ruble."Russia has now relaxed some of its capital controls and lowered its interest rate in an effort to weaken the ruble, since a stronger currency actually hurts its fiscal account. The ruble: really a 'Potemkin rate'?Because Russia is now cut off from the SWIFT international banking system and blocked from trading internationally in dollars and euros, it's been left to essentially trade with itself, Hess said. That means that while Russia's built up a formidable volume of foreign reserves that bolster its currency at home, it can't use those reserves to serve its import needs, thanks to sanctions.The ruble's exchange rate "is really a Potemkin rate, because sending money from Russia abroad given the sanctions — both on Russian individuals and Russian banks — is incredibly difficult, not to mention Russia's own capital controls," Hess said. In politics and economics, Potemkin refers to fake villages that were purportedly constructed to provide an illusion of prosperity to Russian empress Catherine the Great."So yes, the ruble on paper is quite a bit stronger, but that's the result of crashing imports, and what's the point of building up forex reserves, but to go and buy things from abroad that you need for your economy? And Russia can't do that."People line up near Euro and U.S. dollars rates to ruble sign board at the entrance to the exchange office on May 25, 2022 in Moscow, Russia. Russia moved closer to a default on Wednesday after the U.S. Treasury let a key sanctions exemption expire.Konstantin Zavrazhin | Getty Images"We should really be looking at the underlying issues in the Russian economy, including the cratering imports," Hess added. "Even if the ruble says it has a high value, that is going to have a devastating impact on the economy and on quality of life." Does this reflect the actual Russian economy?Does the ruble's strength mean that Russia's economic fundamentals are sound and have escaped the blow of sanctions? Not so fast, analysts say. "Ruble strength is linked to a surplus in the overall balance of payments, which is much more driven by exogenous factors linked to sanctions, commodity prices and policy measures than by longer term underlying macroeconomic trends and fundamentals," said Themos Fiotakis, head of FX research at Barclays.Russia's Ministry of Economy said in mid-May that it expects unemployment to hit nearly 7% this year, and that a return to 2021 levels is unlikely until 2025 at the earliest.Since Russia's war in Ukraine began, thousands of international companies have exited Russia, leaving huge numbers of unemployed Russians in their wake. Foreign investment has taken a massive hit, and poverty nearly doubled in just the first five weeks of the war alone, according to Russia's federal statistics agency Rosstat."The Russian ruble is no longer an indicator for the health of the economy," Hess said. "While the ruble has surged thanks to the Kremlin's interference, its inattention to Russian's well-being continues. Even Russia's own statistics agency, famous for massaging numbers to meet the Kremlin's goals, acknowledged that the number of Russians living in poverty rose from 12 [million] to 21 million people in Q1 2022."As for whether the ruble's strength can be sustained, Fiotakis said, "It is very uncertain and depends on how the geopolitics evolve and policy adjusts." | Forex Trading & Speculation |
Turkey Lira banknotes are seen in this illustration taken January 6, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comISTANBUL, July 6 (Reuters) - The Turkish lira slid again on Wednesday, extending its losing run to a week due to underlying dollar strength and investor concerns about soaring inflation and the policies employed to deal with the country's economic woes.The lira weakened 1% against the U.S. currency to hit 17.2 by 0807 GMT, further erasing a rally which briefly took the currency to 16.03 on Monday last week.It has lost 23% of its value this year, on top of a 44% slump last year which was triggered by a series of central bank interest rate cuts encouraged by President Tayyip Erdogan despite rising inflation, which neared 79% in June. read more Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comMarkets were also assessing the impact on energy importer Turkey of Tuesday's near-10% slide in crude prices. Economists calculate that a $10 move in the Brent oil price amounts to a change of $4.5 billion-6 billion in Turkey's annual energy import bill, which stood at $50 billion last year. read more The high energy bill undermines the government's aim to rein in a chronic high current account deficit and achieve a surplus. According to a Reuters poll, the deficit this year is expected to exceed $40 billion.The lira strengthened just under two weeks ago after the latest move to underpin the currency, with the banking watchdog restricting access to lira loans for companies with substantial forex cash assets. Those gains have gradually been eroded since Tuesday last week. read more Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Nevzat Devranoglu;
Writing by Daren Butler;
Editing by Angus MacSwanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Inflation |
AP/Rod Lamkey Byron Donalds As House Republicans turned a sharp focus on inflation, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla) asserted that trickle-down economic theory, which asserts that policies that benefit the wealthy will trickle down to everyone else, does work despite sharp criticism of the policy. “The late, great Margaret Thatcher said it better than any of us ever could: Joe Biden to the Democrats will prefer the poor be poor so the rich are less rich,” Donalds said in a press conference Tuesday. “Joe Biden will prefer to build an economy that doesn’t work for anybody, as opposed to letting the free market — and yes, trickle-down economics, which does work — actually flourish in the United States,” Donalds said. Trickle-down economics became widely popular during Ronald Reagan’s presidency as a way to criticize his favored policies, such as tax cuts for the wealthy. A 2020 study from the London School of Economics that analyzed 50 years of tax cuts in 18 countries found that reducing taxes on the rich leads to higher income inequality and “do not have any significant effect on economic growth and unemployment.” The comment from Donalds came shortly after President Biden denounced the economic theory in a speech at an AFL-CIO conference. “We are not going back to the false promises of trickle-down economics. We are going forward,” Biden said. Biden made similar comments opposing trickle-down economics in other recent speeches, arguing that the philosophy leads to greater inequality and slower growth. Inflation hit a four-decade high of 8.6 percent in May, according to consumer price index (CPI) data from the Department of Labor released last week. The economy and cost of living are priorities for voters heading into the 2022 midterm elections, according to numerous polls. Republicans largely blame inflation on Democrats passing large spending packages, while Democrats point to supply chain problems related to the COVID-19 pandemic. “President Biden and his team follow the siren song of the false gods of modern monetary theory that you can borrow and spin your way to prosperity,” Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.) said in the press conference. Tags Byron Donalds Byron Donalds economy Joe Biden Reagan Ronald Reagan Trickle down economics | Inflation |
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Ben Bernanke, who served as chairman of the Federal Reserve from 2006 to 2016, published an op-ed in the New York Times Tuesday arguing that the United States is "almost certainly not" in danger of the economic woes that plagued the nation from 1966 through 1981. He based this assumption on "the Fed's credibility."The article, titled "Inflation Isn’t Going to Bring Back the 1970s", contended that while "it’s true there are some similarities" between the 1970s and today, "there are critical differences as well." Regarding these differences, Bernanke argued that in the 1960s and 1970s, the Federal Reserve was met with stiff political resistance to raising interest rates. "First, although inflation was very unpopular in the ’60s and ’70s, as it (understandably) is today, back then, any inclination by the Federal Reserve to fight inflation by raising interest rates, which could also slow the economy and raise unemployment, met stiff political resistance," he wrote. INFLATION ‘POLICY ERRORS OF THE 1970s ECHO IN OUR TIMES’, FINANCIAL TIMES COLUMNIST WARNS In this May 10, 2013 file photo, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke waves goodbye after speaking during a banking conference in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty, File) "In contrast, efforts by the current Fed chairman, Jerome Powell, and his colleagues to bring down inflation enjoy considerable support from both the White House and Congress, at least so far," he said.In June 2021, Powell maintained that inflation would be transitory. At the time, the Fed kept policy on hold and said the temporary period of above-trend inflation would likely not result in the Fed hiking rates before 2023.Bernanke also wrote that today, Federal Reserve officials see themselves as having a greater role to play in bringing down inflation than they did in the 1970s. "Besides the Fed’s greater independence, a key difference from the ’60s and ’70s is that the Fed’s views on both the sources of inflation and its own responsibility to control the pace of price increases have changed markedly," he wrote.Today, the Fed is raising interest rates and selling off its balance sheet, which it added $120 billion a month to during the height of the pandemic. BIDEN’S RHETORIC GETTING MORE ‘DESPICABLE,’ FORMER TRUMP ADVISER WARNS The news conference of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke appears on a television screen at a trading post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) Bernanke noted that inflation only ended in the early 1980s when Fed Chairman Paul Volcker raised interest rates to 20 percent. "Inflation gained momentum over the decade, ending only with the shock treatment applied by the Fed under Paul Volcker in the early 1980s, which resulted in a deep recession," he wrote. The former Fed chairman claimed, without evidence, that "the lessons learned from America’s Great Inflation, by both the Fed and political leaders, make a repeat of that experience highly unlikely," then admitted the economy’s condition was misdiagnosed by the Fed in 2021."After a delay caused by a misdiagnosis of the economy in 2021, the Fed has accordingly turned to tightening monetary policy, ending its pandemic-era bond purchases, announcing plans to shrink its securities holdings and raising short-term interest rates," he said.Powell is being encouraged by business leaders and some in the media to ‘go big’ on inflation. Current and former Federal Reserve Chairmen Jerome Powell (L) and Ben Bernanke, respectively Bernanke concluded that the Fed's credibility will be what prevents a return to the 1970s.CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP"The Fed’s greater policy independence, its willingness to take responsibility for inflation and its record of keeping inflation low for nearly four decades after the Great Inflation, make it much more credible on inflation today than its counterpart in the ’60s and ’70s," he said. "The Fed’s credibility will help ensure that the Great Inflation will not be repeated, and Mr. Powell and his colleagues will put a high priority on keeping that credibility intact."Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen both incorrectly said inflation would be ‘transitory’ in 2021, a claim the latter recently admitted was a mistake. Joe Silverstein is a production assistant for Fox News Digital. | Inflation |
A small business owner was reduced to tears during an interview with Sky News Australia when he was quizzed about the minimum wage increase where he revealed he may be forced to close his Sydney cafe due to the additional costs.A small business owner has broken down into tears fearing he will have to close his store due to the Fair Work Commission's decision to increase the minimum wage.The independent body ruled on Wednesday it will lift the minimum wage by 5.2 per cent - slightly more than the 5.1 per cent inflation rate, which means a "real" pay increase - to the lowest paid workers in Australia to meet rising inflation.It will see the minimum wage lift by $20.33 per hour ($772.60 per week) to $21.38 per hour ($812.60 per week) or the equivalent of an extra $40 to the household budget.FWC highlighted the decision was brought on due to the spike in the cost of living, the strengthening of the labour market and the unemployment rate dropping to 3.9 per cent in May compared to 5.5 per cent in April 2021.Stream Sky News live & on demand with Flash. 25+ news channels in 1 place. New to Flash? Try 1 month free. Offer ends 31 October, 2022 While the move has been hailed by workers struggling to live week to week and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who pushed for the increase during the federal election, business owners have been left concerned it will drive them to close up shop.Phillip Salhab, owner of Sydney's Appetite Cafe in Five Dock, said his business will not survive on top of the already inflated grocery and power prices."Short answer is no," he said when quizzed by Sky News Australia host Peter Stefanovic if he could afford to pass on the minimum wage."While we accept the increase in the minimum wage obviously for our team and others to keep up with cost of living pressures, we as a business cannot afford it, especially when we are already offering higher than minimum wage to fulfil the positions we are trying to fulfil."Mr Salhab pointed to the fact he was already forced to offer higher than normal rates to entice people to work for his store. He used a first-hand example where his store was looking to hire a kitchenhand.But he has had to offer more than the minimum wage due to a shortage of workers to fill thousands of positions in various industries."We’re offering already 20 per cent more than the minimum wage but we’re being asked to pay at least $42 an hour depending on what the role is," he said."That’s the going rate at the moment but we can’t afford that."The frustrated business owner, who opened his cafe before the first coronavirus lockdown in 2020, said it would be "a lot easier for us to close".He praised his team of 15 staff as the "reason we keep going every day" but stressed it will be difficult to continue operations long term under multiple economic constraints."There’s only so much the public want to pay for a bacon and egg roll," Mr Salhab said."We have to also take into consideration the cost of coffee going up, all our food and dairy, our bread going up and now we also have to take into consideration staff wages."At the end of the day, it’s a business. We’re ere to make money. Our profit margin every day gets smaller and smaller and I really questions why? At the end of the day if there’s nothing to take home ourselves, then why?"Stefanovic concluded the interview by asking how he was personally holding up."Save your tears for the pillow," Mr Salhab said before he paused and broke down into tears.He apologised before being asked by Stefanovic how his cafe's bacon and egg rolls compare to the rest in his suburb."The best in Five Dock," he said with a smile.After the announcement of the news, business organisations came out to reveal their concerns about the minimum wage decision.Alexi Boyd, CEO of Council of Small Business Organisations Australia told Sky News she believed most small businesses would be "disappointed" with the FWC's decision. "I think most small business when they hear this news will be disappointed and a little bit concerned about the viability of their business with any increase," she said. "If we were talking about wages as a standalone issue, it would be a different conversation but the business situation at the moment is increased input costs, increases to freight, fuel, energy as we all know is going up and up."And the cost of hiring workers, including superannuation, which is going up to 10.5 per cent in July, all of these increased costs to doing business are really hitting small businesses hard." Australian Chamber of Commerce boss Andrew McKellar described the 5.2 per cent lift as "very significant risk" and predicted it will add $7.9 billion in costs to businesses.He argued businesses will have to bear a "very significant burden" with owners likely forced to take the bottom line or pass it onto their customers through increased prices."It comes at a time when inflation is emerging as one of the most urgent challenges facing the Australian economy and if we are to address that, if we are to remain competitive, then, clearly, this is not a decision that will help," he said.Prime Minister Anthony Albanese issued a message to small business owners when quizzed hours after the announcement by a reporter on how it will affect them."Well what I’d say is, that those small business all rely upon their workers who are really struggling with the cost of living," he said on Wednesday."This is $1 an hour. Let’s be clear what this debate has been about. It’s about whether people who are on the minimum wage should have a real wage cut and I haven’t had anyone who’s not on the minimum wage argue that that should occur."These people are really struggling and that’s why we opposed a real wage cut for people on the minimum wage. | Australia Business & Economics |
A group of oil-producing countries has agreed to continued cuts in production in a bid to shore up flagging prices.
Saudi Arabia said it would make cuts of a million barrels per day (bpd) in July and Opec+ said targets would drop by a further 1.4 million bpd from 2024.
Opec+ accounts for around 40% of the world's crude oil and its decisions can have a major impact on oil prices.
In Asia trade on Monday, Brent crude oil rose by as much as 2.4% before settling at around $77 a barrel.
Average diesel prices fell by a record 12p per litre in the UK last month, according to the RAC.
The seven hour-long meeting on Sunday of the oil-rich nations, led by Russia, came against a backdrop of falling energy prices.
Total production cuts, which Opec+ has undertaken since October 2022, reached 3.66 million bpd, according to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.
Opec+, a formulation which refers to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, had already agreed to cut production by two million bpd, about 2% of global demand.
"The result of the discussions was the extension of the deal until the end of 2024," Mr Novak said.
'A Saudi lollipop'
In April, it also agreed a surprise voluntary cut of 1.6 million bpd which took effect in May, a move that briefly saw an increase in prices but failed to bring about a lasting recovery.
On Sunday, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said the cut of one million bpd could be extended beyond July if needed. "This is a Saudi lollipop," he said, in what is seen as a bid to stabilise the market.
Analysis by Sameer Hashmi, Middle East business correspondent
Before the two-day Opec+ meeting started, it was widely expected the oil cartel would make production cuts to prop up prices. It appears most members were against the idea, as any cuts would impact oil revenues, which are crucial to keep running their economies.
Saudi Arabia's decision to make a voluntary reduction of one-million barrels per day was unexpected but does not come as a huge surprise. As the leader of the pack, and also the largest exporter of oil, it was the only one in a position to be able to lower output.
From Riyadh's point of view, it is crucial the price of crude remains over $80 a barrel for it to break even. Saudi officials want elevated prices to keep spending billions of dollars on ambitious projects spearheaded by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as he tries to diversify the kingdom's economy away from oil.
The move by the Saudis also underlines the uncertain outlook for demand for fuels in the months to come. Concerns about the global economy, especially recessionary fears in the US and Europe are expected to put further pressure on crude prices.
Oil producers are grappling with falling prices and high market volatility amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The West has accused Opec of manipulating prices and undermining the global economy through high energy costs, according to Reuters. It has also accused the group of siding with Russia despite sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine.
In response, Opec insiders have said the West's monetary policy over the last decade has driven inflation and forced oil-producing nations to act to maintain the value of their main export. | Energy & Natural Resources |
Telecom Q4 Results Preview: Muted Growth At Airtel, Reliance Jio Amid Wider Churn
Revenue growth of Airtel and Jio likely moderated in Q4 even as their user base grew at the expense of Vi.
Growth in India's telecom industry has likely moderated for the first time in nearly three years amid a churn in subscriber base and absence of across-the-board tariff hikes.
Revenue of Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd., Bharti Airtel Ltd. and Vodafone Idea Ltd. grew 0–4% sequentially in the fourth quarter of the 2023 financial year, analysts indicated. The growth came on the back of increased data usage as users upgraded to mobile broadband services on smartphones, even as a sharp hike in entry-level prepaid tariffs induced a churn in the subscriber base.
That’s likely to reflect in average revenue per user as well.
"Over the last few quarters, we saw sharp market share gains by Airtel and Jio from Vi, which may moderate given that Vi users are now seeing decent network experience," Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd. said in a research report. "We expect 1–2% ARPU increase across the telcos, driving 2–3% sequential revenue growth for Airtel and Jio and flat revenue for Vi."
Here's a look at the five key points investors should look out for in the upcoming telecom earnings:
Subscriber Base
At 5-6 million, Jio is likely to have added the highest number of subscribers in January–March. That compares with net additions of 2 million at Airtel while, Vodafone Idea is likely to lose 3 million users.
There could be an increase in 4G and postpaid subscribers for all the three companies, which could support the rise in blended ARPU. Airtel and Jio, in particular, stand to gain as they are now offering unlimited 5G data on prepaid plans of Rs 239 and above.
ARPU
The outsized churn in lower revenue segments due to sharp increases in prices of minimum recharge plans is likely to keep the ARPU growth muted.
Jio's ARPU is likely to increase by 0.5% sequentially to Rs 179 due to upgradation to smartphones and higher tariff plans. Airtel's ARPU is seen at Rs 193–197—up 2% sequentially—on the back of 2.8 million new 4G subscribers. Vodafone Idea, which continues to bleed users, likely saw its ARPU rise to Rs 138—up 2.5% sequentially.
Ebitda & Margins
Tailwinds of a reduction in spectrum usage charges, coupled with the likelihood of muted revenue growth, likely kept the growth limited in the earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation.
Jio and Airtel are likely to have expanded their margins by up to 40 basis points sequentially, Motilal Oswal said in its note.
ICICI Securities Ltd., however, expects Airtel's operational profitability over the previous three months due to seasonality in the Africa business. India Ebitda is seen up 0.7%.
Vodafone Idea, despite its market share loss and higher marketing costs to restrict churn, is likely to grow its Ebitda by 1% with a margin improvement of 30 bps.
Capex
Spending on rollout of 5G services likely remained elevated in the March quarter, as Jio and Airtel expanded coverage to 406 cities and 265 cities respectively in March from 66 and 70 cities in December 2022.
Jio—which has a capex plan worth Rs 2 lakh crore, including spectrum—aims to achieve pan-India 5G coverage by December 2023 by using its standalone architecture. Airtel, which has set aside Rs 75,000 crore, aims to cover all urban centres by March 2024.
There's no word yet on Vodafone Idea’s 5G rollout plans.
Tariff Hikes
The telecom industry needs to earn Rs 256–285 from each user in the next three–five years to justify the spending on 5G services. With the current levels at Rs 138–197, that seems like an uphill task unless tariff hikes come into play.
Airtel is seen as the biggest beneficiary of higher tariffs, given the sticky and premium quality of its subscribers, ensuring that tariff hikes flow through to the ARPU. Jio, whose user base is still largely prepaid, has introduced fresh postpaid plans and new 5G offers to lure high-paying subscribers—their impact will be keenly watched.
Vodafone Idea, meanwhile, continues to be in survival mode, with any tariff hike seen as a deterrent to an eroding subscriber base. | India Business & Economics |
A battery tray with battery modules installed is seen during a tour at the opening of a Mercedes-Benz electric vehicle Battery Factory in Woodstock, Alabama, U.S., March 15, 2022. REUTERS/Elijah NouvelageRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comLONDON, June 22 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Investors in Belgian’s Umicore (UMI.BR) have sent a worrying message to heavy corporate spenders. The 8 billion euro chemicals and battery-materials supplier on Wednesday lost more than a tenth of its market value after pledging 5 billion euros of outlays over the next five years. The capital expenditures, roughly double what analysts expected according to Refinitiv data, are supposed to help the group meet rising demand for electric-vehicle batteries and their component materials. Chief Financial Officer Filip Platteeuw said at an investor event that Umicore could potentially raise equity to pay for the investments.It’s a cautionary tale for carmakers, renewable-energy companies and other industrial groups that are also on the verge of an investment splurge to fund the move away from fossil fuels. Umicore reckons the new capex will help it to more than double revenue by 2030. But investors seem to be ignoring those long-term benefits and focusing on the near-term pain. Umicore’s shares are down 30% in a year. Its enterprise value is less than 8 times 2021 EBITDA. The lesson is that ramping up spending in a bear market can be costly. (By Liam Proud)Follow @Breakingviews on TwitterRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comCapital Calls - More concise insights on global finance:Banks cross choppy waters with Saipem rights issue read more Tencent’s Koolearn play teaches financial savvy read more Nike puts a better foot forward in China read more Spirit dogfight costs more by the day read more Leonardo finds way out of defence IPO bind read more Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comEditing by Neil Unmack and Oliver TaslicOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias. | Energy & Natural Resources |
Russia is a significant supplier of oil and gas. A number of major economies have formulated plans to reduce their reliance on Russian hydrocarbons following its invasion of Ukraine.Sean Gladwell | Moment | Getty ImagesNorwegian energy firm Equinor said Thursday it would deliver extra gas to the U.K.'s Centrica over the next three winters, as countries in Europe look to shore up their supplies amid the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.Equinor, which the Norwegian state has a 67% stake in, said the new agreement would add roughly 1 billion cubic meters of gas per year to an existing bilateral contract with Centrica, the U.K.'s biggest supplier of gas and electricity to consumers via British Gas.In its own statement, Centrica said it would now buy 10 bcm of gas a year from Equinor. "Against a difficult geopolitical and macroeconomic environment, this supply deal will provide further energy security for the UK," it said."This new gas supply agreement will see Equinor deliver to Centrica sufficient gas over the coming three winters to heat an additional 4.5 million homes," the company added.Concerns related to both the energy transition and energy security have been thrown into sharp relief by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with the price of both oil and gas continuing to surge in recent months. On Thursday, Dutch TTF Gas Futures for July 2022 were trading at around 145 euros per megawatt hour, compared to 71.66 euros at the start of the year. Russia is a significant supplier of both oil and gas, and a number of major economies have formulated plans to reduce their reliance on its hydrocarbons in recent months.The U.K. has previously said Russian imports represented less than 4% of its total gas supply in 2021, but the agreement between Equinor and Centrica highlights the importance of securing deals amid an environment of continued uncertainty and volatility.In a video message tweeted out on Thursday morning, Kwasi Kwarteng, the U.K.'s business and energy secretary, addressed the new reality many countries were facing following the conflict in Ukraine."When we look at Russia, we look at Ukraine, we look at gas demand, it's vitally important to get imports from allied countries such as Norway."Read more about energy from CNBC ProThe deal, Kwarteng argued, did not mean "we're turning our back on renewables, on exciting new technologies such as hydrogen. But it does mean that we will get security of supply in a world where we will rely on gas for many years to come."Kwarteng's statement about being reliant on gas for the foreseeable future points to the huge task major economies face when attempting to move away from an energy mix dominated by fossil fuels to one where renewables are in the majority. In May, the European Commission — the EU's executive branch — fleshed out details of a plan to ramp up the EU's renewable energy capacity and reduce its reliance on Russian fossil fuels.It simultaneously acknowledged that existing coal facilities may have to be used for "longer than initially expected."The situation is a challenging one. Russia was the biggest supplier of both petroleum oils and natural gas to the EU last year, according to Eurostat.And when it comes to finding common ground between the EU's 27 members — the U.K. left the EU in 2020 — on what to do about Russian gas, there appear to be no simple solutions.Just last week, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto ruled out the prospect of a Russian gas ban in the European Union's next package of sanctions, saying it would be "impossible." | Energy & Natural Resources |
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Last week marked a new devastating milestone for millions of Americans — gas prices have more than doubled since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021. And if that wasn’t enough, last week, we reached yet another difficult milestone — the national average of gas is now $5 per gallon for the first time in U.S. history. "Milestone" is really the wrong word. The current energy disaster is better described as a "millstone" around the neck of the American economy, who are now struggling to meet their most basic needs. Unfortunately, Biden has refused to budge from the war on American energy that got us here. Even worse: he appears to be doubling down on it. Early in his campaign, then-candidate Biden made the rapid end of fossil fuels a top priority. And he has consistently matched this with action, from canceling critical infrastructure projects like the Keystone XL pipeline and preventing new oil and gas drilling on federal lands to depriving the American energy sector of much-needed capital through the embrace of dangerously woke environmental policies. In fact, Biden’s open hostility toward U.S. energy production has become the hallmark of his presidency. Unsurprisingly, this hostility has cast what my friend and FOX Business host Larry Kudlow likes to call a "wet blanket" over investment in the American energy industry. Instead of the lofty "green" promises he peddled to Americans, Biden’s war on American energy has financed Putin’s aggression in Ukraine, outsourced production to our adversaries like Iran and Venezuela, and saddled Americans with sky-high energy prices. RECORD-HIGH GAS PRICES DRAIN TEXAS COUNTY'S FUEL BUDGET, PUT PRESSURE ON FIRST RESPONDERS Solar panels are seen next to a Southern California Edison electricity station in Carson, March 4. Currently, solar energy makes up only 2.8% of U.S. energy production. (Reuters/Lucy Nicholson)Despite political pushback due to rising prices, this administration has stayed the course. Just last week, the Biden administration proposed its latest addition to its regulatory assault on American energy infrastructure through another reversal of key Trump administration permitting reforms, this time reversing reforms under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act. This reversal will make it more difficult to build any kind of infrastructure project and makes it easier for a single state or interest group to block critical interstate infrastructure that America desperately needs — not just basic infrastructure like roads and bridges, but ironically, also infrastructure related to the administration’s most-favored energy sources like wind and solar. With build-nothing activists running the show, the Biden administration’s posturing on energy infrastructure is clearly just a load of double-talk. Instead of unleashing the vast potential of U.S. energy production at home, we are turning back the energy independence clock. The U.S. is now begging OPEC to increase production, and the administration is easing sanctions on Venezuela. But perhaps Americans shouldn’t worry. Biden’s cavalry is coming — all the way from China. Just this week, President Biden waived tariffs on solar imports from countries likely serving as safe havens for China’s circumvention of U.S. tariffs — blatantly undermining an investigation by his own Department of Commerce. It seems environmental and social justice don’t apply to slave labor when our "renewable" future is on the line. Meanwhile, solar only amounts to 2.8% of U.S. electricity production and suffers from very real challenges. While solar will continue to be a good contributor to our energy mix, overly relying on an intermittent energy source will only make the threat of rolling blackouts more severe and frequent. President Biden will find it hard to "Build Back Better" when America is in the dark. Instead of empowering competition and innovation at home, the Biden Administration continues to send our tax dollars and jobs to China for expensive, unreliable energy. It would take a lot of doublethink to insist that this is the way to restore American energy independence. CLICK HERE TO GET THE OPINION NEWSLETTERDespite the administration doubling down with desperate attempts to spin the narrative as "[Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s price hike" or "price-gouging" and "war profiteering" by American companies, the American people know when they are being double-crossed. Actively discouraging American energy production plays into the hands of our adversaries at the expense of American families, workers, and small businesses. President Biden often repeats his story about growing up "in a family where it mattered when the price of gas or groceries rose," but when the rubber meets the road, the Biden administration’s continued embrace of anti-energy policies is driving up costs for American families around the country. And it matters an awful lot to the future of our great Nation that we reverse course and once again embrace our Nation’s vast energy potential. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPUnfortunately, this requires the Biden administration and progressive policymakers to stop doubling down on the war on American energy and get out of the way of American energy investment, infrastructure, and production. In the meantime, Americans suffering through the consequences will likely find themselves in need of a stiff drink if they can afford it. Make it a double. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM RICK PERRY Rick Perry is the former governor of Texas and 14th secretary of energy. | Energy & Natural Resources |
The UK economy has fallen deeper into the red as businesses sounded the alarm about a full-blown recession - and experts suggested the Bank of England might back off interest rate hikes.GDP was down for the second month in a row by 0.3 per cent in April after a 0.1 per cent dip in March, surprising analysts and underlining the 'Stagflation' threat as prices soar.Although the strong bounceback from Covid means there there has still been growth overall so far this year - and the latest fall was partly because Covid tests were phased out - Rishi Sunak admitted there are 'challenges'. There are predictions of the worst squeeze on incomes in a generation.Boris Johnson blamed a global inflationary 'bump' - but risked inflaming Tory tensions by hinting further tax cuts to ease the cost of living crisis are unlikely to come before next year. The grim figures could persuade the Bank of England to stop short of a 0.5 percentage point rise in interest rates this week, with 0.25 points now looking more likely to avoid choking growth further. The CBI has urged Mr Johnson and the Chancellor to take 'vital action' in the coming months that is needed to keep UK plc running.The group warned there is a risk that the economy would be a 'distant second' to politics in the coming months because of the cost-of-living crisis, airports struggling to cope, planned national rail strikes and 'Groundhog Day' battles with the EU over the Northern Ireland Protocol.The CBI downgraded its growth outlook to 3.7 per cent for this year from 5.1 per cent previously, and just 1 per cent in 2023 from 3 per cent.Last week the OECD think-tank predicted that the UK will flatline next year, recording the worst performance in the G20 except for sanctions-hit Russia. GDP was down for the second month in a row after a 0.1 per cent dip in March, underlining the 'Stagflation' threat as inflation soarsThe CBI has urged Boris Johnson (right) and the Chancellor (left) to take 'vital action' in the coming months needed to keep UK plc running All three main sectors suffered a fall in output for the first time since January 2021, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) data Tax cuts are 'when not if', insists the No10 policy chief Tax cuts are a question of 'when not if', the head of the No10 policy unit said today.Andrew Griffith raised the prospect of the burden being eased as he urges Tories to 'pull together' behind Boris Johnson. In an article for ConservativeHome website, Mr Griffith said: 'It is very clear tax cuts are now a 'When' not an 'If'.'In fact, no one has long to wait. In just four weeks' time, we will see the biggest tax cut for a decade (acknowledging that it followed a previous increase). 'Raising the threshold will mean that anyone can earn £12,570 entirely free of tax and National Insurance. 'It improves the incentive to work and will cut the tax bill for 70 per cent of households by £330 a year. 'If we undersell this tax cut to our constituents, we only have ourselves to blame.'He warned that the 'fuse is burning down' to the general election. 'The matter of leadership has been tested, we are all Conservatives, and we all share a common set of values,' he added. Darren Morgan, director of economic statistics at the ONS, said: 'A big drop in the health sector due to the winding down of the test and trace scheme pushed the UK economy into negative territory in April.'Manufacturing also suffered with some companies telling us they were being affected by rising fuel and energy prices.'These were partially offset by growth in car sales, which recovered from a significantly weaker than usual March.'All three main sectors suffered a fall in output for the first time since January 2021, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) data.April's drop in GDP was the biggest contraction since January 2021.Output contracted by 0.3 per cent in the main services sector, largely due to the ending of the Government's Covid-19 Test and Trace programme and lower vaccination activity.In a crumb of consolation, the ONS said that with the Test and Trace and vaccines impact stripped out, GDP would have risen by 0.1 per cent in April. CBI under fire over Northern Ireland comments Tony Danker (pictured), CBI's Director-General, angered ministers by telling them to 'stop acting unilaterally' to fix trade problems in Northern IrelandThe CBI came under fire last night after it urged ministers to abandon plans for a new law to prevent the EU undermining the Northern Ireland peace process.In a provocative intervention, CBI chief Tony Danker said it was time for the Government to 'stop acting unilaterally' to fix post-Brexit problems in Northern Ireland.His call came as ministers prepared to publish new Brexit legislation today designed to prevent the EU driving a wedge between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.Separately, the CBI warned that Britain was heading for a 'household recession' as families slash spending amid the cost of living crisis.The new Northern Ireland legislation includes plans to scrap most EU checks on goods sent to the province and the downgrading of the European Court of Justice to an advisory role.Ministers hope the plans will halt the disruption to supplies caused by the checks, reduce political tensions in Northern Ireland and persuade the DUP to re-enter power-sharing.But Mr Danker said the plan could lead to 'all kinds of trade disputes'. But there were also declines in the manufacturing and construction sectors, down 1 per cent and 0.4 per cent respectively, with manufacturers in particular noting the impact of soaring prices and supply chain woes.Mr Johnson said negative economic data was down to an 'inflationary price bump' that the country will 'get through very strongly indeed'.Emphasising that the UK had the fastest growth of the G7 last year, the PM said: 'It's true that other countries are now catching up and we're seeing the effects of inflation around the world hitting this country as well as everywhere else.'But if you look for instance at the the IMF data, the UK comes back at or near the top of the of the G7 league very quickly.'Speaking at Southern England Farms in Cornwall, he emphasised the 'very strong' fundamentals and low unemployment, pointing to the vegetable grower's search for more pickers.'That's so different from the economic crises I remember when I was younger in the 80s, in the 90s, millions of people … told they were on the scrap heap because of mass unemployment.'That was a total disaster, we're in a different situation now, we've got an inflationary price bump that we got to get through… I think we'll get through it very strongly indeed.'Pushed on LBC whether taxes would be cut again soon, Mr Johnson suggested that will need to wait until inflation begins to subside - which is not expected to happen until next year.He said 'we're bringing in tax cuts as fast as we can, but what we've also got to do is look after people in a tough time'.Mr Johnson added: 'There's an inflationary spike that we've got to get through right now, looking after people as we go through that, and that is what we are going to do.' Mr Sunak said: 'Countries around the world are seeing slowing growth, and the UK is not immune from these challenges.'I want to reassure people, we're fully focused on growing the economy to address the cost of living in the longer term, while supporting families and businesses with the immediate pressures they're facing.'We have a plan to turbocharge productivity through investment in capital, people and ideas, so everyone across the country can benefit from a strong, healthy economy.'Ana Luis Andrade, of Bloomberg Economics, said: 'With inflation remaining stubbornly high and a red-hot labor market showing no signs of easing, it won't be enough to prevent the Bank of England from hiking rates. 'Given the risks to the economy, a 50 basis point move this week looks highly unlikely -- we expect a 25-bp hike, with rates climbing to 2 per cent by November.' David Bharier, Head of Research at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said: 'The fall of 0.3 per cent in April, following a 0.2 per cent decrease in March, highlights the increasing stress the UK economy is under. All main sectors have seen a fall in growth, the first time since January 2021.'This decline is the inevitable outcome of surging inflation, supply chain disruption and widespread skills shortages.'Businesses from all sectors are facing unprecedented rises in raw material costs, soaring energy bills, and wage pressures. The introduction of an increase to employer National Insurance Contributions in April has only further added to firms' woes.'This declining output comes off the back of two years of significant damage sustained by small businesses, whose weakened cash positions mean that they are in a far worse position to stomach further pressure. The global aspects to all these problems mean they are likely to weigh heavily on the UK's prospects for growth for some time.'Keir Starmer said the figures were a 'real cause for concern'. 'I think these latest figures are going to be a real cause for concern for millions of people who are struggling already to pay their bills, so this is a very gloomy forecast. And it's not new. We've had low growth in our economy for 12 years - the entire period of this Conservative government,' he said.'We've had low growth and high taxes and it's that combination that is really punishing people across the country. What we need is a plan to get the economy going - investment in the right places, cutting those taxes, the emergency budget that we've been calling for.'Overnight Tony Danker, CBI director general, unveiled their latest forecasts.He said: 'Let me be clear - we're expecting the economy to be pretty much stagnant. It won't take much to tip us into a recession, and even if we don't, it will feel like one for too many people.'Times are tough for businesses dealing with rising costs, and for people on lower incomes concerned about paying bills and putting food on the table.'It's as clear as day that business investment is one of the few bright spots left in our economy.'We've had weeks of politicking with the country standing on the brink of a summer of gridlock.'There is only a small window until recess. Inaction this summer would set in stone a stagnant economy in 2023, with recession a very live concern.'We need to act now to install confidence.'The CBI called for measures including steps to alleviate labour and skills shortages.Rain Newton-Smith, CBI chief economist, added: 'This is a tough set of statistics to stomach. War in Ukraine, a global pandemic, continued strains on supply chains - all preceded by Brexit - has proven to be a toxic recipe for UK growth. Last week the OECD think-tank predicted that the UK will flatline next year, recording the worst performance in the G20 except for sanctions-hit Russia'The bottom line is that the outlook for UK exports remains far worse than our worldwide competitors. This has got to change for the better.'Business and government must work together to seek growth globally. As demand shrinks, competition for revenue increases. UK business must be more confident in identifying new markets and utilising all the tools at their disposal - be it from the private sector or public sector.'Government also has an integral role to play. Against the backdrop of the rising cost of doing business and continuing supply chain pressures, easing trade flows is in everyone's interests. It's not just about lowering non-tariff trade barriers in Europe and signing FTAs.'Post-Brexit regulatory reforms to support growth, innovation and sustainability can build competitiveness. But divergence for the sake of it could introduce further red tape and friction undermining that mission.'Moreover, we can and must do more domestically to help our exporters too. Now that R&D allocations are known, let's get that funding out the door quickly to the Advanced Research and Invention Agency and others.'In an interview with The Sunday Times, Mr Danker launched a wide-ranging attack on the Government, saying ministers were too focused on political issues instead of the economy. 'You have Conservative politicians pushing for their own ideological favourites in return for supporting the PM,' he said.'Some want tougher action, some want Thatcherite ideas such as right-to-buy, some want harsher rules on immigration, some want to slash personal taxes. And that's working against the right economic picture. Sir Iain Duncan Smith criticised the CBI's response to the new Brexit legislation as 'hopeless''On Brexit we need to stop acting unilaterally... the minute we behave unilaterally we lose the moral high ground and start to escalate towards all kinds of trade disputes.'Mr Danker's comments sparked an angry response from Tory MPs, who questioned if the organisation has accepted the Brexit referendum result.One Cabinet minister told the Daily Mail: 'It is eccentric for the CBI to call for measures to support growth and then oppose lifting obstacles to trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.'But then the CBI has long been in thrall to the EU.'Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: 'Fighting losing battles is the motto of the CBI. Industry in Northern Ireland is suffering and this is their hopeless response.' Former Cabinet minister David Jones said: 'The CBI should be working to help those companies that are having huge difficulties in shipping goods to Northern Ireland because of the way the EU is behaving.'It took a long time for them to repair their relations with the Government after Brexit and I am surprised they are sticking their oar in again.'Today sees the publication of the new legislation designed to ease the problems caused by the EU's implementation of the Northern Ireland protocol. Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis yesterday insisted the new measures would be 'lawful' despite warnings from critics that they risk breaking international law by overriding parts of Boris Johnson's Brexit deal. The Government is expected to publish a summary of the legal advice produced by Attorney General Suella Braverman.It is believed Ms Braverman will argue that the EU's 'disproportionate and unreasonable' imposition of checks is undermining the functioning of the Good Friday Agreement. Brexiteer Sir Bernard Jenkin backed ministers' decision to take unilateral action, saying the EU is 'trying to stuff the UK and force us back into alignment'. | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
China is hosting the annual BRICS summit virtually this year. Pictured here is Chinese President Xi Jinping speaking via video at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, U.S., on Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021.Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesBEIJING — Chinese President Xi Jinping made a rare statement Wednesday about his country's aims to achieve its economic goals for the year.Investment analysts have cut their forecasts for China's GDP growth to well below the official target after stringent Covid controls restricted business activity in the last few months. Government stimulus has been relatively muted so far."We will step up macroeconomic policy adjustment, and adopt more forceful measures to deliver the economic and social development goals for the whole year and minimize the impact of COVID-19," Xi said Wednesday, according to an English-language state media readout.He did not share details on what kind of measures would be used to support growth. Rather than "more forceful," Chinese text of the speech published by state media described forthcoming measures as "more effective," according to a CNBC translation.However, Xi's unusually direct language mark a rare public mention by a senior leader of the full-year economic targets since they were set at an annual meeting in mid-March.Those goals include unemployment in cities of "no more than 5.5%," an increase in the consumer price index of "around 3%" and GDP growth of "around 5.5%."The median GDP forecast among investment banks tracked by CNBC is far lower, at 3.5%.Nomura became the latest to cut earlier this month, with the lowest forecast of 3.3%. Goldman Sachs and Bank of America are the only major investment banks with forecasts of 4% or slightly higher."While growth recovery appears to have accelerated in June, barring dramatically more policy easing, we think the 'around 5.5% GDP growth' target remains extremely challenging this year," Goldman Sachs analyst Maggie Wei and a team said in a note Wednesday.In May, Premier Li Keqiang called on officials at an unprecedentedly massive videoconference to "work hard" for growth in the second quarter. Economic figures in April and May indicated the slowest growth since the initial shock of the pandemic in early 2020.Xi on Wednesday was addressing the opening ceremony of the BRICS — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — business forum. China is hosting the annual gathering of developing countries virtually this year.Read more about China from CNBC ProDuring his speech, Xi said China has coordinated both Covid control and economic development, and would protect people's lives and stabilize the economy as much as possible.Xi said China's 20th National Party Congress in the second half of the year would "chart the course for the next phase of China's development." He added that China would continue to open up its economy and welcome foreign investment.The ruling Communist Party of China reshuffles its top leadership at national congressional meetings every five years. Xi is expected to stay on as president in an unprecedented third term.Boosting auto salesSeparately on Wednesday, Premier Li headed a meeting of the State Council — the top executive body — that noted the importance of consumption for driving economic growth.The meeting called in particular for measures to support auto sales, and estimated a boost of 200 billion yuan ($29.85 billion) to auto-related sales this year as a result.That's about 0.5% of China's total retail sales in 2021, according to Goldman Sachs. | Asia Business & Economics |
Key Points
- Prpoerty developer Tim Gurner has said unemployment needs to rise in Australia.
- He was speaking at a business event.
- He has been criticised by politicians and workers for his comments.
Property developer Tim Gurner has faced criticism from internet users and politicians from Australia and abroad, for comments he made about construction workers being "paid a lot to do not much" and the country's economy needing economic "pain".
Gurner, who is the CEO of luxury building company Gurner Group, was speaking at The Australian Financial Review’s Property Summit on Tuesday.
"I think the problem that we've had is people decided they didn't actually want to work that much through COVID, and that has had a massive issue through productivity," he said.
"Tradies have definitely pulled back on productivity. They have been paid a lot do not much in the last few years and we need to see that change."
Gurner said people need to be reminded they work for the employer, "not the other way around".
"In my view, we need to see pain in the economy. I mean, there’s been a systematic change where employees feel the employer is extremely lucky to have them as opposed to the other way around."
He said there needs to be a 40-50 per cent rise in unemployment.
The Reserve Bank of Australia has acknowledged that in its plan to bring inflation down businesses will be squeezed and unemployment will rise.
The bank said in February: "the central forecast is for the unemployment rate to increase to 3.75 per cent by the end of this year and 4.25 per cent by mid-2025".
It has repeated similar claims throughout the year, as it hit Australians with ultimately a 4 per cent rise in interest rates since May last year.
Gurner conceded: "there are definitely massive lay-offs going off and people might not be talking about it, but people are definitely laying people off and we’re starting to see less arrogance in the employment market and that has to continue, because that will cascade across the cost balance."
Asked at the summit how housing supply could be improved, Gurner said the planning system needed to be "fixed" and said Sydney's planning system was "fundamentally broken". He also said "we absolutely have to have migration" to supply tradespeople in key areas.
US Democratic Party politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shared a video of Gurner's comments about unemployment online and said they were a: "reminder that major CEOs have skyrocketed their own pay so much that the ratio of CEO-to-worker pay is now at some of the highest levels ever recorded".
Australian Medical Association President Steve Robson labelled Gurner's statement on unemployment: "breathtakingly irresponsible."
"Unemployment is associated with a range of adverse health outcomes including suicide. I say this with some confidence having studied suicide and unemployment," he said.
Labor MP Julian Hill slammed Mr Gurner as "self-interested".
"A billionaire property developer calls for higher unemployment and higher migration all at once," he said.
“He’s right about productivity and the need to speed up planning and building approvals, but his views on unemployment and industrial relations can go where the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine."
NSW Liberal senator Andrew Bragg said productivity growth was a much better objective than increasing unemployment.
"The government for vested interests only wants to pursue economic policies which reduce productivity such as destroying labour hire and pattern bargaining," Bragg said.
"They should pursue policies to help all Australians not just unions and super funds."
Greens senator Nick McKim said it was rare the "hatred felt for working people by the capitalist classes be displayed in such stark relief".
"Mr Gurner’s comments are disgusting, but unfortunately, his willingness to cast people into destitution for the sake of some grander economic project is not limited to CEOs," McKim said.
He also said higher unemployment was part of the Reserve Bank and the Albanese government’s plan to tackle inflation. | Australia Business & Economics |
The hostage deal between Israel and Hamas partially fell apart last week because Hamas wanted to prevent the remaining Israeli women it holds in Gaza from talking about their time in custody, US State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters in Washington on Monday. “It seems one of the reasons they don’t want to turn women over that they have been holding hostage and the reason this pause fell apart is that they do not want these women to be able to talk about what happened to them during their time in custody,” Miller said during an emotional moment in the press conference.
Many women and children still hostage in Gaza
Miller spoke four days after a week-long pause in the Gaza war ended on December 1. That deal allowed for Hamas to release 81 of the 240 captives it had seized during its October 7 infiltration into southern Israel in which it also killed over 1,200 people.
Some 17 to 20 women and children remained behind, with the US and Israel charging that Hamas violated that deal. Some eight of those captives also hold US citizenship.Miller defended the resumption of Israel’s military campaign to oust Hamas from Gaza that began after the October 7 attack. He blamed Hamas for the war and said that more people should call for the terror group to lay down its arms.Advertisement“It is Hamas that is putting [Palestinian] civilians in harm's way. I am surprised that I do not hear more people say why doesn’t Hamas move out of schools? why doesn’t Hamas take additional steps to protect civilians? Because we think they should as we think Israel should.“We would welcome Hamas laying down its arms at any point,” he added. “They could do it today if they cleared about Palestinian civilian life.”Miller also called on Israel to do more to protect civilians in Gaza, as Hamas asserted that close to 16,000 Palestinians have been killed in war-related violence.The United States is watching IDF actions in Gaza “very closely,” Miller said as he explained that there were differences between Israel’s military campaign that resumed on December 1 and the one that ended on November 24. “Too many Palestinians were killed in the opening weeks of the conflict, “ Miller said.“We have seen a more targeted request for evacuations” by Israel so that the army is focused on clearing specific points rather than asking an entire city to evacuate, Miller said.Civilians have been asked to relocate to “de-confliction zones rather than being asked to flee, Miller said.During US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to Israel last week, he clarified to officials “We do not want a military campaign in the south that looks like it was in the north.”Blinken was briefed “on plans intended to avoid mass casualties.”It was understood that there would be civilian casualties, “that is true in all war zones and is particularly true here” given that Hamas operates from within civilian areas, Miller said.The US has also spoken with Israel about doing more to crack down on attacks by extremist settlers against innocent Palestinians in the West Bank, Miller said.“We have seen them take some steps to respond to violence. We do not think those steps have been sufficient. They need to prosecute people who engage in violence against [innocent] Palestinians,” he said.“We have made very clear to the Israeli government that we will be taking additional steps to hold people accountable for violent extremism,” he said, explaining that this could include visa restrictions.Miller also addressed the issue of rising antisemitism, condemning it in the strongest terms.“We oppose antisemitism wherever we see it,” Miller said. It’s tragic that after October 7, “one of the responses has been an increase in antisemitism that is extremely tragic and it’s incumbent on everyone in positions of authority to speak out.” | Middle East Business & Economics |
SINGAPORE — Asia-Pacific markets were set to rise on Thursday, tracking U.S. stocks after the Federal Reserve raised benchmark interest rates 75 basis points in a move that equates to the most aggressive hike since 1994.In Japan markets, the Nikkei futures contract in Chicago was at 26,700 while its counterpart in Osaka was at 26,530 — higher than the Nikkei 225's last close at 26,326.16.In Australia, SPI futures were at 6,622, higher than the S&P/ASX 200's last close at 6,601.Following the rate hike in the U.S., Wall Street was volatile but market indexes rose to session highs after the Federal Open Market Committee took the level of its benchmark funds rate to a range of 1.5%-1.75% — the highest since just before the Covid pandemic began in March 2020.Fed Chairman Jerome Powell also said during his afternoon press conference that, "either a 50 basis point or a 75 basis point increase seems most likely at our next meeting."Stock picks and investing trends from CNBC Pro:The Dow Jones Industrial Average snapped a five-day losing streak, jumping 303.70 points, or 1%, to close at 30,668.53. The S&P 500 rose 1.46% to 3,789.99 while, the Nasdaq Composite gained 2.5% to end the day at 11,099.15.The Fed said in a statement it was committed to bringing down inflation — currently at a high of 8.6 per cent — to 2%. It also said it would continue to reduce holdings of Treasury securities and agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities.Economic data for Asia Pacific today includes Australian unemployment figures and Japan's trade data.CurrenciesThe U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 105.158. The index has turned downwards after hitting this week's high on Tuesday at 105.298.The Japanese yen traded at 134.07 per dollar, strengthening markedly from earlier trade this week. The Australian dollar was at $0.7002, also jumping against the U.S. dollar after weakening to 0.68 earlier this week. | Interest Rates |
The technological improvements that technology has brought are sensitive at many levels: institutional, commercial, but also at the private level. This phenomenon covers various sectors such as digital leisure, health, transportation, communication … Obviously, the economy of the people, or more specifically, the way to manage it, these advances introduced new possibilities for has benefited from.
The Internet age means more convenience for many citizens, despite the fact that adaptation has been somewhat uneven and easier for digital natives. Also in the financial sector, especially exemplified by digital banking, a tool that has already been followed by a very significant section of society. Many processes have been simplified and provided comfort and urgency for various common tasks, such as transfers, balance enquiries, resolution of doubts through various processes or individual managers who can be contacted online. Logically, this digitization has been very beneficial for these entities as well, as it has managed to reduce costs and enhance their service offerings. However, it is not the only banking companies that have taken this route. Broker-dealers and brokers also want to be involved in this modernization process and have offered their digital options to their clients to be able to operate.
But this progress has brought something else. It is a democratization of possibilities for users. Entities, let’s call them, “classic” have seen the emergence of a series of new companies that, with the wind in favor of technological advancements, have appeared to the general public, offering a variety of services that are now Till now only established companies were reserved. Fintech companies are offering important services such as loans, distribution of financial products, investing in foreign exchange or stocks, among other examples. With up-to-the-minute information and the possibility of taking action in a comfortable and fast manner, the fact of being able to invest from the options offered by technology has been widely accepted, not only by those who There are already more traditional ways to do this before, but also for many new individual investors. In addition, the most advanced Spanish trading platforms, such as NAGA, offer the possibility to receive training in this regard or other innovative options such as “copy trading”, which allows you to copy some of the most experienced traders of your choice. Is. Another tool that has shown a powerful advance is that of payment methods, which include new formulas and customization of many other classics. Debit cards are no longer a typical legacy of banks. Now, some platforms, such as the aforementioned NAGA broker, offer their own products, such as NAGA Pay, one of the elements of the app, with which, you can manage your own money and make various investments. The ones that we have discussed above and others are related to the purchase of forex or cryptocurrencies. Of course, there are other services that these companies can offer depending on their specialty. For example, some of them are focused on mentoring and money management. Others have opted for alternative financing, sometimes through microcredit or other options such as “crowd equity”. Be that as it may, it is important that these companies adhere to privacy, reliability and security standards. Fortunately, Main has the latest technological equipment and a great technical team behind them to ensure these aspects are of great importance to the customers and ensure a smooth experience.
In short, we are talking about a technology that has facilitated various daily tasks and provided new options to other customers which, on many occasions, they were not used to using. Obviously, development and improvement will continue, so we will see new possibilities in a short time. | Banking & Finance |
Russian Rouble banknote is placed on Chinese Yuan banknotes in this illustration taken May 30, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comJuly 7 (Reuters) - Russians have rushed to buy Chinese yuan to diversify their holdings away from U.S. dollars and euros, the state bank Otkritie said, as the finance ministry aims to re-start foreign exchange interventions using 'friendly' nations' currencies.Demand for the yuan has increased eightfold since May 20 when the central bank lifted the restrictions on forex-buying that it introduced to limit the impact of western sanctions on the financial sector, Otkritie, under sanctions itself, said in a note.At the same time, purchases of the British pound and Swiss francs by Russians have increased 2.5 times, while other once popular currencies, such as the U.S. dollar and the euro, were less in demand, Otkritie added.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com"The Chinese yuan has shown stability and relatively low volatility over the past years, and it can become the main tool for diversifying forex savings," Aliya Zubkova, deputy head of the financial markets department at Otkritie, told Reuters.Rouble-yuan trading volumes hit a record high of 44.3 billion roubles ($703 million) this week, the Moscow Exchange said, as the finance ministry seeks to re-start forex buying using what Russia terms 'friendly' currencies to curb the rouble's growth. read more The Moscow Exchange launched rouble-yuan trading in 2013 and in April, its daily trading volumes reached 25 billion roubles.Authorities in Russia stopped buying foreign currency via market interventions in early 2022, under a budget rule designed to shield the rouble from external shocks and ease pressure on the currency that was falling sharply.It has recovered strongly, climbing to seven-year highs just over a week ago.The rouble remains the world's best performing currency this year even though it has shed about 20% against the dollar since last month's peaks as officials voiced concerns about its strength, which dents Russia's income from exporting commodities and other goods priced in dollars and euros.The finance ministry has yet to announce how it plans to conduct forex buying.Economists say the comfortable level for the rouble would be around 70-80 per U.S. dollar.($1 = 63.0500 roubles)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Reuters; editing by Barbara LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Forex Trading & Speculation |
For months, sky-high prices have pummeled the budgets of everyday Americans.But many have offset the damage, at least in part, with wage increases driven by high demand for workers and resilient consumer spending. In short, strong pockets of the economy have blunted the worst effects of severe inflation.But the economy will likely cool off in the coming months as the Federal Reserve raises borrowing costs through a series of interest rate hikes — an effort to tame inflation by slowing down the economy and eating away at demand. If the policy works, it will dial back inflation while preserving a stable level of economic growth and low unemployment, experts told ABC News.But an unsuccessful series of rate hikes could fail to reduce prices while dramatically slowing the economy, experts said. Such an outcome would bring about stagflation — a mix of the words stagnation and inflation — which describes an economy with low growth and high prices. In other words, the high prices remain, but the lifeline of elevated income disappears."Stagflation is basically the worst of all worlds," Veronika Dolar, a professor of economics at Long Island-based State University of New York Old Westbury, told ABC News. "It's the place you definitely don't want to be."What is stagflation?Usually, in good economic times, low unemployment forces employers to raise wages so they can retain or attract workers, which heightens consumer demand and steepens price increases. Conversely, a slow economy typically results in stagnant wages, reduced demand, and slashed prices, the latter of which helps to relieve the financial strain for those who lose their jobs or receive diminished pay, Dolar said.On rare occasions, however, high inflation persists even as the economy slows and unemployment rises, resulting in stagflation, she said.Job seekers and employers meet during a Job Fair at the Hotel Indigo in Riverhead, New York, on April 7, 2022.Newsday via Getty Images, FILENo single economic authority formally decides whether stagflation has occurred, unlike a period of recession, which the National Bureau of Economic Research determines, Campbell Harvey, a professor of finance at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, told ABC News.The last major bout of stagflation took place in the 1970s, when an oil shortage sent gas and other related prices soaring as it simultaneously dragged down economic output. But the crisis of the 1970s offers few lessons for the current moment, since the U.S. economy is far less reliant on gas expenditures and foreign oil, Harvey said.Instead, present-day inflation is owed to generous central bank and Congressional policies in response to the pandemic, which flooded the economy with money, spiked demand and exacerbated a supply chain bottleneck, Harvey said. Moreover, the price crunch has intensified amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he added.Some economists, like Dolar, believe we're already in a period of stagflation. She noted that the U.S. gross domestic product shrank at an annual rate of 1.4% over the first three months of this year, even as inflation remained historically high. But Harvey disagrees, saying stagflation hasn't arrived but poses a real threat.Why stagflation mattersStagflation hurts people in two different ways, Harvey told ABC News."One, the stuff you're buying is more expensive," he said. "And two, you have less income."Echoing the sentiment, Dolar said: "You're already on your knees, struggling, and you get kicked in your gut."A car drives by an Exxon gas station displaying its prices in Washington DC, June 10, 2022.Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA via ShutterstockThe lack of purchasing power ripples through the economy, denting business revenue and draining savings, Harvey said.Stagflation offers no easy solutions, since generous fiscal policy or low borrowing costs may juice the economy but also risk raising inflation, while increased borrowing costs could bring down inflation but risk slowing growth even further, Dolar said.The treacherous economic moment calls for financial prudence, Harvey said."Now is not the time to max out your credit card to go for a vacation," he said. "Now is not the time for a small business to go to the bank and bet the business to do an expansion.""Now is the time for risk management," he added. | Inflation |
Some 1.4 million Australians are of Chinese ancestry, or about 5.5% of the population. Given the size of the community, it will be an important voting bloc in the upcoming referendum on a Voice to Parliament for First Nations people.
But while the government and the “yes” and “no” campaigns are translating some information into Chinese, it appears very little is gaining traction in the Chinese Australian online community.
According to our research, the Voice referendum has garnered limited attention on WeChat, the popular Chinese messaging app, compared to discussions on other issues, such as immigration, the economy and property prices.
As we draw closer to the referendum, we’ve also seen right-wing political rhetoric and misinformation come to dominate what little online discussion there has been.
Our research found the “no” campaign was resonating much more than “yes” on WeChat, particularly among conservative voices within the community. Among the 339 comments we collected and analysed, the vast majority (about 98.5%) leaned towards voting “no”, while just five comments unequivocally expressed support for the “yes” side.
Translated media reports
Our study used a tool called WeCapture to collect and archive public posts and comments on WeChat related to the referendum.
Between February and September, we collected more than 110 public posts, two short videos and 339 public comments in total. None of the posts had more than 20,000 views – showing how little the debate has resonated with Chinese Australians.
We were only able to analyse public WeChat accounts, as opposed to private discussions between individuals or in groups. As a result, commercial media accounts run by Chinese migrants, such as sydtoday, meltoday, AFNDaily, and melvlife, played a pivotal role in shaping these discussions.
Many of these posts were translated news reports on the Voice from the English-language media. These posts covered a broad range of topics, including explanations on the scope of the proposed Voice, analysis of Australian public sentiment about the Voice and reports on “yes” and “no” campaign rallies.
We found these media accounts sometimes editorialised the translated English sources to align with readers’ expectations and the accounts’ business imperatives. For instance, in the screengrab of a WeChat post below, the headline reads:
Breaking news! After 24 years, Australia has announced: an immediate mandatory nationwide referendum will be held. Everyone must participate. Australia is about to undergo significant changes.
This translation conveys a sense of emergency and ambiguity to entice WeChat users to click on the link.
Posts from the official groups
Other posts came from the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC), the Victorian Labor Party, the Yes Campaign Alliance and other content producers, also translated into Mandarin. These appeared on influential WeChat media accounts such as sydtoday and Mel_life.
The AEC posted a series of sponsored articles to explain the Voice and the voting procedure (as seen in the post below). The AEC posts were much more formal and official sounding than most public posts on WeChat.
The “yes” campaign has also embedded image banners within WeChat posts, such as the one below, authorised by Dean Parkin, director of the Yes Campaign Alliance.
And in a short video posted the Victorian Labor Party, Carina Garland, the MP for Chisholm, conducted an interview with Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus to explain the Voice referendum and its significance. The video, which features Chinese subtitles and is specifically targeting Chinese Australians, only received 20 likes and was shared just 25 times. It also got no comments from WeChat users.
Posts from ‘no’ campaigners
In our research, we found WeChat users who were leaning towards a “no” vote had many concerns, including:
fears the Voice could somehow disempower the Chinese Australian community
the perception taxes could increase due to Labor’s “leftist politics”
skepticism towards the Albanese government
fears the Voice could lead to “racial divide” and “apartheid” in Australia
and the prevalence of conspiracy theories associated with white supremacy ideologies.
One account named YamiChew has published a series of “no” campaign videos. The profile says the owner of the account transitioned from a professional career in Beijing to an immigrant life in Melbourne.
The account underwent a notable transformation at the end of September, from posting videos of the family dog to advocating for the “no” campaign. Compared to most WeChat posts about the referendum, YamiChew’s first video gained significant traction on the platform, with over 10,000 reposts, 1,800 likes and more than 300 comments within 24 hours of its release.
The video listed four reasons to vote “no”, which included claims that have been dismissed elsewhere as misinformation, such as concerns over the Voice’s impact on Australia’s “constitutional integrity”, fears of “racial inequality” if the referendum succeeded, and claims it would lead to “Indigenous priviledge”.
Why countering misinformation matters
Migrants from diverse socio-cultural backgrounds possess varying levels of literacy regarding Indigenous affairs.
As a result, Australian public institutions need to craft messages that are not only linguistically accessible, but also adapted to the information consumption habits of migrant communities.
The government also needs to take steps to address the amount of misinformation in the Chinese-language media and social media.
The government’s bill to curb the online spread of false and misleading information, for instance, does not include non-English-language platforms in its scope.
On WeChat, misinformation that is not directly linked to Beijing’s political interests tends to fall outside the scope of platform regulators.
This means it’s up to public institutions to counter misleading information. They can do this by working with local communities to provide credible information on all matters of public interest, not just during the referendum campaign.
The author would like to acknowledge Robbie Fordyce from Monash University and Luke Heemsbergen from Deakin University for their participation in the research project. | Australia Business & Economics |
Job vacancies hit record 1.3million as firms battle for workers and pubs say staff are QUITTING because they don't want to work weekends - but Britons still face huge squeeze with wages lagging behind inflation by the biggest margin in a DECADEOfficial figures show job vacancies hitting new record of 1.3m in quarter to MayUnemployment dipped and inactivity also down - but still above pre-pandemicBritons still facing a huge squeeze as wages are rising slower than inflation Published: 02:48 EDT, 14 June 2022 | Updated: 04:14 EDT, 14 June 2022 Businesses' desperate scramble for staff was underlined today as figures showed job vacancies hitting a new record and unemployment down 0.2 percentage points. Official figures showed 1.3million unfilled jobs in the three months to May, while numbers on payrolls were up 90,000 from April to a new high of 29.6million last month. Meanwhile, unemployment dropped to 3.8 per cent in the quarter to April, and inactivity nudged down - although it is still above pre-pandemic levels.The figures were revealed amid more examples of the struggle for firms to get staff, with reports that people are quitting pubs because they don't want to work weekends. However, the overheating labour market is not sparing workers from a pay squeeze - with inflation outstripping wage rises by the biggest margin in a decade.Official figures show that taking inflation into account regular pay fell by 2.2 per cent between February and April, while even including bonuses it barely broke even up 0.4 per cent. Rishi Sunak claimed the jobs market is 'robust' and pointed to the low level of redundancies, despite fears the economy is grinding to a halt amid the Ukraine crisis. Sam Beckett, head of economic statistics at the Office for National Statistics (ONS), said: 'Today's figures continue to show a mixed picture for the labour market. Official figures showed 1.3million unfilled jobs in the three months to May Official figures show that taking inflation into account regular pay fell by 2.2 per cent between February and April, while even including bonuses it barely broke even up 0.4 per cent'While the number of people in employment is up again in the three months to April, the figure remains below pre-pandemic levels.'Moreover, although the number of people neither in work nor looking for a job has fallen slightly in the latest period, that remains well up on where it was before Covid-19 struck.'At the same time, unemployment is close to a 50-year low point and there was a record low number of redundancies.'Job vacancies are still slowly rising, too. At a new record level of 1.3 million, this is over half a million more than before the onset of the pandemic.'She added: 'The high level of bonuses continues to cushion the effects of rising prices on total earnings for some workers, but if you exclude bonuses, pay in real terms is falling at its fastest rate in over a decade.'Mr Sunak said: 'Today's stats show our jobs market remains robust with redundancies at an all time low.'Helping people into work is the best way to support families in the long term, and we are continuing to support people into new and better jobs.'We are also providing immediate help with rising prices - 8 million of the most vulnerable families will receive at least £1,200 of direct payments this year, with all families receiving £400.'Employment minister Mims Davies said: 'Today the unemployment rate remains close to a 50 year low, and still below pre-pandemic levels, with almost two million more women in work than 2010.' Rishi Sunak claimed the jobs market is 'robust' and pointed to the low level of redundancies, despite fears the economy is grinding to a halt amid the Ukraine crisis Advertisement | Unemployment |
Five days before thein Israel's history, a warning may have appeared on stock exchanges.
A study by researchers from Columbia University and NYU called "Trading on Terror?" suggests that a trader may have been aware of the coming attack, bet against the Israeli economy and walked away with a profit by short selling on the U.S. and Israeli stock exchanges.
Short selling is a trading strategy aimed at making a profit off an asset that is expected to drop in price; the seller "borrows" a security and sells it on the open market with the goal of buying it back later at a lower price and pocketing the difference.
The study looked at the Israel Exchange-Traded Fund, a common way for people to make investments in Israel, which on any given day has around 2,000 shares shorted. On Oct. 2, that number shot up to over 227,000 shares.
According to Columbia Law School Professor Joshua Mitts, one of the authors of the study, "that's extremely unusual." It was also profitable: the shares sold short for one Israeli company alone yielded a profit of nearly $900,000.
Mitts and his co-author, Professor Robert J. Jackson Jr., ran a number of comparisons over the past 13 years to see whether the same thing had happened before other major moments of instability in Israel, like the 2014 Israel-Gaza war, the COVID-19 pandemic, or the millions of Israelis to take to the streets .that led
They found that the short-selling activity in early October was "really extraordinary, even when you compare it to those periods of instability, which there were many."
Something similar had happened before, though — on April 3, a couple of days before the Jewish holiday of Passover. The study links this to an Israeli media report claiming Hamas had initially planned its attack for the eve of Passover.
"It's almost the same magnitude.What are the odds?" asks Mitts.
"The other thing we know," he adds, "is that this looks to have been the product of a single trader, based on what we can see in the data. This is extraordinarily unusual."
All of this led them to their conclusion that the trades were not a coincidence, but a tactic by someone who knew the attack was coming.
"We think it's virtually impossible this happened by chance," Mitts told CBS News.
Finding out exactly who made the trades, and the profit, would be "exceedingly difficult," and Mitts says he is "pretty pessimistic" that whoever was betting against the Israeli economy will be found. Similarly, Mitts says it's "not so easy to stop this sort of trading" from happening. Instead, he suggests a different goal.
"What we really need to be asking is how do we internalize this sort of trading information in the public consciousness, from an intelligence standpoint, from a public discussions standpoint, from a policy standpoint. What are these signals? What are they teaching us?"
There is growing evidence of the massive intelligence failures that preceded the Oct. 7 attacks. An Israeli soldier told CBS News last week that her team reported unusual activity on the Gaza side of the border beginning six months before the attack to her superiors in the IDF, but "they didn't take anything seriously."
Mitts says this study shows yet another missed signal: "The stock market was screaming, "There's something going on!""
In response to the study, the Israel Securities Authority has said: "The matter is known to the authority and is under investigation by all the relevant parties."
"I don't mean to say we found the next prediction of the future," Mitts says, but he believes their work points to a tool that must be incorporated into the intelligence arsenal. "We shouldn't have to write the paper two months later that reveals this."
for more features. | Stocks Trading & Speculation |
PM brushes away question about the critical comments made by new cost of living tsar Labour's Anna McMorrin has read out a criticism of the prime minister made by the government's newly appointed cost of living tsar.David Buttress, founder of Just Eat, was appointed yesterday - but in January he posted on Twitter: "Why is it that the worse people often rise to the highest office and stay there?"Ms McMorrin said: "If his own tsar doesn't have faith in him, tell me why those struggling should?"The prime minister brushed off the question, saying "this is a government that gets on and delivers on our promises to the people, in particular getting Brexit done."I read the other day that she wants to go back into the single market and the customs union, that's the real policy of the Labour Party, Mr Speaker." Sexual assault survivors having to 'choose between their mental health and justice' Labour's Sarah Champion brings up the case of a Rotherham survivor who reported her experience to the police and was told not to go for counselling as "it could be used against them in court".She asks the PM to stop the Attorney General from challenging the rules to it is even easy for defence teams to access victims counselling notes "having an immediate chilling effect". Survivors "shouldn't be forced to choose between their mental health and justice". The PM replies that he will "look at the evidence she has, but I think these are very tentative and very difficult issues, particularly as regards the defence cases".He says courts are starting to see a "gradual improvement" in the prosecution rate "and that is because governments across departments are working together to take account of victims' needs". "I agree that progress isn't everything that I would like, but we are seeing progress," he adds. Analysis: Rail strikes question another opportunity for PM to flip attack back on Labour By Amanda Akass, political correspondentThe loud heckling from the Conservative benches during Labour MP Liz Twist's question about the pain ahead for ordinary families hit by the "biggest rail strikes in a generation" highlights a real awkwardness in Labour's position on this issue. The Conservatives have been accusing Labour of backing the strikes after a number of senior party figures expressed their support for the rights of unions to take industrial action. Liz Twist is asking a specific question about why ministers haven't met with the union leaders in a bid to stop the strikes - a key Labour attack line. Sir Keir Starmer is accusing the prime minister of wanting the strikes to go ahead to stoke division. But it's a division which is politically very useful for the under-pressure prime minister to exploit. This question gives him a useful opportunity to flip the attack back onto the opposition with his aside "we all know how much money the Labour front bench take from the RMT" and repeating the demand he's already made several times this PMQs for Labour to "come out and condemn the RMT" - in an echo of his claim to Sir Keir that.It's an uncomfortable moment for Labour after a question from one of their own MPs. Lib Dem leader has by-election in his sights in question on rural fuel duty relief Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey seemed to have the upcoming by-election in Tiverton and Honiton in his sights when he asked his question."Millions of families across our country are suffering because of the cost of living emergency, and people in rural areas are especially bearing the brunt of record fuel price rises," Sir Ed said."The rural fuel duty relief scheme is supposed to help by taking money off the price of petrol with some rural counties are eligible - like Cumbria, like Shropshire, and like Devon.""I think the people of Devon will note because there are families and pensioners across rural counties who are missing out on this support. "So Mr Speaker, as petrol crisis soars, will the prime minister accept our idea to help people in rural counties and expand rural fuel duty relief?"Boris Johnson responded by saying fuel duty had already been cut for everyone across the country "by record sums."The prime minister then accused the Liberal Democrats of using the "blissful fact" that voters "don't know what their policies are" to "go around the country bamboozling the rural communities, not revealing they are in fact in favour of massive green taxes and not revealing they'd like to go straight away back into the common agricultural policy with all the bureaucracy and cost that entails. They don't say that on the doorstep Mr Speaker." Economy a key fault line in debate around Scottish independence By Amanda Akass, political correspondentThe prime minister is responding to Ian Blackford's calls for another Scottish independence referendum with an argument about the economy, arguing "there are other subjects in the national conversation right now" and pointing to the UK's "jobs-led recovery" out of COVID. Clearly the economic arguments for and against independence are a key fault line in the debate over Scotland's future and Boris Johnson is keen to make the point to Scottish voters that they would be worse off as an independent country. But while the Conservative MPs cheer loudly behind him, the country's economic strength is clearly wobbly ground which Mr Blackford is able to exploit in his response, pointing out that the UK has only the second worst growth forecast in the G20 after sanctioned Russia. PM asked to intervene for retired geologist facing 15 years in Iraqi jail Neale Hanvey raises the case of Jim Fitton, a retired geologist who has been jailed for 15 years in Iraq.Mr Fitton, originally from Bath, was arrested in Baghdad at the end of March after collecting stones and shards during a visit to an ancient site in Eridu.Mr Hanvey, his local MP, says: "The judge passing sentence does not believe Mr Fitton had any criminal intent."He asks the PM will meet with him and other MPs.Boris Johnson replies he has a "great deal of sympathy" and says he will get Mr Hanvey a meeting with the relevant minister as soon as possible. Analysis: Theatrical Starmer seems to be enjoying himself By Amanda Akass, political correspondentSir Keir Starmer seems to be enjoying himself as he reads out a list of negative quotes about the prime minister made by his own MPs - only last week of course, four in ten of them voted to kick him out. In a much more theatrical style than we normally see from the Labour leader - to resounding cheers from his own side and shaking heads from the Tory benches - he urges the Conservative MPs to own up to quotes like "dragging everyone down", "authority is destroyed" and "can't win back trust". Needless to say, none of the Tories respond to his request to put their hands up. In a line which nods to critics in his own party, he says his personal favourite criticism of the prime minister is circulating in a document calling him "the Conservative Corbyn" - adding "I don't think they meant that as a compliment".It's a rather extraordinary to hear a party leader attempting to insult his opposite number by comparing him to his own predecessor, but it's a line which Sir Keir is using to highlight the changes he has sought to make in his own party in drawing a very clear division between himself and Jeremy Corbyn. 'Scotland is being held back by Westminster' says SNP "Yesterday, our first minister started a national conversation to choose an independent future," says Ian Blackford.He says neighbours are "outperforming the United Kingdom" adding: "They deliver greater income and equality, lower poverty rates, higher productivity... the evidence is overwhelming. Scotland is being held back by Westminster."Responding, the PM says "there are other subjects in the national conversation right now".He references payroll employment, and investment across the whole of the UK: "And the whole of the UK standing strong together on the international stage and speaking up for Ukrainians".Mr Blackford accuses the PM of "living in his own little world" adding: "Our nation [Scotland] is big enough, rich enough. And smart enough that Scotland simply can't afford to remain trapped in the Westminster system." 'A Conservative Corbyn' Sir Keir throws comments made by Tory MPs back at the prime minister."They are making a lot of noise now but I have a list of what his MPs really think of him," he says."Dragging everyone down - who said that? Come on, hands up?"His authority is destroyed, come on hands up, which of you said that?"Can't win back trust - they're all very quiet now."He then moves on to his "personal favourite" from "a document circulated by his backbench in which they call him the Conservative Corbyn". Starmer accuses PM of 'screwing' the economy Sir Keir Starmer says the prime minister is "not just denying how bad things are. He's actively making things worse." In a fiery exchange the Labour leader said: "Mr Speaker, we know what the prime minister says about British business in private. I think that's pretty parliamentary but when did screwing business turn from a flippant comment into economic policy?"In his response, the prime minister said: "Never forget Mr Speaker that under Labour taxes go up on businesses and on people.""Labour have already made spending commitments in this parliament alone worth £94 billion more than the government - that's £2,100 for every household in the country. No wonder no Labour government has ever left office with unemployment lower than when they came in." Due to your consent preferences, you’re not able to view this. Open Privacy Options | Inflation |
The U.N. Secretary General has slammed new funding for fossil fuel exploration, describing it as “delusional” and calling for an abandonment of fossil fuel finance.In remarks delivered via video to the Austrian World Summit in Vienna, António Guterres issued a sobering assessment of the planet’s prospects.“The energy crisis exacerbated by the war in Ukraine has seen a perilous doubling down on fossil fuels by the major economies,” he said on Tuesday.“The war has reinforced an abject lesson: our energy mix is broken,” Guterres said. “Had we invested massively in renewable energy in the past, we should not be so dramatically at the mercy of the instability of fossil fuel markets now.”Concerns related to both the energy transition and energy security have been thrown into sharp relief by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with the price of both oil and gas continuing to surge in recent months.Russia is a significant supplier of both, and a number of major economies have formulated plans to reduce their reliance on its hydrocarbons in recent months. This desire to move away from Russian imports has led to some challenging situations. In May, the European Commission fleshed out details of a plan to ramp up the EU’s renewable energy capacity and reduce its reliance on Russian fossil fuels. It simultaneously acknowledged that existing coal facilities may have to be used for “longer than initially expected.”Coal has a substantial effect on the environment and the U.S. Energy Information Administration lists a range of emissions from its combustion. These include carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, particulates and nitrogen oxides.Elsewhere, Greenpeace has described coal as “the dirtiest, most polluting way of producing energy.”In his speech to the summit in Vienna, the U.N.’s Guterres highlighted the “crippling prices” currently being experienced by businesses and households. “Our world faces climate chaos,” he added.“New funding for fossil fuel exploration and production infrastructure is delusional,” he said. “It will only further feed the scourge of war, pollution and climate catastrophe.”The former prime minister of Portugal also called on “all financial actors to abandon fossil fuel finance” and invest in renewables instead.“The only true path to energy security, stable power prices, prosperity and a livable planet lies in abandoning polluting fossil fuels — especially coal — and accelerating the renewables-based energy transition,” he said.Renewable energy sources, Guterres argued, were “the peace plan of the 21st century.” He outlined a strategy that would, he claimed, “jumpstart the renewable energy transition.”This included a tripling of investments in renewables, moving energy subsidies away from fossil fuels to renewables, and fast-tracking approvals for wind and solar projects.‘Not good enough’On the planet’s future, Guterres delivered an urgent rallying call.“The window to prevent the worst impacts of the climate crisis is closing fast,” he said. “Our planet has already warmed by as much as 1.2 degrees.”“To keep the 1.5-degree goal within reach,” he said, “we must reduce emissions by 45 percent by 2030 and reach net zero emissions by mid-century. But current national commitments will lead to an increase by almost 14 percent this decade.”Guterres’ reference to 1.5 degrees Celsius relates to the Paris Agreement’s target of limiting global warming “to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.”In a nod to a recent report from the International Energy Agency, he also noted that 2021 had seen energy-related global CO2 emissions jump by 6 percent in 2021. “Let me be blunt,” he said. “Most national climate pledges are simply not good enough.”Guterres’ comments represent his latest intervention in the discussion about climate change and the future of the energy sector.In March, he said the planet had emerged from last year’s COP26 climate summit in Glasgow with “a certain naïve optimism” and was “sleepwalking to climate catastrophe.”In the same speech, he also said coal was a “stupid investment — leading to billions in stranded assets.” | Energy & Natural Resources |
An increasing number of people and groups are warning that a recession is on the horizon as the Federal Reserve drives up interest rates to cool the country’s smoldering inflation. Many economists thought inflation had peaked when it declined to an 8.3% annual rate in April. But then, Friday’s consumer price index report showed inflation rising again to 8.6%, the highest since 1981, leading investors to think the Fed might take extraordinary steps to lower price pressures. Those steps are expected to include a two-thirds of a percentage point rate hike Wednesday, an aggressive course of action that hasn’t been taken since 1994. As the Fed works to cool inflation, it will also slow spending, leading to a growing number of recession forecasts. Still, a recession is by no means a certainty, and many economists are pointing to the country’s strong labor market and unemployment numbers in betting that the Fed, led by Chairman Jerome Powell, can pull off a so-called soft landing, which means driving down inflation while sidestepping a recession. Here are a few prominent instances of recession warnings: Brian Armstrong Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announced Tuesday that his company would be laying off nearly 20% of its employees. He cited the likelihood of a recession as part of the reasoning behind the decision. “We appear to be entering a recession after a 10+ year economic boom. A recession could lead to another crypto winter, and could last for an extended period,” Armstrong said in an email to staff, which he later published in a blog post. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have been in the gutter since the start of the year. The digital currencies have fallen alongside traditional stocks, albeit at quicker paces, as investors fret about the state of the economy and start to flee from such risky assets in anticipation of a prolonged economic downturn. World Bank The World Bank said last week that many countries across the world are going to struggle to prevent a recession this year and pared down its global growth forecast. Global growth is now expected to fall to 2.9%, a decrease of 1.2 percentage points from the previous forecast at the start of the year, the World Bank announced. The international financial institution said alarm bells are flashing red for a “protracted period of feeble growth and elevated inflation.” “The war in Ukraine, lockdowns in China, supply-chain disruptions, and the risk of stagflation are hammering growth. For many countries, recession will be hard to avoid,” said World Bank President David Malpass. Larry Summers Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers is also warning of a recession. Summers, a Democrat who led the Treasury Department under President Bill Clinton and served as director of the National Economic Council under President Barack Obama, said over the weekend that a recession will “more likely than not” end up happening. “I think when inflation is as high as it is right now, and unemployment is as low as it is right now, it’s almost always been followed within two years by recession,” Summers said. “I think they’re wrong now if anyone’s highly confident that we’re going to avoid recession.” The economist was one of the first to warn about the risk that inflation posed even months before it started accelerating at it is now. In March, he said there might also be a risk of 1970s-style stagflation, which is when prices are rising while the economy and labor market are contracting. Elon Musk Tesla CEO Elon Musk has also predicted that a recession is on the horizon. In response to a question on Twitter last month, the billionaire (and aspiring Twitter owner) said he thinks one will occur but that it will ultimately be a net positive. “Yes, but this is actually a good thing. It has been raining money on fools for too long. Some bankruptcies need to happen,” Musk said in response to the question. “Also, all the COVID stay-at-home stuff has tricked people into thinking that you don’t actually need to work hard. Rude awakening inbound!” Musk predicted a recession of about 12-18 months. Earlier this month, it was reported that in an email to Tesla executives, Musk said he has a “super bad feeling” about the economy and wants to slash about 10% of the company's workforce. Lloyd Blankfein Former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein is also sounding the alarm bells. Blankfein, who is one of the world’s most well-known bankers, said during an interview last month that he thinks there is a “very, very high risk” that the economy will tumble into a recession. “If I were running a big company, I would be very prepared for it. If I was a consumer, I’d be prepared for it. But it’s not baked in the cake,” he said. Jamie Dimon JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, a billionaire who is regarded as one of the leading voices in the world of finance, said the Fed’s plan to continue jacking up interest rates, combined with uncertainty surrounding the war in Ukraine, is causing his firm to prepare for an economic “hurricane.” “That hurricane is right out there, down the road, coming our way. We just don't know if it is a minor one or Superstorm Sandy or [Hurricane] Andrew or something like that. And you better brace yourself,” Dimon cautioned. Dimon said that while some investors might think it’s “sunny” right now and the central bank can handle quantitative tightening while averting a recession, the hurricane is still coming. Academic economists A new survey conducted by the Financial Times in partnership with the University of Chicago Booth School of Business released Monday found that 68% of the 49 economists queried said the most likely timing of a recession is sometime in 2023. Almost 40% said the National Bureau of Economic Research will declare a recession in the first half of next year, while 30% projected one will be declared in the second half. A recession is defined by the NBER, a private academic group, as “a significant decline in economic activity that is spread across the economy and that lasts more than a few months.” Some see it as two consecutive quarters of negative gross domestic product growth. Cardi B The growing risk of a recession has even seeped into pop culture as people increasingly cite rising inflation and economic woes as the most concerning issues facing the country. Rapper Cardi B, who has made headlines for her dalliances with politics and economics in the past, recently wondered about the timing of a recession. “When y’all think they going to announce that we going into a recession?” the "Bodak Yellow" rapper asked on Twitter. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was later asked to respond to Cardi B’s question, though Yellen pushed back on the notion and said she doesn’t see a recession coming. “Consumer spending is very strong. Investment spending is solid. I expect growth to slow down,” Yellen said. And there are some economists and officials within the Biden administration that have said a full-blown recession is unlikely. Those individuals point to the strong labor market as having the resiliency to weather the adverse economic effects that the Fed’s tightening cycle will bring. The economy beat expectations and added 390,000 jobs last month. Additionally, the country’s unemployment rate remained at 3.6%, an ultralow level that is just about where it was right before the pandemic began to wreak havoc on the economy more than two years ago. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER After the job numbers were released, President Joe Biden touted the strength of the labor market against the backdrop of rising prices. He hinted that the better-than-anticipated jobs numbers offer more support for the Fed in bringing down inflation. “I know that even with today’s good news, a lot of Americans remain anxious, and I understand the feeling,” Biden said. “Because of the enormous progress we’ve made on the economy, the Americans can tackle inflation from a position of strength.” | Inflation |
National flag flies over the Russian Central Bank headquarters in Moscow, Russia May 27, 2022. REUTERS/Maxim ShemetovRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSummaryCompaniesThis content was produced in Russia where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in UkraineMOSCOW, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Russia is considering buying the currencies of "friendly" countries such as China, India and Turkey to hold in its National Wealth Fund (NWF), having lost the ability to buy dollars or euros due to sanctions, the central bank said on Friday.The bank said it was sticking to the policy of a free-floating rouble exchange rate but highlighted that it was important to reinstate a budget rule which diverts excess oil revenues into the rainy day fund.In a report on its monetary policy for 2023-2025, the central bank said various options on how to return to the fiscal rule and replenish the NWF are now being discussed, taking into account the Western sanctions against Russia.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com"The Russian Ministry of Finance is working on the possibility of implementing an operational mechanism of the budget rule mechanism for the replenishment/spending of the NWF in currencies of friendly countries (yuan, rupees, Turkish lira and others)," the central bank said.Under the budget rule, Russia previously bought dollars and euros for the NWF, but not the other currencies. It stopped daily purchases of forex for the fund in early 2022 amid increased volatility in the rouble.The NWF is managed by the finance ministry but is part of the central bank's international reserves, which also include yuan. These totalled around $640 billion as of February, of which nearly half was frozen under Western sanctions.ECONOMY AND RATESThe Russian economy will return to growth in 2024 after two years of contraction and inflation will slow to the 4% target by then, allowing the central bank to bring the key rate to the 5-6% range in 2025, the central bank said."Further developments in the Russian economy are characterised by substantial uncertainty... The main challenge in the coming years is to create the conditions for a successful transformation of the economy," the central bank said.The key interest rate, the main instrument of central bank monetary policy, will average 6.5%-8.5% next year and will gradually decline to 6%-7% in 2024 and 5%-6% in 2025, down from 8% as of now, the bank forecasts in its base case scenario.The central bank also said it saw no strong reason to keep capital controls in place once the risks to the country's financial stability subside.Russia introduced capital controls after Feb. 24 to limit financial stability risks, including imposing a limit on the withdrawal of foreign currency funds from bank accounts.(This story has been refiled, correcting 'Russian' to 'Russia' in headline)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by ReutersOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Banking & Finance |
Hani Mohammed/AP
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Houthi supporters chant slogans and hold signs reading "Death to America, Death to Israel," as they attend a rally on March 26, 2023, in Sanaa, Yemen.
Hani Mohammed/AP
Houthi supporters chant slogans and hold signs reading "Death to America, Death to Israel," as they attend a rally on March 26, 2023, in Sanaa, Yemen.
Hani Mohammed/AP
Since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out in Gaza in October, some have been warning that the localized fighting could erupt into a regional conflict.
Those warnings came when Hezbollah vollied rockets into Israel from across the border in Lebanon and as the U.S. sent two aircraft carriers and supporting ships to the region.
And they came again on Sunday when Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen attacked commercial vessels in the Red Sea in an incident that also involved a U.S. warship on patrol in the area.
U.S. Central Command said the Houthis attacked three ships over several hours using ballistic missiles and drones, several of which American forces shot down.
CENTCOM said it had "every reason to believe that these attacks, while launched by the Houthis in Yemen, are fully enabled by Iran. The United States will consider all appropriate responses in full coordination with its international allies and partners."
Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree took credit for attacking two of the ships, saying the group was blocking Israeli ships from passing through the Red Sea until Israel halted its military operations in Gaza.
In addition to the attacks by Hezbollah and the Houthis, other militant groups backed by Iran have carried out dozens of attacks against U.S. military forces spread throughout the Middle East in recent weeks, according to the Pentagon. While these attacks have been frequent, they've so far been on a relatively small scale and the U.S. has responded with limited airstrikes. Yet they point to the volatility in the region and the possibility that attacks could escalate into a much larger battle.
Who are the Houthis, and what do they want?
The Houthis emerged as a rebel group in the late 1980s and '90s, but grew in military might after the turn of the century and went to war with the Yemeni government.
In 2014, the Houthis overthrew the country's government and gained control of the capital, Sanaa, which the militia still controls today. Houthis follow a branch of Shia Islam, as does the Iranian leadership, which helped lead to their alliance.
In 2015, a coalition of countries led by Saudi Arabia launched a military intervention in Yemen on behalf of the internationally recognized government in an attempt to beat back the Houthis. Saudi Arabia is a top rival of Iran, which supports the Houthis with weapons, intelligence and other political and diplomatic aid.
That conflict has been raging for years and spawned the largest humanitarian crisis in the world, according to the United Nations, with more than 24 million people in need of aid and protection.
Still, the Houthis managed to withstand the offensive and remain in control of large swaths of territory and much of the Yemeni population.
Thomas Juneau, a University of Ottawa professor who studies the Middle East, said the Houthis have been emboldened by their ability to resist the Saudi-led attacks, and as a result they've been trying to grow from a domestic power into a regional player in recent years.
"We've seen them attack the [United Arab Emirates, which had allied with Saudi Arabia in the war]. We've seen them attack Saudi Arabia. We have seen them, in the past, attack shipping in the southern half of the Red Sea," he said. "So when the Gaza war started in early October, to me it was a matter of time before the Houthis would become involved militarily."
The attacks likely would also be viewed as messages of support to Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah and may be popular at home too, according to Juneau, where there are strong pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli attitudes.
"To be seen domestically as not only opposing Israel politically but actually trying to do something about it — i.e. sending missiles and drones — is a classic way to mobilize domestic support by playing on these pro-Palestinian popular feelings," he said.
Will the Red Sea attacks erupt into a broader conflict?
This is not the first time the Houthis have targeted ships — including U.S. naval vessels — in the Red Sea off the country's western coast.
In 2016, missiles were fired from coastal Yemen toward a U.S. Navy destroyer twice in four days. The U.S. responded by firing missiles at three radar installations in Houthi territory.
Juneau said the Houthis didn't target American vessels again for several years, but it's unclear if a similar U.S. response today would have the same deterrent effect.
"It will be much more difficult to do that today than in 2016, because the Houthis are far more powerful now than they were before and they feel much more emboldened," he said.
The Houthis have also fired missiles directly at Israel before, but in one such attack last month Israel's military stopped it with its air defenses.
Going after commercial ships also gives the Houthis leverage, Juneau added, to negotiate with impacted nations and raise the ambitious militia group's international profile.
Last month, Japan announced it was approaching the group for talks after a Japanese-operated cargo ship was hijacked in the Red Sea.
"That's exactly what the Houthis want," Juneau said. "By forcing the Japanese government — which is a very important G7 country and so on — to deal with them directly, they are looking for recognition, at least de facto, of their status as the governing authority inside Yemen." | Middle East Business & Economics |
A Liberal Senator has claimed the current energy crisis would not have unfolded the same way under a Coalition government, arguing Labor has “demonised” coal and gas.Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson says a Coalition government would have handled the unfolding energy crisis affecting most of the country in a different manner. The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) was forced to suspend the spot market for the first time since its creation in 1998 - which includes New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and the ACT - on Wednesday afternoon.AEMO said it was "impossible to operate" due to the shortfall in supply being blamed on a number of reasons including generators being offline, an increase in usage due to winter and international pressures such as the war in Ukraine.Stream more Australian news with Flash. 25+ news channels in 1 place. New to Flash? Try 1 month free. Offer ends 31 October, 2022Ms Henderson said the former government would have been on the phone “straight away” with coal and gas companies to ensure supply, adding Labor has demonised the fossil fuels sector.“I don’t accept that this would have been the same under the Coalition,” she told Sky News Australia’s Chris Kenny.“We would have got on the phone to the gas companies and the coal-fired power companies straight away.”Ms Henderson said the Opposition supports renewables but insisted Labor is going “too hard” and “too fast”.“Labor has demonised coal and gas," she said.“Labor talks the big talk on renewables but of course has basically forced a situation now where we are moving too quickly, the transition is happening too quickly."The decision to suspend the market comes amid skyrocketing power prices which led AEMO to set an energy price cap on Sunday, limiting the price of wholesale electricity to $300 a megawatt per hour.NSW residents have been told energy supplies should stabilise on Thursday night after being told one day earlier to brace for potential blackouts.The state government was informed the Bayswater generator, which was expected to run overnight, would not be turned on due to an issue with the conveyor belt.But Energy Minister Matt Kean said the issue had been fixed and would be turned on to support the power grid amid "tight" supplies.AEMO flagged it would review each National Energy Market region daily and resume operating under normal conditions "as soon as practical”.To limit the risk of power blackouts, residents are advised to reduce their energy consumption during peak usage hours.They are also urged to unplug appliances not in use such as TVs, computers and microwaves, as well as reduce the number of hours they have their heater switched on.Businesses can also save power by limiting the number of lights used inside and outside venues and by turning off unnecessary water heating systems. | Energy & Natural Resources |
SummaryCentral banks forced to follow Fed or face backlashUK, Japan, emerging countries intervene to stem routProspects of coordination are slimInvestors hope for 'Fed pivot'FRANKFURT, Oct 6 (Reuters) - The world's central bankers are caught up in a race to curb inflation that only the Federal Reserve can stop.The U.S. central bank has embarked on its most aggressive policy tightening cycle for four decades, raising interest rates by 3 percentage points since January to slow runaway inflation.That has left policymakers elsewhere with a tough choice: keep up with the Fed at the risk of hurting your own economy or watch your currency and bonds collapse as investors switch to dollars.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com"There is a growing risk that central banks will err on the side of caution by overtightening," Capital Economics economist Jennifer McKeown said. "The risk is that rate hikes beyond our expectations prompt an even deeper downturn."Central bankers and finance chiefs, who will meet in Washington next week, are mostly fighting inflation driven by factors including energy prices and trade supply snags.But few economies can stomach the diet of rate hikes the Fed has adopted to cool overheated domestic demand - largely the result of massive pandemic-era U.S. stimulus that the rest of the world couldn't match.Responses have varied, with South Korea pledging to follow the Fed, belated but robust rate hikes in the euro zone despite a looming recession, and market interventions in Japan and Britain to stem bleeding in currencies and bonds.But they all face the same problem: there is less money to go around since the Fed turned off the taps, making investors impatient with profligate governments, stubborn central banks or lacklustre growth.Data from the United States, the euro zone, China and Japan shows the amount of money in circulation has fallen.That has long been a harbinger of trouble for poorer economies that rely on foreign capital, and central bankers in the Philippines and Mexico have been clear about the impact of the Fed's actions on their own stances.But it is an unwelcome throwback for central bankers in richer countries, who had thought the resilience of their economies and their own reputations as inflation fighters would cushion the effects of U.S. monetary policy.What's worse, worldwide rate hikes reinforce each other by depressing trade and markets, raising the risk of a global recession - as the World Bank has warned.The damage has already become visible in financial markets, where shares and bonds have fallen sharply, leaving investors hoping the Fed will change course."Only the Fed can print the dollars necessary to fix the problem quickly," Mike Wilson, chief investment officer at Morgan Stanley, said in a podcast."A Fed pivot is likely at some point given the trajectory of global U.S. dollar money supply. However, the timing is uncertain."Fed policymakers have this week restated their focus on taming inflation.Rather than competing with each other, economist Maurice Obstfeld has suggested central bankers should team up to pursue a "gentler tightening path".This happened during the financial crisis, when central banks acted together to stabilise markets, and with 1985's Plaza Accord, agreed by the top five developed economies to depreciate the dollar.But with the Fed happy for a strong dollar to bring down import prices and few signs of a political backlash against the currency's appreciation, the chances of a repeat are low."I think it's unlikely at the current juncture to a large extent because it's not in the U.S.'s interest to participate in such a move," said Kamakshya Trivedi, head of global forex, rates and emerging market strategy at Goldman Sachs.Fed chair Jerome Powell said recently there was no "coordination" among central banks but that he and his colleagues were "very aware of what's going on in other economies".Reuters GraphicsMARKET INTERVENTIONInstead, governments and central banks must bear alone the cost of market interventions to support their currencies and shield their financial systems from instability.Droves of emerging economies, including Chile, the Czech Republic and India, have intervened in the forex market, where volatility soared around 50% in two months, according to a widely watched Deutsche Bank index .But richer countries are stepping in too.Japan has started buying the yen for the first time since 1998 after the currency was pummelled by the central bank's decision to keep rates at zero.The Bank of England last week bought gilts to help shield pension schemes from market ire at government tax-cutting plans.The ECB has meanwhile unveiled an emergency scheme to cap any bond yields of the euro zone's 19 member countries it feels are rising too fast.Analysts said none of these measures was likely to work unless the Fed stops raising rates, however - and for some, such actions are a sign of looming capitulation to market pressures."If central banks are not yet waving the white flag, it has been (unfurled)," CrossBorderCapital, a market consultancy, said in a note. "The list of policymakers using some form of yield curve control is getting longer by the day."Reuters GraphicsRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comAdditional reporting by Sriring Orathai, Cynthia Kim, Swati Shetye, Karen Lema, Gayatri Suroyo, Stella Qiu and Tommy Wilkes; Graphics by Vincent Flasseur; Editing by Mark John and Catherine EvansOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Interest Rates |
Labour has won the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election.
Michael Shanks replaces shamed MP Margaret Ferrier, who was ousted from her seat in August following a successful recall petition for breaching COVID restrictions during lockdown in 2020.
Voters took to the polls between 7am and 10pm on Thursday and out of the 82,104 electorate, a total of 30,531 votes were cast (37.19% turnout).
The turnout is down from 66.48% at the snap 2019 general election, when 53,794 valid votes were cast.
Ms Ferrier, who won the seat for the SNP in 2019, was forced to sit as an independent after losing the party whip when her COVID breach came to light.
Fourteen candidates battled it out for the hotly contested seat.
The SNP fielded South Lanarkshire councillor Katy Loudon, while the Scottish Conservatives backed Glasgow councillor Thomas Kerr.
Student Cameron Eadie stood for the Scottish Greens, while data analyst Gloria Adebo ran for the Scottish Liberal Democrats.
All eyes were on the SNP and Scottish Labour - with both parties treating the by-election as an important battleground ahead of the next UK general election.
During the campaign, Labour stated a win in Rutherglen and Hamilton West could help springboard the party to Number 10.
Sir Keir Starmer's party is now hopeful that Scottish Labour will make gains against the SNP at the next general election, which could potentially pave the way for Labour's return to power at Westminster.
Following the result, Sir Keir said: "This is a seismic result. People in Rutherglen and Hamilton West have sent a clear message - it is time for change. And it is clear they believe that this changed Labour Party can deliver it.
"I have always said that winning back the trust of people in Scotland is essential."
Sir Keir said the victory was the culmination of "three and a half years of hard work".
He added: "I am grateful to everyone who has put their faith in us today - we will work every day to repay it.
"Voters across Scotland and across Britain want a government determined to deliver for working people, with a proper plan to rebuild our country.
"They want to move on from two SNP and Tory governments that offer only more division, more chaos and more infighting.
"The country deserves a government firmly on their side and focused on their priorities - and Labour will deliver that for them."
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
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You can receive Breaking News alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News App. You can also follow @SkyNews on X or subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news. | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
Performing the Nazi salute will become a criminal offence in Australia, as the federal government seeks to counter rising outbreaks of anti-Semitism and racism.
Key points:
- The federal government has announced a plan to make it a criminal offence to perform the Nazi salute in Australia
- Meanwhile, hundreds of prominent Australians have signed a letter denouncing anti-Semitism and racism
- Jewish and Islamic groups say there has been a huge rise in anti-Semitism and Islamophobia
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has announced a plan to make it a criminal offence for people to perform the act under federal law.
It comes after prominent Australians, former politicians and senior business officials have signed a letter denouncing anti-Semitism and racism.
Earlier this year, the federal government announced it would introduce legislation to ban Nazi symbols and the sale of goods-for-profit featuring Nazi symbols, it will now amend the bill to include the Nazi salute, making it a criminal offence under federal law.
"The amendments will ensure that no one will be allowed to glorify or profit from acts and symbols which celebrate the Nazis and their evil ideology," the attorney-general said in a statement.
"There is absolutely no place in Australia for hatred, violence and anti-Semitism."
Letter denouncing anti-Semitism and racism
The letter, which has been signed by more than 600 people including Lachlan Murdoch, Kerry Stokes, Gladys Berejiklian and Steve Brack appears on a website.
"We are leaders from diverse industries and professions across Australia. We cherish the Australian way of life; one which celebrates acceptance, cultural diversity and the values of a modern tolerant democracy," the pledge reads.
The pledge states that over the last seven weeks, there has been a 482 per cent increase in anti-Semitic incidents occurring in Australia.
Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) said the number had now risen to 591 per cent, the Annual Report on Antisemitism in Australia is due to come out "soon", ECAJ said.
"A comprehensive report by the ECAJ detailing incidents of antisemitism and analysing discourse is currently being finalised and will be presented shortly," a spokesperson said.
The ABC hasn't seen the study the ECAJ referred to however the organisation provided a number of examples of anti-Semitism that have occurred over the last month.
In August this year, before the October 7 attacks, a survey of more than 500 Jewish students commissioned by the Zionist Federation of Australia and the Australasian Union of Jewish Students, found that more than two-thirds of respondents had experienced anti-Semitism at university.
The Islamophobia Register has said there has been a thirteen-fold rise in incidents occurring in Australia since October 7.
"At no time in the Register's 9-year history of operations, has the Register received such a large number of incident reports within such a short space of time," the register said in a statement.
The pledge denouncing anti-Semitism, acknowledged other groups who experience discrimination.
"We are unequivocal in our resolve that racism in all its forms is deplorable and abhorrent," the pledge
"Whether directed towards Jewish Australians, Muslim Australians, Asian Australians, Indigenous Australians or any other minority, we will not tolerate such conduct in our workplaces and firmly reject it in our communities."
On Tuesday morning, a delegation of Israeli family members of hostages taken by Hamas on October 7 took to the lawns of Parliament House to call for the return of their loved ones.
Sources have told the ABC that the prime minister will meet with the families on Tuesday afternoon.
Hamas and Israel have released prisoners and hostages during the ceasefire — 50 of those are Israelis, 150 of whom are Palestinians. | Australia Business & Economics |
Subscribe today to the Washington Examiner magazine and get Washington Briefing: politics and policy stories that will keep you up to date with what's going on in Washington. SUBSCRIBE NOW: Just $1.00 an issue! FREEPORT EXPLOSION FALLOUT: The explosion and resulting outage at Freeport LNG’s Gulf Coast terminal puts a major damper on the Biden administration’s campaign to get more natural gas to Europe, where supplies are even tighter now that Russia’s Gazprom is reducing flows to Germany and Italy. The latest: Freeport offered an update on Tuesday extending the timeline of the outage through “late 2022,” effectively taking its full 2.13 billion cubic feet per day of capacity off the market for months. The company said it’s aiming to be partially back online within 90 days. Freeport is also investigating the cause of the explosion but has preliminarily determined that part of an LNG transfer line was overpressurized and ruptured. What Biden wants: Getting more LNG to Europe is a quiet priority of President Joe Biden's, one his administration is working on furiously behind the scenes but which is rarely promoted by officials in public, as it’s been extremely controversial with his green constituencies. Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen formed their joining U.S.-EU Task Force for Energy Security on March 25, with a focus on negotiating more LNG volumes for the EU from the world’s top suppliers, including the U.S. The two executives had laid the groundwork for the task force about two months before the task force was announced, before the war began, in a statement recognizing LNG as an asset that enables Europe to be more secure in its energy supplies. The task force itself asks a lot of U.S. LNG producers. Biden committed to helping meet an additional 50 billion cubic meters of European gas demand with U.S. LNG beginning next year through the end of the decade. This year’s target is 15 bcm of additional LNG from the U.S. and other producers. What the blast means: The Freeport outage is a significant setback to that end, as the terminal is responsible for supplying an increasing share of Europe’s total imports since the war began. Freeport is typically responsible for around 16% of export capacity. LNG terminals have been operating at peak capacity but estimates for total feedgas shipments have been adjusted downward by nearly 2 billion cubic feet per day because of the outage, according to the American Gas Association. LNG feedgas had been expected to average around 13 billion cubic feet per day this month and 13.2 bcf per day in July but are now forecasted to average 11.3 bcf per day, AGA said in its most recent market report. A spokesperson for the Department of Energy said the department is hopeful that Freeport can reopen as quickly as possible and noted that Venture Global’s project at Calcasieu Pass, which will provide 1.41 bcf per day of capacity, is expected to be fully online later in the year. “We expect all other U.S. LNG projects to continue to safely export close to their operational capacities for the remainder of the year,” the spokesperson said in a statement. Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner Energy and Environment Writers Jeremy Beaman (@jeremywbeaman) and Breanne Deppisch (@breanne_dep). Email [email protected] or [email protected] for tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email, and we’ll add you to our list. ANOTHER PLAY WITH THE DPA: Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre clarified yesterday that the “emergency authorities” which Biden told refiners he may invoke to increase refinery output include those under the Defense Production Act. Jean-Pierre didn’t offer any more specifics but said Biden has shown a “willingness to use that emergency powers [sic] to lower costs for families.” That he has. Biden’s already leaned on the DPA multiple times to try and address shortages, including shortages of multiple energy-related products. His latest invocation of the DPA, announced last week, would be directed toward manufacturing more solar products, transformers, and insulation. OIL GROUPS PUSH BACK ON BIDEN LETTERS TO REFINERS: Executives from the American Petroleum Institute and the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers pushed back on Biden’s claims that U.S. refiners are not doing their part to ramp up production and help lower energy costs. API President Mike Sommers and American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers CEO Chet Thompson noted in a letter made public this morning that U.S. refiners are currently running at a "world-leading" 94% of capacity. “Although the Russian invasion is undoubtedly exacerbating the situation, today’s challenges are largely the result of high crude prices due to 1) a supply/demand imbalance, 2) logistics reshuffling as the world emerges from the pandemic, strong consumer demand, the ban on Russian products, and 3) policy decisions made at the federal and state levels over many years and by successive administrations," Sommers and Thompson wrote. The executives also noted that investing in additional capacity is a long-term decision and is discouraged by Biden's efforts to move the economy away from fossil fuels, citing his campaign comment that he meant to “end fossil fuel." In fact, they added that U.S. refiners are adding new refining capacity “where it makes business sense.” This response comes just hours after Biden called on seven large integrated refinery operators, including ExxonMobil, BP, and Shell, to ramp up production of oil and diesel fuel. Read more from Breanne here. LATEST ENVIRONMENTALIST SPLIT WITH ADMINISTRATION: Environmental groups took the Biden administration to court over its approval of more than 3,500 federal land drilling permits in New Mexico and Wyoming, arguing their use will harm damage ecosystems and threaten "climate-imperiled" species. The lawsuit, filed yesterday in a Washington, D.C., federal court, asks the court to find that the Bureau of Land Management violated the National Environmental Policy Act and other laws in approving the permits and to therefore vacate them. The complaint was led by the Center for Biological Diversity and the New Mexico-based group Wildearth Guardians. Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said separately the approvals will result in increased greenhouse gas emissions and bring "polar bears and many other species one step closer to extinction.” Environmental groups versus Biden: The lawsuit represents the latest legal feud between the Biden administration and environmental groups, who have been displeased with the slow pace of progress and perceived backtracking on Biden's green agenda. Read more from Jeremy here. DEMOCRATS PUSH FOR EXPENSIVE ELECTRIC VEHICLES AS GAS PRICE FIX: With U.S. gas prices at an all-time high, some Democrats have sparked criticism for their proposed solution: stop buying gas, and switch instead to an electric vehicle. Sen. Debbie Stabenow Michigan has repeatedly advised that consumers switch to electric vehicles to avoid paying hundreds more in gas prices per month—remarks Republicans have panned as “out of touch” with average consumers, many of whom can not afford the high up-front costs of an EV. Stabenow drew ire last week when she said it “doesn’t matter” how high gas prices go because she drives an electric vehicle. According to Kelley Blue Book, the average cost of an electric vehicle is $56,437, roughly $10,000 more than the industry average—and not much less than the median household income of $67,521. Making matters worse: EV availability is limited in the U.S., analysts said. And “the majority of those that are available for sale are sold by luxury brands — and they’re priced that way,” Mark Schirmer, the director of public relations at Cox Automotive, told Breanne. That means that, at least for now, many drivers will be forced to stick to their fuel-powered vehicles—even as prices threaten to reach $6 or more this summer. According to data published this month by Cox Automotive and Kelley Blue Book, the average U.S. driver is now paying nearly $275 a month for gas, a $105 increase from June 2021. Read more from Breanne here. NEARLY 400 CRASHES INVOLVING AUTOMATED TECH VEHICLES: A newly published National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report said U.S. automakers reported nearly 400 crashes over the last 10 months involving automated tech vehicles. 273 of those crashes, or nearly 70%, involved Teslas. The report is NHTSA’s first effort to broadly measure crashes involving vehicles with partially automated driver-assist or autopilot systems—seeking to identify any emerging risks and assess their operation in the real world. According to the Associated Press, the report found that Tesla’s crashes happened while vehicles were utilizing Autopilot mode or other driver-assist technologies, including “Full Self-Driving,” “Traffic Aware Cruise Control,” or other features that allow the vehicle to have some degree of control over steering and speed, But the programs names might be misleading—as AP notes, Tesla has cautioned that the vehicles cannot drive themselves—warning that drivers must be “ready to intervene at all times.” HIGH TEMPERATURES AND HUMIDITY KILL 2,000 CATTLE IN KANSAS, OFFICIALS SAY: Extreme heat and humidity in Kansas have killed “thousands” of cattle across the state in recent days, the Kansas Department of Health and Human Services said yesterday, warning of more extreme temperatures in the days and weeks ahead. According to officials from the Kansas Livestock Association, cattle began suffering heat stress on Saturday when high temperatures and humidity spiked abruptly, catching ranchers and animals by surprise. The cattle “could not acclimate” to the sudden shift, livestock officials added. Kansas, which has more than 2.4 million cattle in feedlots, is the third-largest cattle state in the U.S., after Texas and Nebraska. But the extreme heat patterns could pose a larger problem to livestock this summer, officials said, adding that animals are “expected to suffer from oppressive heat and stress.” Temperatures climbed to 108 degrees in northwest Kansas on Monday, and threaten to climb as high as 110 degrees in western parts of the state this weekend. “It’s going to be oppressively hot and stressful for the animals,” Drew Lerner, president of World Weather Inc., told Reuters. The Rundown Politico EU How Ukraine wants to make Russia pay for war’s environmental damage New York Times Flooding chaos in Yellowstone, a sign of crises to come Associated Press Australia commits to reducing greenhouse emissions by 43% Washington Examiner California gas station manager fired after 69-cent-per-gallon mishap Calendar THURSDAY | JUNE 16 3 p.m. 1201 Pennsylvania Ave. Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions (CRES) will hold a forum examining the SEC climate disclosure rule and role of U.S. plastics in global climate mitigation. A networking reception will follow. Find out more and register here. | Energy & Natural Resources |
A Scottish government minister racked up nearly £11,000 in data roaming fees on his parliament iPad while on a family holiday in Morocco.
Michael Matheson, who is now Scotland's health secretary, was said to have been using the device for work but had not switched over from the parliament's old mobile contract to a new one.
The Scottish parliament confirmed that Mr Matheson's roaming charges - for the iPad and not phone calls - totalled £10,935.74.
Officials at Holyrood challenged the bill over the scale of the data fees and the late warning over the rising cost but previous provider EE declined to waive it.
Mr Matheson agreed to pay £3,000 towards the cost from his expenses budget. As the data use was reportedly for parliamentary business, the Scottish parliament agreed to pay the rest.
Both Scottish Labour and the Scottish Conservatives are calling for Mr Matheson to foot the "eye-watering" bill instead of taxpayers, with the Tories branding the cost "absolutely scandalous".
A Scottish parliament spokesperson said: "Substantial roaming charges were incurred by Mr Matheson on his parliamentary iPad while in Morocco at the start of this year.
"As the member was still using the parliament's previous mobile provider, and hadn't yet switched to our present contract, he incurred significant data fees over and above its 'rest of the world' tariff rate.
"The parliament challenged the company over the scale of the data fees - which totalled £10,935.74 - and over the late warning to the rising cost, but the company declined to meet or waive any of the charges.
"On the basis that the member has assured the parliament that these costs were incurred in relation to parliamentary business and not for personal or government use, we agreed that Mr Matheson would contribute £3,000 from his office cost provision and the remainder would be paid centrally by the parliament."
Read more from Sky News:
How your MPs are funded - the Westminster Accounts
Braverman article 'deeply offensive' in Northern Ireland
Second home owners in Scotland to be charged double
Mr Matheson took the iPad with him on a week-long visit to Morocco with his family around Christmas last year.
The Falkirk West MSP was the net zero, energy and transport secretary in Nicola Sturgeon's government at the time.
He has since been appointed health secretary under First Minister Humza Yousaf.
Roaming charges are incurred abroad when a mobile device connects outside of its home network rather than to wi-fi.
Craig Hoy, chairman of the Scottish Conservatives, said: "It's absolutely scandalous that taxpayers are picking up an enormous tab for Michael Matheson's mistake.
"Even if we are to believe that he racked up this bill doing parliamentary and constituency work on a festive holiday in Morocco, the onus was on him to connect to the wi-fi where he was staying or check with the network provider to avoid brutal roaming charges.
"At a time when Scottish families are hard-pressed, this is a scandal and demonstrates the SNP's totally cavalier attitude to public money.
"The £120,000-a-year SNP health secretary should do the decent thing and repay this money out of his own pocket."
Jackie Baillie, deputy leader of Scottish Labour, described the situation as "simply mind-boggling".
She added: "The SNP are on a different planet when it comes to wasting taxpayers' cash.
"The Scottish public should not have to pick up this eye-watering bill for Michael Matheson." | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
More than $950,000 has been raised for the recovery of one of the three college students of Palestinian descent who was shot in Vermont and is currently paralyzed from the chest down, according to a GoFundMe page set up by his family.
One of the bullets that hit Hisham Awartani on Nov. 25 is lodged in his spine, his family said.
"Hisham's first thoughts were for his friends, then for his parents who were thousands of miles away. He has demonstrated remarkable courage, resilience and fortitude - even a sense of humor - even as the reality of his paralysis sets in," the fundraising page, which was set up on Saturday, states.
Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ali Ahmad are childhood friends who graduated from a private Quaker school in the West Bank and now attend colleges in the eastern U.S. The 20-year-olds were visiting Awartani's relatives in Burlington for the Thanksgiving break. They were walking to the house of Hisham's grandmother for dinner when they were shot in an unprovoked attack, the family said.
The young men were speaking in a mix of English and Arabic and two of them were also wearing the black-and-white Palestinian keffiyeh scarves when they were shot, Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad said. Authorities are investigating the shooting as a possible hate crime.
"In a cruelly ironic twist, Hisham's parents had recommended he not return home over winter break, suggesting he would be safer in the US with his grandmother," the fundraising page states. "Burlington is a second home to Hisham, who has spent summers and happy holidays with his family there. It breaks our hearts that these young men did not find safety in his home away from home."
All three were seriously injured. Abdalhamid was released from the hospital last week.
The suspected gunman, Jason J. Eaton, 48, was arrested the following day at his Burlington apartment, where he answered the door with his hands raised and told federal agents he had been waiting for them. Eaton has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder and is currently being held without bail.
The shooting came as threats against Jewish, Muslim and Arab communities have increased across the U.S. in the weeks since the the Israel-Hamas war erupted in early October.
Awartani, who speaks seven languages, is pursuing a dual degree in math and archaeology at Brown University, where he is also a teaching assistant, the fundraising page said. He told his college professors that he is determined to start the next semester on time, according to the fundraiser.
"We, his family, believe that Hisham will change the world," the fundraising page states. "He'll change the world through his spirit, his mind and his compassion for those much more vulnerable than himself, especially the thousands of dead in Gaza and many more struggling to survive the devastating humanitarian crisis unfolding there." | Nonprofit, Charities, & Fundraising |
MONTREAL — The Quebec government says it will ban people convicted of a number of crimes, including money laundering and forgery, from stepping foot in government-owned casinos.
The province announced the new rule in a draft regulation published Wednesday in Quebec's official Gazette.
People no longer welcome in casinos include those who have been convicted of or have pleaded guilty to crimes within the past five years that could affect the integrity of casinos or undermine public trust in them. Those crimes include money laundering, forgery and charging interest at a criminal rate, as well as violations of the Controlled Drugs and Substances act.
All legal casinos in the province, except for those in Indigenous communities, are owned by Loto-Québec, the province's gaming authority.
"Loto-Québec and the government are aiming for the highest standards of responsible gaming and financial integrity," Claudia Loupret, a spokeswoman for Quebec Finance Minister Eric Girard, said in a statement. "We have confidence in Loto-Québec to implement these new measures."
The regulation, which comes into effect in about six weeks, follows a 2021 audit by Deloitte into the presence in casinos of members of organized criminal groups. Girard ordered the audit after media reports said organized crime members had allegedly received VIP treatment at the Casino de Montréal. The audit looked at money laundering, loansharking, Loto-Québec's loyalty program and existing measures to ensure the security and independence of casino employees.
One of Deloitte's recommendations was that Loto-Québec be given the power to ban people linked to criminality. Girard's office did not respond to a question about why it took more than two years to introduce the regulation.
"This additional measure supports the many other security measures already in place to combat money laundering at our establishments and ensure that our casinos are safe entertainment venues," Loto-Québec said in an unsigned statement.
Anna Sergi, a criminology professor at the University of Essex, in the United Kingdom, who has studied organized crime in Montreal, said similar rules exist in Australia, adding that criminals will find creative ways to get around them.
If organized criminal groups want to continue using casinos to launder money they will use third parties, representatives and figureheads to do so, she said.
In British Columbia, a 2022 public inquiry into money laundering found that hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit cash moved through the province's casinos.
Headed by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Austin F. Cullen, the inquiry found that wealthy gamblers were given cash advances by criminal organizations — at times to circumvent Chinese currency export restrictions — to use in casinos. The gamblers would then cash-out and repay the advances, with the origin of the money now obscured, Cullen's report said.
Patrice Poitevin, co-founder and executive director of the Canadian Centre of Excellence for Anti-Corruption, said that while organized criminal groups will be able to find ways around the regulation, Quebec's new regulation is a step in the right direction.
"Anything that you put in place that will make life a little more miserable for organized crime to use casinos and other means to launder money is a good thing," he said in an interview Thursday.
While organized criminals and other bad actors are extremely adaptable, Poitevin said, they are more likely to slip up when they're forced to change their behaviour.
"If you make it more difficult, where they have to go through many, many hoops, mistakes happen and that's where detection occurs and we're more likely to be able to discover, investigate and prosecute," he said.
Casinos are vulnerable to money laundering because of the nature of the business, Poitevin said. People can bring in large amounts of money, convert it to casino chips, then cash out. The money taken out of casinos can be described to authorities as gambling winnings, he added.
Poitevin said casino employees need to be trained to detect and report the red flags that are indicative of money laundering. But, he said, organized crime is already shifting its practices and using online gambling sites and crowdfunding platforms to launder money.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 27, 2023.
Jacob Serebrin, The Canadian Press
Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version said the regulation comes into effect in two weeks. | Banking & Finance |
By Vumani MkhizeBBC Africa Business, UmthathaFor generations, people in South Africa's Eastern Cape have made their living growing cannabis. You might expect that as the country moves to legalise the crop, they would be first in line to benefit, but that is not necessarily the case.The drive from Umthatha to the Dikidikini village in South Africa's Eastern Cape province is a picturesque journey filled with endless vistas, scattered homesteads and winding roads which scythe through undulating green hills that could easily be mistaken for corn fields - yet they are anything but."That's cannabis," my local guide and cannabis activist Greek Zueni tells me. "Everyone here grows it, that's how they make a living." Cannabis, colloquially referred to as "umthunzi wez'nkukhu," or, chicken shade, is an intrinsic part of many rural communities in Eastern Cape's Pondoland and a vital source of income.At a homestead near the riverbank, we meet a group of men, women and children tending to a fresh harvest. Their hands are stained green from plucking the cannabis heads all day. The pungent smell of cannabis hangs heavy in the air. They crack jokes while they work - harvesting is a group effort. A massive heap of green heads lies besides them, drying in the midday sun. For community member Nontobeko, which is not her real name, farming cannabis is all she has ever known: "I learnt how to grow it as an eight-year-old girl," she says proudly. "Cannabis is very important to us because it's our livelihood and source of income. Everything we get, we get it through selling cannabis. There are no jobs, our children are just sitting here with us." While cannabis might be a way of life for this community, growing it at this scale is illegal. There are more than 900,000 small-scale farmers in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces who have been growing cannabis for years. These growers have found themselves on the wrong side of the law many times, but the government's tough stance on cannabis looks set to change. It started with a landmark court ruling in 2018 which decriminalised the private use, possession and growing of cannabis. Earlier this year during his State of The Nation Address, President Cyril Ramaphosa said South Africa should tap into the global multi-billion-dollar medical hemp and cannabis industry, which he said had the potential to create 130,000 much-needed jobs. While this may be good news for commercial companies, traditional growers in the Eastern Cape feel left behind. The cost of getting a licence to grow cannabis is just too expensive for many.Image caption, Greek Zueni says the government needs to do more to support small-scale cannabis farmers"Government needs to change its approach and come up with laws that are grower-friendly and citizen-friendly. Right now, the people who have licences [to grow cannabis] are rich people," Mr Zueni says."The government should be assisting the communities to grow so that they can compete with the world market. Here is a commodity growing so easily and organically. We are not jealous, the rich should also come in, but please accommodate the poorest of the poor," Mr Zueni says.Turning a blind eye Last year, the government unveiled a master plan for the industrialisation and commercialisation of the cannabis plant. It values the local industry, which has largely been operating in the shadows, at nearly $2bn (£1.6bn).It is seeking to make South Africa's cannabis industry globally competitive and to produce cannabis products for the international and domestic market. Key to the roll-out is the Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill, set to be signed during the 2022-23 financial year, which provides guidelines and rules for consumers and those that want to grow cannabis in their own homes. It would legalise the cultivation of hemp and cannabis for medicinal purposes, thus opening up the industry for serious investment and growth. It is also expected to clear up legal grey areas and so provide prospective investors with clarity on the future of the South African cannabis market. Although much still remains unclear, it seems the government is committed to opening up the industry, because the economic opportunities are too enticing to ignore. The plans have broad public support, with few dissenting voices.While the legal framework is still trying to catch up with a fast-moving market, many companies are forging ahead in anticipation that the law will eventually open up the sector. As it stands, even though private use has been decriminalised, it is still illegal to buy and sell cannabis and various cannabis products. However, judging from the proliferation of shops that sell cannabis products around the country, authorities are already turning a blind eye.Adding to this legal minefield is that it is legal for private companies to grow and export medicinal cannabis to other countries. 'Opportunities for European distribution are big'One company that is seeking to capitalise on medicinal cannabis is Labat Africa Group. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed company recently acquired Eastern Cape cannabis grower Sweetwater Aquaponics. Labat's director, Herschel Maasdorp, says the company is undergoing significant growth in both Europe and Africa. Image caption, The Sweetwater Aquaponics facility has a large cannabis production capacityIt has also listed in Frankfurt, because "Germany is the single largest market in Europe for medicinal cannabis distribution", he says."The opportunities for distribution in Europe are very big. In addition to that, across borders, in Africa alone, there is a proposition that we have consolidated across a number of different countries all the way from Kenya, to Zambia to Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, as well as in Zimbabwe." Legal cannabis trade on the continent is set to rise to $7bn as regulation and market conditions improve, says London-based industry analyst Prohibition Partners It says Africa's top producers by 2023 will be Nigeria with $3.7bn, South Africa $1.7bn, Morocco $900m, Lesotho $90m and Zimbabwe $80m. In its Global Cannabis Report, Prohibition Partners is forecasting exponential worldwide industry growth: "Combined global sales of CBD, medical and adult-use cannabis topped $37.4bn in 2021 and could rise to $105bn by 2026." Considering South Africa's stagnant economic growth and record unemployment, tapping into the cannabis industry could reap rich rewards. For Wayne Gallow from Sweetwater Aquaponics, incorporating traditional growers in the industry is crucial for economic development in the Eastern Cape. Image caption, Sweetwater Aquaponics wants their production of cannabis to benefit local people"What we wanted to achieve with our licence is not only to grow medicinal cannabis, but to use that licence to benefit everybody in the Eastern Cape," he told the BBC. He admits the more traditional growers have been left behind as cannabis legislation progressed."The Pondoland area was synonymous with supplying the cannabis throughout South Africa," he says.However, changes in the law had a "detrimental" effect on Pondoland farmers, because it meant anyone could now grow and consume their own cannabis, so they no longer had a market for a crop that was previously very lucrative.Even growing cannabis to export for medicine is not feasible for small-scale farmers, because of the eye-watering costs. It requires a licence from the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) which costs about $1,465.Besides the licence fee, to set up a medicinal cannabis facility you need about $182,000 to $304 000, which is beyond the reach of many traditional growers.However, there is some promising news for the Eastern Cape farmers. The Pondoland or Landrace strain of the plant, which grows so abundantly in the area, has shown some encouraging results in treating breast cancer.Sweetwater Aquaponics and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) are currently running a study, and scientists are optimistic that the strain will yield good results. It is still early days, but if the Pondoland strain is found to be effective, this could be the game-changer that indigenous growers have been desperately searching for. You may also be interested in:Around the BBC | Africa Business & Economics |
Unpicking the messages from labour market data is a full-time job in itself, but the latest release from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) is unlikely to make anyone skip into work this morning.Unemployment remains close to a 50-year low of 3.8%. Expect to hear this mentioned frequently by ministers - a vindication of the furlough scheme that sustained livelihoods through 18 months of COVID lockdowns.
But unemployment tells only part of the story. Just as significant is the number of vacancies, running at a record 1.3 million unfilled jobs.The combination of fewer people out of work but actively looking, and companies struggling to fill roles, is what economists mean when they talk about a "tight" or "hot" labour market.On the ground, it's why sectors from agriculture to tourism and travel complain of a shortage of workers, exacerbated by the impact of Brexit. BT Openreach is the latest major company to complain that the inability to easily recruit European workers is slowing down operations - in its case, the pace of superfast broadband rollout.
Whether it's picking fruit, working security, lugging luggage or digging holes, repetitive, unskilled minimum-wage roles are not as easy to fill as they were. More from Business 'Blatant flouting of consumer rights' among airlines as flight chaos threatens summer getaway Cost of living: Inflation takes record bite from regular pay while jobless rate rises unexpectedly Whitby residents vote in favour of ending second home ownership in seaside town Image: Openreach is among brands to complain about difficulties in hiring staff In theory the tight market should give more power to potential employees able to ask for better terms and higher wages, and there are some signs this is happening.Companies report having to seduce workers onto payrolls with bonuses and benefits because there is a dearth of applicants for jobs.According to the ONS pay is up, on average 6.8% including bonuses and 4.2% without.But the impact of inflation is impossible to avoid, so in real terms wages actually fell 4.5% in April.That was the biggest decline seen since records began in January 2001.Companies unable to fill jobs to drive growth and productivity, and workers' pay eroded by inflation, is an unusual and corrosive combination, one that may explain another key feature of the labour data, the almost half a million people considered "economically inactive".This category broadly includes those unwilling or unable to work; those who are sick, students and the retired, with more than half aged over 50. (It also counts those "looking after family or home", which given the central role in enabling work played by those in caring roles emphasises how economics has long ignored the home and historically the role of women.)This trend has been termed the "great resignation", a post-COVID reset by people of middle years who've decided work is no longer central to their goals and ambition.This group is hard to quantify, and the impact of long-COVID and other sickness may be just as significant in driving the over-50s away from the labour market.But an economy desperate for growth is unlikely to achieve it without them. | Unemployment |
New retail trading and betting products blur the lines between gambling and investing © Ellie Foreman-Peck Receive free Financial & markets regulation updatesWe’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Financial & markets regulation news every morning. Let’s say you have a hunch. Tesla shares will soar in August. Gold prices will drop next week. The New York Yankees game on Thursday will be a slugfest. US gasoline will be $5 a gallon on July 31.Are these grounds for a financial investment or a bar wager? These days, it’s hard to tell. You can put money on petrol prices at both an online bookie and the Nymex options market. CME Group, which owns Nymex, wants to make speculation even simpler. Starting in September, it plans to sell “events contracts”, allowing individual investors “to trade their views on daily up or down price moves” of the S&P 500 stock index, gold or crude oil. Investors who have strong feelings about Tesla can always buy its stock. But US retail customers this week got a new way to juice their exposure to a big rise or fall in the share price. Several companies will offer exchange traded products (ETPs) that mimic and multiply the daily movements — or the inverse — of individual stocks.As for baseball, a Philadelphia fintech with backing from exchange giant Nasdaq hopes to disrupt online betting with a US sports futures market by the end of the summer. Sporttrade and New Jersey gambling regulators are testing an app that matches traders who want to buy and sell sporting positions — who will win a particular game, how many points will be scored — before and during an event. “Stop betting and start trading” the company’s website crows.Professional investors have long had the ability to place complicated wagers in the financial markets through short selling, margin trading and derivatives contracts. But retail customers traditionally had fewer options.That gradually changed as game-like trading apps and complex ETPs encouraged small bets on the price changes of indices and commodities in addition to making it easier to buy shares. The rise of cryptocurrencies, the enforced boredom of pandemic lockdowns and the 2021 meme stock craze all drew in new participants. Some were seeking to invest for the long term, others simply hoped to make a quick buck.Though retail trading volumes subsided as lockdowns eased and equity and crypto prices fell, financial firms are still scrambling to introduce new products that might tempt customers back into the market. At the same time, online gambling is growing fast, as legalised sports betting spreads across the US in the wake of a 2018 Supreme Court ruling that struck down a federal ban. Zion Market Research predicts that the global market will nearly double to $114bn by 2028.Watchdogs and consumer groups have long worried about the convergence of gambling and finance because there is ample evidence that rapid trading and speculative bets can wreak havoc on long-term results.In 2019, UK and European regulators banned local brokers from offering “binary options” — simple up or down bets on the price of a currency, commodity or index as “gambling products dressed up as financial instruments”. The Gamban app that blocks addicts from accessing online gambling last year added crypto, forex and options platforms to its list of banned sites.Rapid inflows into leveraged and inverse ETPs based on indices and this week’s arrival of the single stock variety have also raised concerns at the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC particularly worries that investors do not understand that the daily pricing mechanism can make complex ETP results diverge significantly from the underlying stock or benchmark over time. “The more complex the product, and the more opaque the structure, the harder it is for investors to price the risks,” warns commissioner Caroline Crenshaw, who this week called on her colleagues to update the rules. Backers of the latest products argue that they are better for small investors than the alternatives. The CME distinguishes its “events contracts” from binary options by pointing out that they are sold on exchange, which forces providers to compete on price. Leverage Shares, which already sells single stock ETPs in Europe, argues that the worst thing that can happen to its customers is the loss of their initial investment while margin loans and options could leave them in debt.Sporttrade CEO Alex Kane makes even bigger claims for sports futures: not only will the market cut the cost of betting but it could also channel retail speculation into less dangerous channels. “Americans have this very distinct appetite for event day trading on micro-movements . . . but day trading on your phone is not a long-term strategy and it’s not the way to maximise returns,” he says. “It’s not an activity that’s [good] for investing. It’s for entertainment.”A recent Swiss Finance Institute study found that investors who added cryptocurrency wallets to their stock portfolios actually traded stocks less often and got better results. But other studies suggest the opposite. US casino openings are linked to increased portfolio risk among nearby residents, and problem gamblers reported more frequent stock trades.It would be grand if what academics call the “gamblification” of financial markets allowed investors to get their volatility thrills from side bets on baseball scores or the price of gas, while leaving their retirement savings to grow in peace. Sadly, the opposite is more likely to be true. [email protected] Brooke Masters with myFT and on TwitterGet alerts on Financial & markets regulation when a new story is published | Forex Trading & Speculation |
EnvironmentReferencePrompted by a crippling oil embargo in the 1970s, the U.S. created the world’s largest oil reserve. But in a world shifting to renewables to combat climate change, its future is uncertain.In late November 1973, the world was just beginning to feel the fallout from the Yom Kippur War, a conflict between Israel and its neighbors Egypt and Syria.To punish the United States and other western nations for supporting Israel during the war, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cut off oil supplies—tripling the average price of imported crude oil. By November 25, the crisis had grown so dire that then-President Richard Nixon addressed the nation, asking citizens to lower their thermostats, refrain from driving on Sundays, and go easy on their Christmas light displays.In the years that followed, the U.S. pursued a policy of energy independence, to protect it from such crises in the future. One of the new policy’s initiatives was the creation of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), a stockpile of crude oil that the country could tap during emergencies. With a present-day capacity of more than 727 million barrels of oil, the reserve allows the country to respond to shortages—and attempt to prevent them.Most recently, the U.S. said it would release 30 million barrels to energy companies after Russia, one of the world’s top oil producers, once again invaded Ukraine in late February 2022. Coordinated with other world powers, the release was intended to stabilize volatile oil markets and ultimately reduce gas prices that were skyrocketing amid fears of a shortfall.But many environmental advocates argue that relying on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to manage shortages is only a stopgap measure. In light of the looming climate crisis, they argue, the U.S. should end its dependence on fossil fuels and pivot to green energy sources instead.How much oil is in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve?The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is the world’s largest known oil reserve. It’s split across four sites along the Gulf Coast of Louisiana and Texas, chosen for their access to marine terminals and pipelines needed to move oil. The petroleum is piped deep underground for storage, into caverns carved out of salt domes which are considered to be the most environmentally secure way to store oil because of their low permeability.As of March 4, 2022, the SPR held about 577.5 million barrels of light crude oil, which can be refined and turned into products including gasoline, diesel fuel, heating oil, and jet fuel. Although the U.S. Congress originally stipulated in 1975 that the reserve should be able to hold up to a billion barrels, that capacity has never been reached. The most oil that has ever been in the reserves—and the most its current facilities can hold—was 727 million barrels in December 2009.For many years, the U.S. was required to maintain a certain level of oil in its reserves—equaling 90 days of net imports—to meet its obligations to the International Energy Agency. Formed in 1974 in response to the OPEC oil embargo, the IEA coordinates global oil releases among its 31 member countries during emergencies. But the U.S. no longer had to meet the reserve requirement as of 2020, when it began exporting more oil than it imported. That development was largely due to the rise of fracking—injecting high-pressure water, chemicals, and sand into shale rock deposits to get at the gas and oil trapped within them.How does the Strategic Petroleum Reserve work?The Strategic Petroleum Reserve was originally created for emergencies—to be used in the face of severe disruptions to the global oil supply. To date, the U.S. has only ordered three emergency releases from the reserve. In 1991, when war broke out in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm, the U.S. released 17.2 million barrels of oil. In 2005, when Hurricane Katrina devastated oil production along the Gulf Coast, 20.8 million barrels were released. And in 2011, the U.S. and IEA jointly released 60 million barrels of oil when the civil war in Libya disrupted oil supplies.But global emergencies are not the only time the U.S. taps into its oil reserves. The U.S. also periodically conducts sales to private companies from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to test its readiness or raise revenue. And the country can also use the reserve to help private companies recover from smaller-scale disasters, such as extreme weather or shipping channel closures.In the wake of Hurricane Harvey in 2017, for example, the U.S. loaned 5.2 million barrels of oil to help Gulf Coast refineries continue their operations. Known as exchanges, these agreements require the private company to replace the oil that it borrowed, plus interest.The future of the Strategic Petroleum ReserveThe Strategic Petroleum Reserve’s role may continue to evolve in the years ahead. Scott L. Montgomery, a lecturer at the University of Washington, writes that the reserve “has entered a new era” now that the U.S. is a net exporter of crude oil. As global efforts to reduce carbon emissions slow the demand for oil, he notes that it’s not clear how urgently the country needs an emergency supply.But the U.S. is not expected to remain a net exporter forever, and advocates of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve say that there is value in maintaining a stockpile to help weather everything from rising oil prices to wars and unrest across the globe. As the world teeters on the edge of an energy crisis, they argue it may be more necessary than ever.Environmental activists, however, say that the volatility of global oil markets are precisely why the U.S. should shift away from relying on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The U.S. consumes about 20 million barrels of crude oil per day—meaning the SPR could only last about a month if the U.S. were cut off from all other sources of oil. Rather than build up reserve capacity, they argue that the U.S. should invest in electric cars and buses and other clean energy initiatives. | Energy & Natural Resources |
The head of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) has said he expects Russia's invasion of Ukraine to continue to hamper growth and inflate costs in the German economy.
German government interventions and a mild European winter have cushioned the blow of the war and its consequences, but Europe's largest economy is likely heading for a recession.
What the DIW said
DIW President Marcel Fratzscher said the war and its effect on driving up energy prices have already cost the German economy about €100 billion ($107 billion), or about 2.5% of gross domestic product (GDP).
"The German economy has been more affected by the crisis because it was more dependent on Russian energy, has a high proportion of the energy-intensive industry, and is extremely dependent on exports and global supply chains," Fratzscher told the Rheinische Post newspaper.
There could be damage to Germany's standing as a business location if companies do not speed up efforts to use less energy and embrace digital and economic transformations, he said.
Fratzscher added that higher energy prices would remain a clear competitive disadvantage for Germany over the next decades.
He said policymakers and companies would have to compensate with more innovation and productivity, and that the German government should not increase subsidies for fossil fuels.
Business lobby group expects more losses
The Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK), a prominent business lobby group, on Monday also highlighted the costs of Russia's war to the German economy.
The group forecasts that the war and its impact would cost Germany about 4% of GDP between Russia launching its invasion in February 2022 and the end of 2023.
DIHK President Peter Adrian told the Rheinische Post newspaper, the economy will generate about €160 billion less — roughly €2,000 per German resident.
Meanwhile, Germany's central bank predicted that the country's economy will likely enter a technical recession.
A recession is generally identified by a fall in GDP in two successive quarters, and the German economy contracted in the fourth quarter of 2022.
"Economic output in the first quarter of 2023 is likely to be lower than in the previous quarter once again," the Bundesbank wrote in its monthly report.
Looking ahead, the Bundesbank said German economic output was likely to decline slightly on average in 2023, but that it was expected to do a little better than the 0.5% fall in GDP predicted in December.
rc/dj (dpa, Reuters) | Europe Business & Economics |
AP Photo/Evan Vucci President Joe Biden speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington. The Biden administration is hosting a summit this week that brings together leaders of 49 African countries, as well as heads of the African Union, to collaborate on key policy across climate change, security and trade. Vice President Harris opened the three-day summit on Tuesday at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, where she discussed the African diaspora and young African leaders. President Biden is expected to join the summit on Wednesday and deliver remarks on the U.S.-Africa Business Forum. While a significant majority of African nations joined the summit this week, five were not invited. A senior White House official this week said four of those countries — Guinea, Sudan, Mali and Burkina Faso — have changed their governments unconstitutionally and were suspended from the African Union. Here are the five African nations that weren’t invited to Biden’s summit: Guinea The ruling government in Guinea was seized by a military junta in September 2021 and is now led by Col. Mamady Doumbouya. The military junta overthrew President Alpha Condé, who had won a controversial third term for office despite term limits, which he claimed did not apply to him. Doumbouya agreed in October to hold new elections in about two years. Sudan Sudanese Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan toppled the government in October 2021, taking power during the northeast African nation’s transition to a democracy after three decades of authoritarian rule. Sudan’s military leadership announced this month the first phase of an agreement to transition to a democracy, but some political groups have rejected the framework, and discussions are ongoing. Millions of people in Sudan are in dire need of humanitarian assistance, a crisis that grew worse after the coup. Civilian demonstrators also frequently clash with security forces. Mali Col. Assimi Goïta seized power in Mali two years ago after leading a coup against the government. He failed to transition the West African country into new democratic elections and has become a pariah to the international world. Mali also recently rejected help from French humanitarian groups, affecting hundreds of thousands of Malians who are in need of emergency food and medical assistance. Earlier this year, France, which had fought Islamic terrorist groups for nine years in Mali, completed a withdrawal of troops from the country. Russian mercenaries in Mali have also been accused of murdering civilians in a growing concern for world leaders. Burkina Faso Burkina Faso, located in West Africa, is in a dire humanitarian situation after suffering from two coups in less than nine months. Troops in September ousted the ruling military leader, Lt. Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who had won control of the country through a January coup. A militia leader appointed to replace him said Damiba had not done enough to control violence in Burkina Faso. More than 3,200 people have died in the African country from January to September, and nearly 5 million are in need of emergency assistance. Some women and children have been eating leaves and salt for weeks, the United Nations said in October. Eritrea The U.S. does not have formal ties with Eritrea, a country located in the Horn of Africa in the eastern region of the continent, so the nation’s leaders were not invited. Eritrea has also been providing military support to neighboring Ethiopia, which is in the midst of a civil war against an opposing political faction in the region of Tigray. Eritrean troops are accused of the kidnapping, looting and murder of civilians in Tigray, and the U.S. has called for the Eritrean soldiers to withdraw from the conflict. The Associated Press contributed to this report. | Africa Business & Economics |
The newly designed Russian 100-rouble banknotes are seen at the Goznak printing factory in Moscow, Russia July 6, 2022. Moscow News Agency/Handout via Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSummaryThis content was produced in Russia where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in UkraineMOSCOW, Aug 22 (Reuters) - The Russian rouble pulled back from last week's near four-week high against the dollar on Monday but held near its strongest levels this month, with a tax payment period that usually sees exporters convert forex revenues into roubles looming.At 0735 GMT, the rouble was 1.4% weaker against the dollar at 59.93 , falling sharply from Friday's 57.70 high. It had lost 0.4% to trade at 59.85 versus the euro .A strong dollar and falling oil prices were weighing on the Russian currency.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comBrent crude oil , a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was down 1.2% at $95.53 a barrel.Year-to-date, the rouble has become the world's best-performing currency as a result of capital controls that Russia imposed after beginning what it calls "a special military operation" in Ukraine on Feb. 24.Rouble volatility has subsided after wild swings that saw it hit a record low of 121.53 to the dollar on the Moscow Exchange in March and then rally to a seven-year peak of 50.01 in June.The rouble could strengthen on Monday, said Banki.ru chief analyst Bogdan Zvarich."Exporters' preparation for the peak of tax payments, which will take place on Thursday, will remain the main support factor for the rouble," he said.Once the tax payment deadline passes, the rouble is seen weakening sharply, with Alor Broker saying it could drop as far as 65 against the dollar.Russian stock indexes were mixed.The dollar-denominated RTS index (.IRTS) was down 1% to 1,159.2 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index (.IMOEX) was 0.4% higher at 2,204.8 points.For Russian equities guide seeFor Russian treasury bonds seeRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Kirsten DonovanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Forex Trading & Speculation |
NEW YORK (AP) — Markets worldwide are back to tumbling on Thursday, and Wall Street is down roughly 3 percent in a widespread wipeout as worries about a fragile economy roar back to the fore.
The S&P 500 was 3.3 percent lower in afternoon trading, more than reversing its blip of a 1.5 percent rally from a day before. Analysts had warned of more big swings given deep uncertainties about whether the Federal Reserve and other central banks can tiptoe the narrow path of hiking interest rates enough to get inflation under control but not so much that they cause a recession.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 755 points, or 2.5 percent, at 29,911, as of 12:09 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 4.2 percent lower. The S&P 500 was on track for its sixth loss in the last seven days, and all but five of the 500 companies in the index were lower.
READ MORE: What is the yield curve and how could it warn of the next recession?
Wall Street fell with stocks across Europe after central banks there followed up on the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate hike on Wednesday. The Bank of England raised its key rate for the fifth time since December, though it opted for a more modest 0.25 percentage points than the 0.75-point hammer brought by the Fed.
Switzerland’s central bank, meanwhile, raised rates for the first time in years, a half-point hike. Taiwan’s central bank raised its key rate by an eighth of a point. Japan’s central bank began a two-day meeting on policy, though it’s held out on raising rates and making other economy-slowing moves that investors call “hawkish.”
“The clear read-through here is the FOMC (Fed) has unleashed the central bank Hawkish Genie from the bottle, and we should expect more aggressive follow-through from other central banks except those who are economically challenged,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.
Such moves and expectations for plenty more around the world have sent all kinds of investments tumbling this year, from bonds to bitcoin. Higher interest rates slow the economy by design, in hopes of stamping out inflation. But they’re a blunt tool that can choke off the economy if used too aggressively.
“Another concern is that with the change in policy, there’s been weakening economic data already,” said Bill Northey, senior investment director at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. “That raises the odds of a recession in the latter part of 2022 into 2023.”
The worries dragged the S&P 500 into a bear market earlier this week, meaning it had dropped more than 20 percent from its peak. It’s now more than 23 percent below its record set early this year, and it’s back to where it was in late 2020.
Not only is the Federal Reserve hiking short-term rates, it also this month began allowing some of the trillions of dollars of bonds it purchased through the pandemic to roll off its balance sheet. That should put upward pressure on longer-term interest rates.
The U.S. economy is still largely holding up, driven in particular by a strong jobs market. Fewer workers filed for unemployment benefits last week than a week before, a report showed on Thursday. But more signs of trouble have been emerging.
On Thursday, one report showed homebuilders broke ground on fewer homes last month. Rising mortgage rates resulting directly from the Fed’s moves are digging into the industry. A separate reading on manufacturing in the mid-Atlantic region also unexpectedly fell.
READ MORE: Markets tumble worldwide, bear market growls on Wall Street
“Corporate earnings estimates have not yet changed to reflect some of the softening economic data and that could lead to the second leg of this repricing,” Northey said.
More economists are considering the possibility of a U.S. recession. At Deutsche Bank, economists have in recent months moved up their forecast for when a recession may hit. They see it occurring around mid 2023.
Treasury yields were swinging on Thursday, with the 10-year yield down to 3.33 percent from 3.39 percent late Wednesday. It had climbed as high as 3.48 percent earlier in the morning, near its highest level since 2011.
Higher rates have been delivering the hardest hits to the investments that soared the most through the pandemic, benefiting from the easy, ultralow rates. That includes bitcoin and high-growth technology stocks.
Drops for Apple, Amazon, Tesla and other big tech-oriented stocks provided some of the heaviest weights on the S&P 500. Each fell at least 3.8 percent.
But the sharpest losses came for stocks whose profits depend more on the strength of the economy and whether customers can keep up their purchases amid the highest inflation in decades.
Cruise operator Carnival fell 10.1 percent, and Capital One Financial dropped 7.7 percent.
It’s all a sharp turnaround from a day earlier, when stocks rallied on Wall Street immediately after the Fed’s biggest hike to rates since 1994. Analysts said investors seemed to latch onto a comment from Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who said mega-hikes of three-quarters of a percentage point would not be common.
Powell said Wednesday the Fed is moving “expeditiously” to get rates closer to normal levels after last week’s stunning report that showed inflation at the consumer level unexpectedly accelerated last month, which dashed hopes that inflation may have already peaked.
The Fed is “not trying to induce a recession now, let’s be clear about that,” Powell said. He called Wednesday’s big increase “front-end loading.”
“Despite their assurance, it’s unclear to me whether the Fed has the tools they say they do to tamp down prices,” said Jason Brady, CEO of Thornburg Investment Management. He also said that even after its mega-hike on Wednesday, which was triple the usual amount, “the Fed is still behind.”
Even without recession, higher interest rates make investors less willing to pay high prices for investments, particularly those seen as the most expensive or the most risky.
Bitcoin has been threatening to drop to $20,000 after setting a record at nearly $69,000 late last year. It was at $20,977 in afternoon trading, down 1.8 percent over the last 24 hours, according to CoinDesk.
AP Business Writers Damian J. Troise and Yuri Kageyama contributed. | Interest Rates |
A congressional panel Tuesday will examine payouts under a federal coronavirus pandemic aid program intended to help small businesses weather the COVID-19 outbreak amid revelations that as much as 20% of the money may have been awarded to fraudsters.The problems in the COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, overseen by the U.S. Small Business Administration, included a finding by congressional investigators that some 1.6 million applications for the loans may have been approved without being evaluated.Separately, the SBA’s Office of the Inspector General estimated that at least $80 billion distributed from the $400 billion program could have been potentially fraudulent, much of it in scams using stolen identities.The program is expected to be at the center of a congressional subcommittee hearing that also will tackle broader fraud concerns with the flood of pandemic aid from multiple federal government programs for states, local governments, businesses and the unemployed.The $5 trillion in total aid, delivered in a series of bills signed by Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden, have come with numerous complications.Fraud overwhelmed enhanced unemployment insurance programs funded by the federal government and administered by the states. There was so much aid to governments that many struggled to find a way to spend it all under the original regulations. And there have been questions about whether the Paycheck Protection Program to keep employees working was worth it.The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis says more than $10 billion allocated under two massive business loan programs has been returned because of investigations and bank actions. Federal prosecutors have charged nearly 1,500 people with crimes related to fraud against the government over the business loans and enhanced unemployment insurance programs.The government’s Pandemic Response Accountability Committee says inspectors general for various federal agencies have at least 1,150 ongoing investigations into fraud from the different aid funds. Officials say it could take years to untangle all the problems.One focus for the subcommittee is a report released Tuesday by its own staff that found up to 1.6 million applications for loans intended to keep small businesses open and making payroll were approved by a batch method. That could mean they were not even opened by officials before being greenlighted for funding.The report blames the SBA for creating the batch approval function early in the pandemic, during Donald Trump’s administration.The SBA’s Office of the Inspector General said Tuesday before the hearing that many of the assertions in the report are based on OIG reports over the past two years but that it cannot validate statements or independent research performed by the subcommittee included within the report. The office said it’s “aggressively rooting out the fraud and bringing wrongdoers to justice.” | Banking & Finance |
ANKARA, Oct 6 (Reuters) - South Korea made a transfer worth $780 million to Turkey's central bank last week, a portion of the $2 billion agreed under a swap deal signed in 2021, two bankers told Reuters.The total amount transferred to Turkey from South Korea under the deal is now worth almost $1 billion, said bankers, citing calculations based on the central bank's balance sheet and reserves data.The Turkish central bank did not comment on the issue.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comTurkey's central bank has swap deals in local currencies with several of its counterparts worth a total of $28 billion. It signed a deal with China for $6 billion, with Qatar for $15 billion, with the United Arab Emirates for around $5 billion.The Turkish central bank's reserves have declined sharply in recent years, mainly due to market interventions totaling $128 billion in 2019-2020 to support the lira. It has taken more indirect steps to stop the currency's decline this year, taking on a more dominant role in the forex market.Its net forex reserves stood at $9.72 billion as of Sept. 30, data showed on Thursday, up from a 20-year low of $6.07 billion it touched in July.The bank has built up its reserves through swap deals and more recently through newly opened depo accounts in dollars or euros. During periods when reserves rose, President Tayyip Erdogan had said "friendly countries are supporting" the central bank.Azeri SOCAR has a depo account worth 1 billion euros at the Turkish central bank, while another central bank, the name of which has not been disclosed, has an account worth almost $2 billion.Bankers say inflows to local banks of some $5 billion from Russia's Rosatom provided to construct a nuclear plant in Turkey boosted the central bank's reserves in the summer by around $6.1 billion.Markets are watching to see whether Rosatom will make other transfers for the construction of the plant worth $20 billion.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Nevzat Devranoglu;
Writing by Ali Kucukgocmen;
Editing by Daren Butler and Nick MacfieOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Middle East Business & Economics |
Giuseppe Cacace/AFP via Getty Images
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Vice President Harris speaks to leaders at the United Nations climate summit in Dubai on Dec. 2, 2023.
Giuseppe Cacace/AFP via Getty Images
Vice President Harris speaks to leaders at the United Nations climate summit in Dubai on Dec. 2, 2023.
Giuseppe Cacace/AFP via Getty Images
DUBAI — Vice President Harris on Saturday told leaders gathered at a United Nations summit that they should take a cue from young activists and do more to curb climate change.
"They understand the urgency of this moment, and they fight with conviction, knowing we still have time to make a difference. So let us all share in their sense of urgency and their optimism. Let us all lead then with ambition and conviction," Harris told the COP28 summit.
It was one of several explicit nods Harris made to young voters — a key segment of support for the Biden-Harris ticket in 2020 — who have expressed disappointment with the administration's record leading up to the 2024 presidential election.
Climate is one of two issues where Harris is seeking to address concerns of young voters on this trip. The other is U.S. support for Israel as it fights Hamas in Gaza after the Oct. 7 attacks. Polls show young voters are more likely than older voters to sympathize with Palestinians than Israel, and think Israel's response in Gaza has gone too far.
Harris announced a new $3 billion pledge to help developing nations on climate
Leading up to the election, now less than a year away, Harris has been dispatched to speak to college campuses to try to get young voters excited about President Biden's track record.
Young voters were a key bloc of support for the Biden-Harris ticket in the 2020 election, but their enthusiasm has since sagged. Climate is a key concern for many younger voters. An NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll from this summer found that nearly 6 in 10 millennial and Gen Z Americans believe addressing climate change should be a priority even at the risk of slowing economic growth.
Polling shows approval for Biden's handling of climate change has declined in spite of the investments in his landmark Inflation Reduction Act, particularly with young voters. The president has faced backlash over a decision earlier this year to approve a large drilling project known as Willow on federal land in Alaska, and some young voters would like to see Biden declare a climate emergency to give him more power to tackle the issue.
Kamran Jebreili/AP
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Vice President Harris waves as she leaves the stage after speaking to leaders during the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit on Dec. 2, 2023 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Kamran Jebreili/AP
Vice President Harris waves as she leaves the stage after speaking to leaders during the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit on Dec. 2, 2023 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Kamran Jebreili/AP
Harris' trip to Dubai was hastily organized after the White House said President Biden would not attend the summit.
On climate, Harris pointed to spending that the Biden administration has already committed, and rolled out a new $3 billion pledge to the UN's Green Climate Fund to help developing nations deal with the effects of climate change. The pledge will require funding from Congress, which is not easy to come by.
A White House official told reporters that the pressure from young voters on climate can be helpful because it helps push the government to make progress on the issue.
Harris met with regional leaders about Gaza
Harris was in Dubai as fighting in Gaza resumed after a five-day temporary truce collapsed. The White House has been working with regional leaders to try to restore the pause in fighting with an eye to getting more hostages out of Gaza and more humanitarian aid into the territory.
Harris met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, King Abdullah of Jordan and UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed on the sidelines of the COP28 meeting — and spoke by phone to Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani. Officials said she called the emir after hearing that talks had broken down about a renewed pause in fighting.
White House officials said Harris was focused on talking about issues like governance and rebuilding Gaza after the fighting ends. | Renewable Energy |
Australia is poaching British police by telling them that it “backs” officers who shoot suspects in the wake of the Chris Kaba scandal.
Last week a Metropolitan Police officer was charged with murdering Mr Kaba, a 24-year-old black man who was shot dead in south London in September 2022. The charge led to a walkout among the force.
It came as authorities in Western Australia are pushing to “steal” hundreds of British police officers, enticing them with higher wages and the prospect of better protection.
More than 1,400 officers have already applied to make the move since the programme was launched in February.
“I’m intent on stealing your best people. Unashamedly,” Paul Papalia, Western Australia’s police minister, told the MailOnline.
“Western Australia is a great place to live and work. Compared to the UK, we have higher wages, a lower cost of living and the perfect climate for year-round adventure.
Mr Papalia said that his ambition was to recruit 150 officers in September, and a further 150 a year for the next five years. Officials are currently assessing about 300 applications received so far.
“They come from a variety of forces. I’ve met all of them. They’re a good crowd,” he said of the first recruits.
“The response has been extremely positive, meaning WA [Western Australia] Police can handpick the best of the best.”
Appealing directly to potential British applicants, he added: “We’ve got your backs, mate.”
Most British recruits will need firearms training, because all police officers in Western Australia are armed.
“We protect our officers. They’ve all got tasers, Glocks [pistols] and body armour,” Mr Papalia said.
He referenced a recent shooting where officers were publicly backed by the commissioner of police and a local senator within hours of the incident.
“It’s very topical because yesterday we had a fatal shooting by police in Kalgoorlie,” he said.
Mr Papalia added that he was waiting for the results of a full investigation into the incident, but said that the officers involved had “behaved incredibly well”.
“I’ve seen the body-worn camera footage,” he said.
“They acted entirely in accordance with their protocols, responsibly and properly. Sadly, they’ve had to shoot someone for their own protection. They did it absolutely correctly.”
‘Cops don’t feel supported’
Officers who have made the jump to Australia have said that colleagues in Britain are being “thrown under a bus” by police chiefs and politicians amid the furore involving Mr Kaba’s shooting.
“As a UK officer I did not feel at all appreciated,” said Anna Miller, 38, a mother of three who used to work for West Yorkshire Police.
“Over in Australia, the community support their cops,” she told The Times.
One of Ms Miller’s former colleagues has also been accepted by the Western Australian force and two others are considering applying, she said.
“The feeling among myself and my colleagues is officers weren’t backed,” Ms Miller added.
“As a police officer, they [police chiefs] will happily throw you under a bus to present a positive picture to the public. I don’t feel [that] cops feel supported.
“The biggest thing that the police in the UK could benefit from to improve morale is feeling that the media, the Government and everyone has their back a little bit.”
Ms Miller was among the first cohort of 23 British officers sworn in to the Western Australian ranks at a ceremony last week. | Workforce / Labor |
It was a late night in mid-June when Julio Cano, the chief business officer for the Bien Trucha Group, got an email he thought was from Facebook.“It said our Facebook business page was going to be disabled,” Cano said. “I was tired and I just opened it. That’s how they got us.” The account was hacked.More than two weeks later, Cano is still desperately trying to regain control of his company’s Facebook accounts. As of Monday, the Facebook page for Bien Trucha calls itself an “investing service.” A Toda Madre’s page features a banner for a company called Investment-Forex. The profile picture for Quiubo in Naperville includes a man typing in front of a computer with stock trend lines going up and down.General manager Oscar Diaz pours drinks for server Chloe Climenhaga inside the empty dining room as customers eat outside Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020 at Bien Trucha restaurant in Geneva, Illinois. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)“It’s been a total nightmare,” Cano said Monday. “It’s absolutely ridiculous.” Despite spending hours each day emailing with the social media company and scouring online forums for any helpful tips, he still hasn’t been able to get in touch with anyone at Facebook or parent company Meta who can help him.“The most frustrating thing is not being able to connect with anyone from Facebook,” Cano said. “There’s no one to talk to.”Facebook did not respond to requests for comment Monday.Cano said he spent years building up an online community for the restaurants. The Bien Trucha Group runs four brick-and-mortar restaurants: Bien Trucha in Geneva, A Toda Madre in Glen Ellyn, and Quiubo and Santo Cielo in Naperville. (There’s also Lil Donkeys, a virtual burrito concept that the company runs out of three of the kitchens.)Santo Cielo general manager Emiliano Gottig prepares the dining room for dinner service at the restaurant Tuesday, May 15, 2018, in Naperville. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)All combined, those restaurants have over 30,000 likes and followers. Cano said creating new Facebook pages for each restaurant would throw away 14 years of work. But he can’t even do that; when he tried to create a new page for the Bien Trucha Group, he was told that he couldn’t because the business name was already in use — by the hacked account.Eat. Watch. Do.WeeklyWhat to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. Cano has also used Facebook to recruit new kitchen staff. “That’s what’s really costing us,” Cano said. “We had been spending thousands of dollars recruiting, especially lately. Now we can’t.”The hackers also paid for ads with the credit card Cano had entered in Facebook’s Business Manager. “They charged several thousand dollars for cryptocurrency ads,” Cano said. Fortunately, he was able to contact his bank and cancel the card, so he won’t be stuck with those charges. “That’s the least of our problems,” he said.Quiubo serves Mexican staple dishes, and comes from the same restaurant group that operates Bien Trucha in Geneva. (Pioneer Press)The hackers got into Cano’s personal Facebook account, as well, and started uploading random nude images. Facebook automatically banned his account for violating its community standards. Cano believes the hackers did this on purpose, so it would be even harder for him to regain control.Cano has never had an issue with Facebook before the hacking. But over the past two weeks, he’s spent dozens of hours simply trying to get in touch with a person to help him fix the issue. “We have spent thousands of dollars with Facebook over the years,” Cano said. “What do we do now?”[email protected] screen or home stream, takeout or dine-in, Tribune writers are here to steer you toward your next great experience. Sign up for your free weekly Eat. Watch. Do. newsletter here. | Consumer & Retail |
Oct 19 (Reuters) - A U.S. jury began deliberating on Wednesday at a civil trial where Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN.S) stands accused of conspiring with the world's largest banks to rig prices in the foreign exchange market between 2007 and 2013.Credit Suisse is the last bank defendant remaining in the class action brought by currency investors in 2013, after 15 others reached settlements worth $2.31 billion. The investors allege that Credit Suisse traders shared nonpublic pricing information with traders at other banks.During the trial in Manhattan federal court which began on Oct. 11, jurors heard testimony that five banks and two traders had pleaded guilty to forex-related antitrust conspiracies, and saw transcripts from chat rooms with names such as "The Cartel" where investors say traders colluded.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comThe jury will decide whether Credit Suisse participated in a conspiracy or multiple conspiracies to rig the foreign currency market, and if so, how long each scheme lasted and which of the 15 other banks were involved.While the jury will not determine how any conspiracy affected market participants or award damages on a class-wide basis, their findings may be used by investors in their own lawsuits against the bank.The jury will resume deliberations on Thursday.Christopher Burke, a lawyer for the investors, urged jurors in closing arguments on Wednesday to find that the bank engaged in a single conspiracy with fifteen banks over six years."There was a culture of collusion at Credit Suisse," he said, adding that chat room transcripts show the bank's traders sharing information about the spread between the buy and sell price for currencies "every other day."Credit Suisse's attorney Herbert Washer argued that traders chatting in separate rooms about different currency pairs could not be part of the same conspiracy, and that there was no evidence Credit Suisse traders ever acted on the chats."Where's the proof that this was more than talk?" he said.The earlier settlements in the case followed regulatory probes that culminated in more than $10 billion of fines for several banks, and the convictions or indictments of some traders.The case is In Re Foreign Exchange Benchmark Rates Antitrust Litigation, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 13-07789.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Jody Godoy in New York;
Editing by Noeleen Walder, Andrea Ricci and Josie KaoOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.Jody GodoyThomson ReutersJody Godoy reports on banking and securities law. Reach her at [email protected] | Forex Trading & Speculation |
One of Australia's richest men has sparked a global backlash after saying unemployment should double to remind arrogant workers of their place.
"We need to see pain in the economy," gym-owner-turned-real-estate-mogul Tim Gurner said.
He has previously suggested young people cannot afford homes because they spend too much on avocado toast.
Video of his comments has gone viral, attracting over 23 million views and strong criticism online.
Speaking during a property summit this week, the 41-year-old said the Covid-19 pandemic had changed employees' attitudes and work ethics for the worse - singling out builders as an example.
He claimed that shift is impacting productivity in the sector, which - combined with tougher regulations - is fuelling Australia's housing shortage.
He proposed the country's current unemployment rate of 3.7% should rise by 40-50% to reduce "arrogance in the employment market". That would see more than 200,000 people lose their jobs.
"There's been a systematic change where employees feel the employer is extremely lucky to have them," Mr Gurner said.
"We need to remind people they work for the employer, not the other way around."
His remarks come at a time when many companies are tussling with staff over issues such as remote work and pay.
Shifting attitudes toward employment are also a matter of widespread discussion on social media, giving rise to hashtags like "quiet quitting", a term meant to capture the decision to stop going above and beyond for bosses; and "lazy-girl jobs", which refers to well paying, flexible positions that offer greater work-life balance.
Mr Gurner's comments, which were shared by the Australian Financial Review (AFR) which hosted the summit, have drawn criticism on social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and LinkedIn.
They have also been condemned by Australian MPs from across the political divide. Labor MP Jerome Laxale said they were "comments you'd associate with a cartoon supervillain", while Liberal MP Keith Wolahan said they "could not be more out of touch".
"The loss of a job is not a number. It sees people on the streets and dependent upon food banks," Mr Wolahan told the AFR.
US lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also criticised the property mogul.
"Reminder that major CEOs have skyrocketed their own pay so much that the ratio of CEO-to-worker pay is now at some of the highest levels ever recorded," she wrote on X.
But others - like Minerals Council of Australia chairman Andrew Michelmore - have defended him.
"Employees have got used to earning the same amount of money but not putting in the same hours," Mr Michelmore told the AFR.
Gurner is the CEO and founder of Gurner Group and has an estimated worth of A$929 million (£479m; $598m).
He has previously spoken about how loans from his grandfather and former boss helped him get his start as a business owner. | Australia Business & Economics |
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank have lost their jobs or had their salaries frozen after the Israeli authorities cancelled their work permits and imposed severe restrictions on crossings after the 7 October attacks.
Approximately 182,000 Gaza residents who work in Israel and the settlements had their employment terminated, initial estimates by the International Labour Organization (ILO) suggest, while about 24% of employment in the West Bank has also been lost – equivalent to 208,000 jobs – as a result of the Israel-Hamas war.
According to the ILO, a further 160,000 workers from the West Bank have either lost their jobs in Israel and the settlements, at least temporarily, or are at risk of losing them “as a result of restrictions imposed on Palestinians’ access to the Israeli labour market and the closures of crossings from the West Bank into Israel and the settlements”.
Alaa Mousa from Ramallah in the West Bank had been saving up for 12 years to build his family a house and was finally making it happen. During his long and tedious daily journey, passing through several checkpoints to travel to his job in Israel, the father of two would daydream about how the ground floor would look when completed. But for more than 40 days, all work on his house has come to a halt.
“I need to pay monthly instalments [amounting to] $3,000 to complete this house. I made enough working in Israel, but now my debts are piling, my family is hungry and I have no clue when this is going to end,” said the 35-year-old builder. “The bank deducted $3,000 from my account last month, but I only managed to earn $1,000 from a side job. Instead of keeping that money to cover my kids’ needs, I deposited it in the bank to pay off some of this month’s instalments. Soon, my next instalment will be due, and the situation isn’t abating,” said Mousa, who now fears being legally persecuted.
Hani Mousa, an assistant political science professor at Birzeit University in the West Bank, said this is part of “Israel’s collective punishment of Palestinians, which also extended to employees in the Palestinian Authority (PA), whose salaries were not paid because Israel did not transfer the money needed”. Under interim peace accords, the Israeli finance minister has the final say in monthly money transfers made to the PA from taxes it collects on Palestinians’ behalf. The PA is then typically able to pay its employees, which it was not able to do in October, as Israel refused to make the full transfers.
Mousa is among thousands of Palestinian workers who held permits that granted them entry into Israel for work, generating an estimated income of about $3bn a year, but which had been suspended since 8 October.
“There has never been such a tight closure on workers in past years,” said Mousa. “Going in and out of Israel has always been a risky ordeal, but the money earned made it worth it, as well as some security when an accident befalls a worker. But today, we’re left with nothing, which is something I did not anticipate.”
According to the UN, the war will add considerable strain on Palestine’s already exhausted economy, and is “expected to amplify loan default risks, putting pressure on the banking sector of Gaza and of the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory, and threatening financial stability”.
Despite the tension, Israel has issued temporary permits for 8,000 workers from the West Bank to cross over, as its construction, agriculture and services sectors are highly dependent on the workers. They are often made to wear trackable bracelets as they cross the checkpoints, eyewitnesses say, which they hand over daily when they exit Israel.
Volker Türk, the UN human rights chief, described the situation in the occupied West Bank as “potentially explosive”, citing rising settler attacks against Palestinians and the use of military means in law enforcement operations.
This includes restrictions on movement within the West Bank, which the ILO said affects about 67,000 workers whose work is in governorates other than their place of residence and who “face heightened difficulties in accessing their workplaces, putting them at risk of losing their jobs”. The organisation said these workers are also “likely to be subject to difficult working conditions, including lower wages. The increased numbers of checkpoints across the West Bank increasingly challenges the movement of individuals and goods, further impacting the overall economy and capacity to produce.”
Cogat, the Israeli military civil body responsible for government policy in the occupied Palestinian territories, did not respond to a request for comment.
Youssef Mefarjeh, a 26-year-old construction worker, became his family’s only breadwinner after the war began. He earns $900 a month, down from a household income of $7,000 a month before the war. “My father and brother had work permits in Israel, but this source of income is no longer there, and it became up to me to put food on the table,” he said.
According to the ILO’s estimates, approximately 5% of workers from the West Bank who previously worked in Israel and the settlements have maintained their jobs, resulting in a total employment loss of 152,000 jobs.
“Work in the West Bank is gravely dangerous, and doesn’t pay well compared with work in Israel. But I had no other option but to power through, until the owner of the workshop I work in said he can no longer afford our salaries, or even the raw material, and had it shut down for now,” he said, explaining that the family is now relying on its savings to get by.
This article was published in collaboration with Egab. | Unemployment |
Image source, Getty ImagesSome of the world's top oil-producing countries have agreed to cut the amount they export in a decision expected to raise petrol prices around the world.Members of Opec+ - a group that includes Saudi Arabia and Russia - said they would slash production by two million barrels per day.The group said it wanted to stabilise prices, which have fallen in recent months as the world economy slows.But the decision raised fears that prices for motorists will climb.Expectations that countries were planning to pump less had already pushed oil prices higher this week. The price of a barrel of Brent crude jumped another almost 2% to more than $93 (£82) a barrel on Wednesday.A spokesman for the RAC motoring group said the reduction announced on Wednesday would "inevitably" lead to higher oil prices, forcing up the wholesale cost of fuel."The question is when, and to what extent, retailers choose to pass these increased costs on at their forecourts," spokesman Simon Williams said.The cut announced by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and allies marks the biggest reduction by the group since the height of the pandemic in 2020.It comes despite pleas from the US and others to pump more, after oil prices spiked this spring when the war in Ukraine disrupted supplies.In a statement, the White House said US President Joe Biden was "disappointed by the short-sighted decision". The US pledged to continue to release oil from national stockpiles "as appropriate" and look at other ways to try to rein in prices at the pump, which are a key issue for American voters in midterm elections scheduled for November. The move is also likely to disrupt US-led efforts to set a price cap for oil from Russia, a plan the US had suggested as a way to limit money flowing into the country and being put towards military use.Opec members defended their decision as a response to significant "uncertainty" about future demand for oil, amid fears that the global economy is heading towards a recession."The decision is technical, not political," United Arab Emirates Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazroui told reporters as Opec+ members gathered in Vienna to discuss the plans.Oil politicsAnalysis by Sameer Hashmi, Middle East business correspondent The latest decision by Opec+ is not just significant for oil markets, but for geopolitics as well. The fact that the Saudi-led cartel has taken this decision just three months after President Joe Biden's controversial trip to Saudi Arabia to convince the kingdom's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, to pump more barrels to cool down prices is a huge blow for the White House. The move not only carries the risk of pushing up oil prices but will also damage efforts by the West to restrict the Russian oil income used to sustain its war in Ukraine.Many countries will see this as a clear indication of major oil producers, especially Saudi Arabia, siding with Russia in the name of protective oil market management. It appears that the decision had support across the group as the Opec+ energy ministers approved the proposal in a meeting that lasted 30 minutes. As far as oil markets go, even though this is a substantial reduction, the actual impact on global supplies on the ground would be smaller because several members of Opec+ are already pumping far below their official quotas. But that may not be enough to calm the sentiments of the oil markets in the coming days.Higher oil prices were a major driver of the increase in consumer prices that hit countries around the world earlier this year, pushing inflation rates to levels not seen in decades and raising political tensions. The more recent drop had provided some relief to consumers, even as prices of many other staples, including food, continue to rise.A barrel of Brent Crude oil was trading at $84.06 in late September - down from highs of about $130 this spring.Despite falling oil prices and concerns about the global economy, Caroline Bain, chief commodities economist for research firm Capital Economics, said it was unusual timing to slash supply."Global oil stocks are historically low and, so far, high prices have failed to materially dent demand," she added.Analysts said that the impact of the cuts is likely to be less significant than its size might suggest, since some countries were already producing less than they had said they would, with Capital predicting a 1% drop in global supplies as a result.Kathleen Brooks, director at Minerva Analysis, said the output cut was the "worst case scenario people were looking for" - one that would weigh on UK financial markets and raise fears that prices across the economy would continue to rise.It "changes the narrative in terms of peak inflation - we might not be there yet," she said. | Energy & Natural Resources |
NEW YORK, Nov 10 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks surged, the dollar slid and Treasury yields dropped on Thursday after a cooler-than-expected October consumer prices report suggested the Federal Reserve's barrage of interest rate hikes are beginning to have their intended effect.All three major U.S. stock indexes rebounded sharply on the heels of Wednesday's sell-off, and the benchmark Treasury yield touched its lowest level in weeks and the greenback plunged.The Labor Department's consumer price index rose 0.4% last month, matching September's rise and much less than the 0.6% increase expected. In year through October, the CPI increased 7.7%, after rising 8.2% in September, the first time since February that the annual increase in the CPI was below 8%. read more MARKET REACTION:STOCKS: The Dow was up 3.44%, S&P 500 up 5.10% and Nasdaq up 6.72%BONDS: The yield on 10-year Treasury notes was down 31.3 basis points at 3.829%; The two-year U.S. Treasury yield was down 29.6 basis points at 4.332%.FOREX: The euro rallied against a tumbling dollar and was up 1.8%. The dollar index was off 2.2%COMMENTS:PETER TUZ, PRESIDENT, CHASE INVESTMENT COUNSEL, CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA"I’m surprised at the gain relative to the slight drop in inflation. There must have been a lot of money sitting on the sidelines. I hope today shows we’ve rounded the corner, but future (inflation) numbers will show one way of the other whether the trend continues.""Everything is risk-on again -- rates are coming down, dollar is coming down, gold is going up on the weaker dollar.""It shows you how focused asset owners were on inflation compared to everything else going on in the world. We’re off to the races. It’s good to see, but I don’t know if it will continue.""The move today dwarfs the moves we’ve seen lately because of elections, earnings, and Fed actions. I’m surprised by the magnitude of it.""This is not just reshuffling. Everything is up. Investors are getting into risk assets again across the board. It’s a powerful sign that maybe what the Fed and central banks around the world are doing is going to work."VAN LUU, GLOBAL HEAD OF CURRENCY, RUSSELL INVESTMENTS, LONDON“The softer than expected core CPI number is driving the big down move in the dollar. Together with stretched valuation (expensive) and sentiment (overbought) of the U.S. dollar, it explains the magnitude of the drop today in response to the lower-than-expected core CPI release.“The CPI number is the first-order cause of the big move. A second-order driver is the big fall in US yields (down 25 basis points+ across the curve).“For our own funds, we have considered a tactical short USD position recently, but we have not pulled the trigger yet. Today’s data point probably strengthens the case for the tactical position."YUNG-YU MA, CHIEF INVESTMENT STRATEGIST, BMO WEALTH MANAGEMENT, CHICAGO“The better-than-expected CPI numbers are welcome but show a lot of underlying volatility. Probably the biggest positive factor was that the strong increase in shelter costs contributed to over half of the CPI increase on the month and by the summer of next year that should begin to soften. Some other elements that brought down CPI on the month, such as falling natural gas prices and medical care services have a good chance of turning higher in coming months. And other categories such as insurance costs, car maintenance, and even food inflation remain stubbornly high. The market’s short-term reaction may be strong, but this is only one month’s data. This entire year has seen the market careen from one narrative to the next. While the October CPI data may help to soften the Fed’s trajectory a bit, it would take a lot more in coming months for the Fed to make an actual dovish pivot rather than stick to its ‘higher for longer’ recent messaging.”KING LIP, CHIEF STRATEGIST, BAKER AVENUE ASSET MANAGEMENT, SAN FRANCISCO“This is a big deal. This is finally some constructive developments on inflation.”“We have been calling the peak of inflation for the last couple of months and just have been incredibly frustrating that it hasn’t shown up in the data. For the first time, it has actually shown up in the data.”“This is a very positive development in the right direction. It may be still a little too early to say this is the end of the bear market. What Powell said is that we are going to need a few more reads on good CPI data before he can say we’re done."MIKE RIDDELL, SENIOR FIXED INCOME PORTFOLIO MANAGER, ALLIANZ GLOBAL INVESTORS, LONDON"Positioning always gets very stretched when trends have been in place for a long time. Going into the US CPI data release, there has been a clear bias for global investors to continue running with the trades that have worked in the last 12 months, namely large short rates positions, underweight risk assets, and long the US Dollar. These positions are all related – aggressive central bank hikes this year, particularly from the Fed, have pushed US bond yields higher along with the US Dollar, and put pressure on risky assets.""The first major downwards surprise in US inflation for a while has forced a lot of the leveraged trend followers to stop each other out. The move lower in the US Dollar today is what would be expected given the rally in risk assets, based on correlations with bonds and risky assets over the last few months.""If US inflation continues to come in lower than expected, then the Fed, as well as other central banks, have leeway to pause with rate hikes. If economic growth continues to deteriorate further, then the Fed could be in a position to cut rates aggressively next year. A gentle switch into a cutting cycle would be the very worst outcome for the US Dollar."MIKE ZIGMONT, HEAD OF TRADING AND RESEARCH, HARVEST VOLATILITY MANAGEMENT,"It's very good news for future Fed policy and indicates that what the Fed has been doing has been appropriate.""It takes off the table the risk that the Fed will have to overtighten and break the economy."BRIAN JACOBSEN, SENIOR INVESTMENT STRATEGIST, ALLSPRING GLOBAL INVESTMENTS, MENOMONEE FALLS, WISCONSIN
“Well, that was a relief. We’re getting some inflation relief. The run-rate for inflation is 4.8% annualized and that’s a material improvement from where we’ve been. Shelter is the main contributor to inflation and everyone should know by now that it’s a garbage indicator of where inflation is headed. The Fed knows it and it can throttle back rate hikes. Maybe that peak rate for the federal funds rate doesn’t have to be so high after all.”LEE HARDMAN, CURRENCY STRATEGIST, MUFG, LONDON"The CPI report has reinforced the selloff momentum in the dollar.""It gives the market more confidence that there could be a turn in the inflation cycle and the Fed could slow the rate hike pace in December."PAUL NOLTE, PORTFOLIO MANAGER, KINGSVIEW INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT, CHICAGO"The market thinks it's wonderful. The focus here is really not so much on year over year. It's the monthly stepdown. A lot of the areas that we've all looked at and said this is going to have an impact, are having an impact... a lot of those things are finally working their way into the numbers. And I think the expectation now is the Fed hikes rates 50 basis points in December. We were never in that camp, but expectations were for 75."ART HOGAN, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST, B. RILEY WEALTH, NEW YORK"A softer than expected inflation report is acting as a tailwind for markets. Every line of the report shows sequential improvement."
“The good news is that we saw a significant sequential improvement, inflation is clearly moving in the right direction. And that keeps a more hawkish Fed at bay.”"We came into this week nervous about the elections but we can check that box now, we know we'll have at least some gridlock in Washington. Next, we immediately turned our attention to the CPI and that clearly came in better than expected. The only potential headwind here has been the significant selloff in cryptocurrencies and that seems to have stabilized a bit morning too."“Also important is the initial jobless claims came in higher than expected, so we're finally starting to see some of those layoffs announcements by tech companies filter into the weekly data.”PETER CARDILLO, CHIEF MARKET ECONOMIST, SPARTAN CAPITAL SECURITIES, NEW YORK“The key is the core rate. This numbers to peaking inflation and as you can see stock (futures) are responding in a big way.”“This is good news and if it keeps up, we will be near a pause by the Fed. This is welcome news.”“The hikes in interest rates are beginning to bite into the economy and lower inflation as consumers become more frugal.”"There’s a possibility the Fed raises (interest rates) by 50 basis points in December and then takes a pause.”RYAN DETRICK, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST, CARSON GROUP, OMAHA"Today's date is a big relief. We've seen signs that inflation was starting to roll over - used car prices, rents have been coming down. But it's nice to see confirmation in the government data, which is what we've seen today.""This does open the door to a likely 50 basis point hike in December, calming some of the Feds extremely hawkish stance that it had on inflation so far this year."ROBERT PAVLIK, SENIOR PORTFOLIO MANAGER, DAKOTA WEALTH, FAIRFIELD, CONNECTICUT"It's a good sign for the Fed. The data is surprisingly better than expected. It rocketed the futures higher and then to top it off, weekly initial unemployment claims came in higher than expected. So it's all moving in the direction that the Fed wants it to.""Given just this data, it would allow the Fed to raise by only 50 basis points rather than 75 at the next meeting.I don't think they would go any lower than that."Compiled by the Global Finance & Markets Breaking News teamOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Inflation |
Economists are looking beyond the Federal Reserve and thinking outside the box of monetary policy for ways to fight inflation. With gas prices soaring, they are focusing largely — though not exclusively — on the energy industry and are increasingly coming up with ideas on how to bring down prices for consumers that cross the traditional liberal-conservative divides. Larry Summers, who served as Treasury secretary under former President Clinton and director of the National Economic Council under former President Obama, over the weekend called on lawmakers and the Biden administration to increase domestic oil production as a means of battling inflation, a stance that puts him in conflict with environmentalists and many Democrats who want to see the U.S. use less oil due to its contribution to global warming. Speaking to NBC, Summers echoed one of the most frequently repeated Republican talking points on Capitol Hill regarding inflation, calling for “an all-in, more energy supply approach that emphasizes freeing up fossil fuels in various ways in the short run.” Summers qualified his recommendation by saying that over the longer run the U.S. economy should be “making, with government support, the ultimate pivot to renewables.” Increasing domestic oil production, along with bringing down pharmaceutical drug prices and getting rid of some of the former President Trump-era tax cuts, would “take pressure off the Fed, would bring down the inflation rate, would operate to restore confidence, and would, I think, be a very positive contribution,” he added. His comments came as inflation that’s at a 40-year high is spooking average consumers and markets alike. The Federal Reserve last week raised interest rates by 0.75 percent. The central bank is trying to walk a tricky tightrope of bringing down inflation without triggering a recession. Summers on Sunday said his “best guess” was that one would happen. Keeping consumer prices stable is a key part of the Fed’s mandate, and in the months since inflation began soaring most eyes have been focused on the central bank. But experts are also pointing to fiscal policies known as “supply-side interventions” meant to target issues in supply chains, which nearly all economists believe to be the root cause of the inflation in the wake of the pandemic. Just as Summers, a Democrat, hopped on the conservative bandwagon of opening up domestic fossil fuel production to alleviate transportation costs and prices at the pump, some conservative economists have been advancing inflation-fighting arguments traditionally associated with liberals. The idea of a carbon tax, long seen on Capitol Hill as a non-starter among conservatives, received an endorsement last week from the Tax Foundation, a right-leaning Washington think tank focusing on domestic economic policy issues. Economists there argued that as increasing interest rates make the national debt more expensive for taxpayers to pay off, a carbon tax would be a good way to take some demand out of the economy and extend the purchasing power of the dollar. “As inflation, driven in large part by profligate deficit-financed spending, becomes a larger issue, and as concern about the national debt reenters the conversation, a carbon tax would be a convenient way to address both issues while working towards the policy objective of lowering carbon emissions,” Tax Foundation economists Huaqun Li and Alex Muresianu wrote in a report released this month, titled “Carbon Taxes and the Future of Tax Reform.” “Carbon taxes are an option to make the market reflect future costs of carbon emissions, discouraging emissions and incentivizing development and implementation of clean technology,” the report said. Carbon taxes, however, are not part of any legislative package that could realistically be enacted in a short enough time frame to reduce reliance on hydrocarbon fuels and make a difference on inflation, which stands now at 8.6 percent and may still be rising. President Biden, who released oil to the market from U.S. petroleum reserves in April, has argued that losing sight of the longer-term move to renewable energy in favor of producing more oil in the shorter term is neither good national strategy nor in the interest of the energy sector. Speaking earlier this month at the Port of Los Angeles — a site of many of the supply chain disruptions driving inflation — Biden said that big energy companies have thousands of unused oil drilling permits that they simply don’t want to use. “They have 9,000 permits to drill. They’re not drilling. Why aren’t they drilling? Because they make more money not producing more oil. The price goes up,” he said. But this hesitancy to drill may be motivated by more than just quarterly profits and may be a part of the same industry-changing forces that are driving the move toward renewable energy sources. “There was a time when everybody invested in canals in the United States, because that was going to be the future. But that lasted maybe 20 years, and then these things called railroads came along,” Edward M. Emmett, an energy and transportation fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, said in an interview. “And so I’m one of those that thinks that all this effort toward electric is going to meet the same fate, because we’re going to end up with a hydrogen fuel or biofuels or something else.” “On the energy front, everybody seems to have bought into the idea that it’s not going to be wise to invest a whole lot into carbon fuels, which is why we’re seeing the fight between the White House and others: ‘You’ve got these leases — why aren’t you drilling them?’ Well, one of the reasons is they don’t know if there’s going to be a market for those,” Emmett said. This suggests that the move to renewable energy sources, as well as the determination of the dominant renewable energy sources, could be an even higher priority for lawmakers as they consider additional supply-side interventions to bring down inflation. Regardless of industry specifics, the international pressure to curb emissions has never been higher. “Limiting global warming will require major transitions in the energy sector,” the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said in an April statement released with their latest report on climate change. “This will involve a substantial reduction in fossil fuel use, widespread electrification, improved energy efficiency, and use of alternative fuels (such as hydrogen).” And Biden on Monday also repeated some of his calls for inflation-fighting interventions outside the Fed’s purview. Responding to Summers’s comments on Monday, Biden said Congress should pass tax reforms and pointed to efforts to cut health care costs. “I think we’re going to be able to get a change in Medicare and a reduction in the cost of insulin,” Biden said. “We also can move in a direction that we can provide for tax increases … on those in the corporate area as well as individuals as it relates to Trump’s tax cuts.” | Inflation |
Candidates for premier were invited to make their pitch to First Nations leaders at a meeting of chiefs held last week in Manitoba, but while the NDP and Liberal leaders both accepted that invite, another leader was noticeably absent.
Last week, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) held their Chiefs in Assembly Annual General Meeting (AGM) on the Brokenhead Ojibway Nation, which brought together leaders from the 62 communities represented by AMC for three days of meetings.
And with a provincial election now just months away, NDP leader Wab Kinew, Liberal leader Dougald Lamont, and PC leader and current Premier Heather Stefanson were all invited to speak to the chiefs last Friday.
“We have this provincial election coming up, and we have many important matters that are impacting our communities and our First Nation population,” Long Plain First Nation Chief Kyra Wilson said while speaking at the AGM last Friday about the reasons for inviting the party leaders.
But Wilson and other leaders also expressed disappointment, because they say while both Kinew and Lamont showed up and engaged with First Nations leaders through both public statements and a question period, Stefanson did not show up and did not send any representation from the governing PC party.
“One of the biggest things for me is also just recognizing there is no representative here from the PC party, so let’s just make that known,” Wilson said.
Brokenhead Ojibway Nation Chief Gordon Bluesky, the leader of the community where the meetings were held, also expressed disappointment with the premier for not accepting an invite to come to his community north of Winnipeg last week.
“I too am also making note that an invitation was discarded by our PC leader here in Manitoba, and from my perspective that’s a sign of disrespect to my community as well,” Bluesky said.
In a statement posted to their Facebook page, AMC said they believed it was vital for all three leaders to be present at last week’s meetings.
“The AMC recognizes the incredible power of the First Nations vote in provincial and federal elections,” the statement reads. “We have over 164,000 First Nations citizens in this province, a demographic capable of swaying any election. “To give all parties an equal opportunity to present their platform to all Chiefs-in-Assembly, we invited all premier of Manitoba candidates to our Annual General Assembly. We welcome Wab Kinew of the NDP Party and Dougald Lamont of the Liberal Party as they respectfully engage with our First Nations Leaders on the issues First Nations Leadership is concerned about in Manitoba.
“The Conservative Party declined our invitation.”
The premier’s office didn't return the Winnipeg Sun’s request for comment.
While speaking at last week’s meeting, Lamont told those in attendance that reconciliation and working with First Nations would be one of the mandates and pillars of a Liberal government if he were elected.
“When you look at the discrimination that Indigenous people face, it’s the worst in the provincially-run systems,” Lamont said.
“When it comes to policy and platform we have an entire section of the Manitoba Liberal platform dedicated specifically to truth and reconciliation, but the entire platform is written through the lens of reconciliation.”
Kinew made a number of promises while speaking at the meeting including promises that a NDP government would invest money and resources to create more employment opportunities for First Nations people both on and off reserve.
“We need more jobs across Manitoba and we need more jobs in First Nations communities,” Kinew said. “It’s not just about a paycheque, but having a good job also provides dignity, self-respect, discipline and self-worth.
“There are so many issues that we want to tackle around poverty and homelessness and addictions and family life, and a huge part of those conversations has to be being able to deliver good jobs.”
Voters in Manitoba will go to the polls to elect the next provincial government on Oct. 3.
— Dave Baxter is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of the Winnipeg Sun. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
Dave Baxter, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Winnipeg Sun | Unemployment |
Transparency International Australia says a flow of dirty money into the country could be pushing house prices up even higher but the real estate industry disputes the claim.
The federal government is consulting on a push to include accountants, lawyers and real estate agents in legislation that forces certain professions to report suspicious transactions to authorities.
The anti-corruption group backs the push as existing laws are focused on other areas including casinos and the financial sector.
Transparency International Australia chief executive Clancy Moore said Australia’s existing anti-money laundering rules were among the weakest in the world.
“Australia’s real estate sector is now the go-to-destination for criminals to park their illicit money,” Mr Moore said.
“Several high-profile cases, media reports and AFP busts have demonstrated how kleptocrats, crooks and corrupt officials from countries including China, Cambodia and PNG use Australia’s property market to launder their dirty money and hide their crimes.”
The comments come ahead of a National Integrity Summit in Melbourne this week that will explore integrity, corruption and governance issues.
Real Estate Institute of Australia president Hayden Groves hit back, saying the main factor behind home and rental prices was a severe shortage of housing supply.
“The Australian Federal Police and the Australian Government currently can’t demonstrate any evidenced-based link between money laundering and Australian property values, or the scale on which money launderers are operating, despite many requests from our industry to understand this better,” Mr Groves said.
He said the industry group was committed to playing its role in the fight against capturing money launderers and was working with the government on the appropriate reporting of suspicious individuals.Jump to next article | Real Estate & Housing |
Joe Biden addresses the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate in Washington D.C. on June 17, 2022. Oliver Conteras/AP This story was originally published by The Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
Fossil fuel companies and the banks that finance them “have humanity by the throat,” the UN secretary general has said, in a “blistering” attack on the industry and its backers, who are pulling in record profits amid energy prices sent soaring by the Ukraine war.
António Guterres compared fossil fuel companies to the tobacco companies that continued to push their addictive products while concealing or attacking health advice that showed clear links between smoking and cancer, the first time he has drawn such a parallel.
He said: “We seem trapped in a world where fossil fuel producers and financiers have humanity by the throat. For decades, the fossil fuel industry has invested heavily in pseudoscience and public relations—with a false narrative to minimize their responsibility for climate change and undermine ambitious climate policies.”
“They exploited precisely the same scandalous tactics as big tobacco decades before. Like tobacco interests, fossil fuel interests and their financial accomplices must not escape responsibility.”
Speaking to the Major Economies Forum, a climate conference organized by the White House, Guterres also castigated governments that are failing to rein in fossil fuels, and in many cases seeking increased production of gas, oil, and even coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel. He said: “Nothing could be more clear or present than the danger of fossil fuel expansion. Even in the short-term, fossil fuels don’t make political or economic sense.”
US president, Joe Biden, is traveling to Saudi Arabia to push for more oil production, some EU countries are seeking to source gas from Africa and developing countries around the world, and the UK is licensing new gas fields in the North Sea.
Governments are concerned about soaring energy prices and rising food bills. Energy experts have advised more renewable energy and improvements to energy efficiency as better alternatives, but much of their advice has been ignored. The Guardian understands Guterres has been incensed by the recent behavior of fossil fuel companies, which have been reaping a bonanza from energy prices sent soaring by the Ukraine war. Much of these bumper profits are likely to be invested in fresh exploration and expansion of fossil fuel resources. The Guardian recently uncovered nearly 200 new projects—”carbon bombs”—that if completed would put paid to the world’s chances of limiting global temperatures to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
Guterres is understood to be furious that, six months after the Cop26 climate summit, and after three dire reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change—the “starkest warning yet” from climate scientists—countries and businesses are ignoring the science and squandering opportunities to put the world on a greener path, when renewable energy is cheaper and safer than fossil fuels.
The International Energy Agency warned last year that all new exploration and development of oil, gas and coal must cease this year to hold to the 1.5C threshold.
A senior UN official told the Guardian: “Even given the secretary general’s impressive track record of speaking truth to power, this is a blistering intervention, to the leaders of the world’s largest economies. The fossil fuel industry is taking a page out of big tobacco’s playbook, and that is utterly unacceptable to the secretary general. He’s determined to call out the fossil fuel industry and its financiers, and he won’t be constrained by any diplomatic niceties.”
The official added: “For the secretary general, this is the fight of our lives, and he won’t take a backwards step.”
The latest round of UN talks on the climate crisis, intended to pave the way for the next major summit, Cop27 this November in Egypt, ended without much progress in Bonn on Thursday evening. The outgoing UN climate chief, Patricia Espinosa, warned there was “still a lot to do” before Cop27, where countries are supposed to make good on promises made at Cop26 to strengthen their emissions-cutting plans in line with the 1.5C limit. | Energy & Natural Resources |
Wind turbines near Blairsburg, Iowa.Jack Kurtz/ZUMA Wire This story was originally published by Wired and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
You can’t see them or hear them, but there are huge, hidden forces propelling the United States into the energy future. Last year, the Biden administration committed to eliminating half the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, a critical step in fighting climate change. Half sounds like a lot—and it is—but scientists think it’s doable.
Different teams have modeled how exactly this decarbonization might play out—by rolling out more solar and wind energy, for example, and more electric vehicles—and landed on several paths to cutting emissions in half in the next eight years.
A new paper in the journal Science took six of these scenarios and found that they share several major points: the keys to a clean-energy future. “Reducing our emissions by 50 percent is technically feasible, it’s economically viable, and there are massive additional benefits,” says Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory energy economist Nikit Abhyankar, a coauthor of the paper. “So this is what we call a no-regrets strategy.”
The first area where those scenarios agree is that we’ll have to target the power and transportation sectors. To halve emissions, Abhyankar says, by 2030 the US grid will need to be running on about 80 percent carbon-free electricity (including hydropower and nuclear power), up from 40 percent today. The good news is that we’re already heading in that direction. In recent years, the US has been making significant progress in its effort to ditch coal for natural gas power plants. Yes, that gas is still a fossil fuel that spews carbon, but not nearly as much as coal.
Meanwhile, the costs of solar and wind energy are cratering. The price of solar technology has dropped 99 percent in the past four decades. And it’s getting less expensive for homeowners and utilities to store renewable energy: Between 1995 and 2018, the production of lithium-ion batteries jumped 30 percent per year while getting 12 percent cheaper each year. Earlier this month, the California utility PG&E commissioned a battery storage system that can provide power to over 200,000 homes for four hours. For homeowners, Tesla’s (very expensive) Powerwall battery can both charge a car and power a home during an outage, providing some independence from the grid. The bigger challenge is the grid itself. The switch to renewables is happening on ancient infrastructure designed for on-demand energy generation—if you need more electricity, you burn more fossil fuels. The US grid is also actually three distinct grids with little interconnection: eastern and western grids, and one just for Texas. That means if demand spikes in one region and the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing there, operators can’t import large amounts of power from elsewhere. This is the intermittency challenge of renewables: They’re critical to fighting climate change, but the grid just isn’t designed for them.
But, Abhyankar says, wind and solar power has gotten so cheap, and energy extraction so much more efficient, that this may not be a big problem in the short term. Extremely efficient panels and turbines can still generate enough electricity to make economic sense, even for regions that don’t have the number of sunny days Phoenix has, or the wind the Midwest has. That opens up the option of generating green energy locally, instead of having to import it across state lines. “Contrary to the conventional way of planning the grid—where you’ll choose the best of the best resource, site the renewable capacity there, and carry that electricity long distances—that trend has started changing because of the falling costs,” says Abhyankar. “And that might play a major role up to 2030 or so.”
That said, he adds that it’s not a permanent solution. A future grid that runs entirely on renewables needs to be more flexible, since operators won’t be able to burn fossil fuels to fill temporary gaps between energy demand and generation. (At night during a heat wave, for instance, people could be running lots of air conditioners, but there would be no sun to power them.) That means the infrastructure must be rebuilt to make it capable of shuttling renewable power over long distances. “In the long run, though, there’s just no alternative: We have to upgrade the transmission,” he says.
EVs may also prove to be valuable assets for smoothing out power supply and demand by forming a distributed network of car batteries that—along with home solar panels—grid operators could tap into when needed. “If we could leverage the batteries from electrical vehicles or batteries in homes, for instance, or if we could operate the rooftop [photovoltaics] of a set of customers and have them coordinate to provide a certain service to support our transmission network, that would absolutely help in trying to cope with intermittency,” says Patricia Hidalgo-Gonzalez, who is director of the Renewable Energy and Advanced Mathematics Laboratory at UC San Diego and wasn’t involved in the new paper. “That could alleviate the stress in the grid very dramatically as we have more and more renewables.”
The studies agreed on two more points: the economic and health benefits of decarbonization. Every step of the fossil fuel lifecycle, from extraction to processing to burning, is terrible for the human body. “There are massive non-economic benefits,” Abhyankar says of transitioning to clean energy. “What we found is this transition might also avoid over 200,000 premature deaths, and over $800 billion to a trillion dollars of other health [costs].” As more cars go electric, for example, air quality will improve, reducing the number of people affected by respiratory diseases.
The final point of agreement among the studies Abhyankar and his colleagues reviewed is that it’s not the expense that will hold back the deployment of renewables, batteries, and EVs. “The key point is: Cost is not going to be very high,” says Abhyankar. “In fact, some studies found it might result in significant consumer savings.” For instance, although putting solar panels on a home can be a costly upgrade—especially without a significant tax rebate—in the long run it will save the homeowner money. Instead, the stumbling block is the policies needed to deploy them at a wider scale. Even though Democrats currently control Congress and the White House, they’ve struggled to pass substantial climate legislation. The Build Back Better program would have juiced the manufacturing of renewable tech in the US, among other climate benefits, but West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin torpedoed it. “It comes as absolutely no surprise that we’re nowhere near on track of meeting our target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by roughly half by 2030,” says environmental economist Mark Paul of the New College of Florida. “I think that everybody across the climate and policy community is well aware that we’re going to absolutely blow past those targets, unless we have sizable action in Washington.”
And everywhere, for that matter. For instance, states could mandate that more of their energy generation come from renewables, while the feds could give bigger tax rebates for people to buy EVs and cities could invest in charging stations for them, especially in lower-income neighborhoods.
Another bottleneck, Paul says, is the lack of skilled labor to deploy and maintain solar and wind systems, and energy-saving home technologies like heat pumps. Public investments in trade schools could help boost this workforce. “This actually presents a pretty profound economic opportunity to revitalize the American working class that’s been struggling,” says Paul. “We just need policy to steer the ship in the right direction and ensure that this transition happens as quickly as possible.” | Renewable Energy |
Commerce Secy level officers of WTO countries to meet on Oct 23-24 in Geneva
Commerce secretary level officers of all the 164 WTO member countries will meet on October 23-24 in Geneva to discuss issues which can be deliberated in the ministerial conference in February next year, a government official said.
Commerce secretary level officers of all the 164 WTO member countries will meet on October 23-24 in Geneva to discuss issues which can be deliberated in the ministerial conference in February next year, a government official said.
The Indian side will be represented by Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal and Additional Secretary in the ministry Peeyush Kumar.
Issues which India is expected to raise include fisheries subsidy agreement, reforms in WTO's dispute settlement body, moratorium on e-commerce, agriculture related matters, among others, the official said.
'Before the ministerial conference in February 2024 in Abu Dhabi, this time for a change a vice-ministers meeting is happening in Geneva on October 23-24. Secretary level officers from all the 164-member countries will be there for the deliberations,' the official said.
Ministerial conference (MC) is the highest decision making body of the WTO. The Geneva-based multi-lateral body deals with global exports and import-related norms and adjudicates trade disputes between the members.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) members on June 17, 2022 secured a 'Geneva Package' which included agreements on curbing harmful fishing subsidies and temporary patent waiver for production of COVID-19 vaccines.
The fisheries subsidies pact is limited to illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing only and the full agreement would come up for discussions, the official added.
In the 2022 MC, it was also agreed to find a final solution to the issue of continuation of moratorium on imposing customs duties on electronic transmission of goods by the next MC.
India strongly opposes continuation of this moratorium as it adversely impacts developing countries.
New Delhi is expected to again oppose any further extension in the MC in Abu Dhabi.
In the agri segment, India has called for finding a permanent solution to the issue of public stockholding for food security purposes.
As part of a permanent solution, India has demanded amendments in the formula to calculate the food subsidy cap and inclusion of programmes implemented after 2013 under the ambit of 'Peace Clause', among others.
Besides, India has asked for SSM (special safeguard mechanism), which aims at protecting poor and marginal farmers from any surge in imports or a steep decline in prices.
WTO's agriculture negotiations encompass various topics, including domestic support, market access, export competition, export restrictions, cotton, public stockholding for food security purposes, special safeguard mechanism, and the cross-cutting issue of transparency.
The 13th MC will take place in the week of February 26, 2024 in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates. | Middle East Business & Economics |
MUMBAI, Oct 25 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee is expected to open slightly lower versus the dollar on Tuesday after the offshore Chinese yuan tumbled to a lifetime low.The rupee is tipped to open at around 82.74-82.76 per U.S. dollar, compared with 82.6750 on Friday. Indian financial markets were off on Monday.The offshore yuan dropped to a record low of 7.3650 to the dollar on Tuesday after the People's Bank of China's daily fix prompted speculation that the central bank may allow a market determined exchange rate.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comThe PBOC set the mid-point at 7.1668 compared to a Reuters estimate of 7.1348.The yuan was already under pressure as investors dumped Chinese assets after President Xi Jinping's new leadership team raised fears growth will be sacrificed for ideology-driven policies.Chinese and Hong Kong equities extended Monday's fall. On Monday, the Hong Kong's main index plunged more than 6%.Meanwhile, the dollar index dipped in Asia trading, adding to is recent losses on bets that the U.S. Federal Reserve will deliver a small rate hike in December.Fed officials are entertaining a 50-basis points rate hike in December, and they would want to prepare investors for such a decision in the weeks after the Federal Open Market Committee meeting in November, the Wall Street Journal said on Friday.The odds of a 50-bps rate hike in Dec is now at about 55%, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.If it were not for yuan, the rupee would have had "had a decent opening" considering the "slightly less" hawkish Fed outlook, a trader at a Mumbai-based bank said.He pointed out that the 1-month non-deliverable forward had dropped to about 82.75 on Friday after the WSJ report.Another fall in India's foreign exchange "is probably another problem" for the rupee, the trader said. The country's forex reserve dropped $4.5 billion to $528.4 billion in the week through Oct 14.KEY INDICATORS:** One-month non-deliverable rupee forward at 83.02; onshore one-month forward premium at 19.5 paise** USD/INR NSE Oct. futures settled on Friday at 82.8325** USD/INR Oct. forward premium at 1.5 paise** Dollar index down at 111.82** Brent crude futures flat at $93.3 per barrel** Ten-year U.S. note yield at 4.21** SGX Nifty nearest-month futures down 0.1% at 17,818** As per NSDL data, foreign investors bought a net $202.8 million worth of Indian shares on Oct. 20** NSDL data shows foreign investors sold a net $44.9 million worth of Indian bonds on Oct. 20Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Nimesh Vora; Editing by Savio D'SouzaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Forex Trading & Speculation |
SummaryStrong U.S. jobs and high CPI f'cast strengthen hike betsAussie touches 2-1/2 yr low below $0.64Sterling under renewed pressureChina markets to return from week-long breakSYDNEY, Oct 10 (Reuters) - The dollar started the week firmly on Monday, with a strong U.S. labour market reinforcing bets on higher interest rates as traders braced for data expected to show stubbornly high inflation.U.S. unemployment unexpectedly fell last month, Friday figures showed, and inflation data due on Thursday is forecast to show headline inflation at a hot 8.1% year-on-year. Policymakers' preferred core inflation is seen rising to 6.5%.Westpac strategist Sean Callow said the data and rising yields in response was a "robust combination for the dollar."Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com"It's further evidence that the U.S. economy is not cratering," he said. "It just feeds into the notion that the Fed is going to spend the next three weeks saying the same thing about interest rates."Climbing oil prices and geopolitical tension also provided plenty of reasons for nervousness about growth, weighing on energy-importer currencies in Europe and even on exporters such as the growth-sensitive Australian dollar.The Aussie fell 0.3% to a 2-1/2 year low of $0.6347 in early trade in Asia that was thinned by a holiday in Japan. Sterling fell 0.2% to $1.1071, while the yen was drifting into a zone on the weaker side of 145 per dollar that prompted authorities' intervention to support it last month.The yen was last at 145.37 per dollar. The New Zealand dollar touched a two-week low of $0.5593.Futures pricing suggests traders see a nearly 90% chance of a 75 basis point rate hike in the United States next month and more than 150 bps of tightening by May. Ten-year Treasury yields rose for a tenth straight week last week.Benchmark Brent crude futures jumped more than 11% last week after the Saudi-led production cartel agreed to cut supply, while intensifying war in Ukraine is also a threat to Europe's energy security as winter approaches.The euro fell below $0.98 on Friday and was last at $0.9733. The U.S. dollar index was steady at 112.83, off lows around 110 last week and creeping back toward last month's 20-year high of 114.78.Markets were waiting to see how the Kremlin might respond to a blast that hit Russia's only bridge to Crimea. Nuclear-armed North Korea made a seventh recent missile test over the weekend.Chinese markets reopen after a week-long holiday, and ahead of that the offshore yuan was steady at 7.1310 per dollar. The Communist Party's 20th National Congress opens on Sunday and is expected to reaffirm Xi Jinping's leadership.Services activity in China shrank for the first time since May in September, disappointing expectations."The yuan will likely trade between 7.0 and 7.2 in the near term," said Scotiabank strategist Qi Gao.========================================================Currency bid prices at 2304 GMTAll spotsTokyo spotsEurope spotsVolatilitiesTokyo Forex market info from BOJRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Tom Westbrook. Editing by Sam Holmes.Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Forex Trading & Speculation |
Somalia’s federal and regional leaders have agreed to increase the number of armed forces and police officers to meet security demands as African Union forces leave the country by the end of next year.
The leaders have agreed the number of national armed forces to be at least 30,000 soldiers and at least 40,000 police personnel, according to the agreement obtained by VOA Somali.
According to the agreement known as the “National Security Architecture” signed by Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre and the leaders of federal member states last week, the new number of armed forces do not include the navy, air force and special commando units trained by the United States and Turkey.
The agreement revises a 2017 deal between Somali leaders, which specified the number of military and police to be at least 18,000 and 32,000 respectively. The earliest age to register for the army will be 18 and 62 is the new retirement age.
According to the new agreement, the country’s National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) will continue to have special armed agents until current security conditions end. Federal member states, which currently have their own intelligence agencies and armed agents, will no longer have these agencies once the country is stabilized.
The new agreement also allows the number of custodial corps to be 5,300 — comprised of 4,500 federal and 800 prison guards.
Leaders of the Puntland semiautonomous region did not participate in the meeting held in the southwestern town of Baidoa between March 15 and 17. In January, Puntland leaders said they would govern their own affairs like an “independent government” until the federal constitution is completed.
Somali government officials said the new agreement is intended to prepare the country’s forces to take over security responsibilities from AU forces.
“The Somali government today is concentrating on transferring security responsibilities from ATMIS (African Union Transition Mission in Somalia) which have been in the country for not less than 15 years,” Kamal Dahir Hassan Gutale, national security adviser to Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre told VOA Somali.
“The target is that on December 2024 the last AU soldier will leave the country. This is important for Somalia meeting its security responsibilities.”
Gutale said paramilitary forces belonging to the regions will be used as stabilization and holding forces in areas captured from al-Shabab militants.
Immediately after the agreement was reached, Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud flew to Uganda to attend the graduation of newly trained soldiers.
Somalia’s national security adviser Hussein Sheikh-Ali confirmed to VOA in January that the government is training 3,000 soldiers in Uganda.
Ali also recently confirmed that troops from neighboring countries will participate in the next phase of military operations against al-Shabab.
Gutale told VOA that the new offensive will commence during Islam’s holiest month, Ramadan, which starts this Wednesday.
“There is a rigorous preparation by the Somali national armed forces and all other forces for large operations during Ramadan,” he said.
“God willing, we hope Somali forces will achieve [a] big victory.” | Africa Business & Economics |
LONDON — European stocks are expected to open in mixed territory on Tuesday after sharp declines in global markets on Monday amid fears that central banks will be forced into aggressive monetary policy tightening with inflation remaining high.The U.K.'s FTSE index is seen opening 23 points higher at 7,226, Germany's DAX 44 points higher at 13,464, France's CAC 40 up 7 points at 6,030 and Italy's FTSE MIB down 9 points at 21,955, according to data from IG.Global stock markets were sent reeling on Monday, with investors reacting to the potential for more aggressive rate hikes by central banks in Europe and the United States after the latest inflation report.Fed meetsAgainst this backdrop, the U.S. Federal Reserve is central to market action this week, with Fed officials meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss their next monetary policy move.The Federal Open Market Committee is widely expected to announce at least a 50-basis-point hike on Wednesday, having already raised rates twice this year, though market bets for a 75-basis-point hike have risen in light of Friday's inflation reading.The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee will announce its latest interest rate decision on Thursday. The Bank of Japan, Swiss National Bank and Brazil's BCB also meet this week.On the data front in Europe on Tuesday, due for release are German inflation figures for May, the U.K. unemployment rate for April, euro area industrial production data for April and Germany's ZEW index of economic sentiment for June. | Europe Business & Economics |
Australia's central bank has announced that it will be led by a woman for the first time.
Michele Bullock will succeed Philip Lowe, who has been the governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) for seven years.
Her appointment comes as the country has been battling rising prices and the RBA is facing a major shakeup.
It has raised interest rates to their highest level in over a decade in a bid to tackle inflation.
The Australian financial services industry is male-dominated and has one of the nation's widest gender pay gaps.
Ms Bullock, who is currently the RBA's deputy governor, is due to start her seven-year term as governor on 18 September.
"It is a challenging time to be coming into this role, but I will be supported by a strong executive team and boards," Ms Bullock said in a statement on Friday.
"I am committed to ensuring that the Reserve Bank delivers on its policy and operational objectives for the benefit of the Australian people," she added.
Ms Bullock has been described as an RBA insider, having joined the central bank as an analyst nearly four decades ago.
In that time she has held senior management positions, including assistant governor and head of the payments policy department, before being appointed as the RBA's deputy governor in April 2022.
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a post on Twitter that Ms Bullock was "an outstanding economist, with a long and distinguished career at the central bank."
"We believe she has the experience, expertise and fresh perspective to lead the RBA as Australia - and the world - face ongoing economic challenges," Mr Albanese said in another tweet.
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Finance minister Kathy Gallagher said: "This is a historic moment for Australia with Michele's appointment seeing our RBA led by a woman for the first time."
Mr Lowe, the RBA's outgoing governor, said the central bank was in good hands as it deals with the rising cost of living.
"The Treasurer has made a first-rate appointment. I wish Michele all the best," he said.
The RBA is under pressure to tackle inflation, which is stretching household budgets.
The central bank has raised interest rates 12 times since last May - to mixed reactions from economists. The RBA's main interest rate is currently at an 11-year high of 4.1%.
In theory, raising interest rates makes it more expensive to borrow money and encourages people to spend less, which can bring down inflation.
Earlier this year, the Australian government released its first external review of the RBA in 40 years.
The review made 51 recommendations, including calls for the central bank to have a clearer monetary policy framework and greater accountability.
Australia's financial services industry continues to have one of the nation's highest gender pay gaps, according to government data.
The Workplace Gender Equality Agency found a 28.6% difference in remuneration between males and females across the sector last year.
This was higher than the national gender pay gap of 22.8%. | Australia Business & Economics |
Subscribe today to the Washington Examiner magazine and get Washington Briefing: politics and policy stories that will keep you up to date with what's going on in Washington. SUBSCRIBE NOW: Just $1.00 an issue! WHAT IT WOULD TAKE TO GET ENERGY COMPANIES TO EXPAND PRODUCTION: Oil prices have been above $120 per barrel for consecutive days, prompt month natural gas futures have been trading above $8 per MMBtu for weeks, and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s two cents are that gasoline prices aren’t going to fall “anytime soon.” For a number of independent producers, the run-up in prices hasn’t been enough to tempt them to spend on increasing production. Will the sum of it now be enough? Capital discipline: Producers have been publicly beating the “capital discipline” drum for months, preferring to put healthy earnings toward buying back stock, returning cash to shareholders, and paying down debts, rather than racing to increase production and risk overexposing themselves if prices drop considerably. While industry executives have named inflation, labor shortages, and difficulties accessing capital as factors contributing to their conservative spending strategies, large independents have drawn up differing risk calculations related to the war and demand than some of their integrated competitors, including Chevron and ExxonMobil, which have announced plans to increase production. “We do not feel that today is the appropriate time to begin spending dollars that would not equate to additional barrels until multiple quarters from today given the uncertainty and volatility currently in the market,” Diamondback Energy said in its first-quarter earnings announcement, which was made public on May 2. Increasing spending activity today “would result in capital efficiency degradation and would not meaningfully contribute to the global supply and demand imbalance in the oil market today,” the company said. Others, including Devon Energy and Occidental Petroleum, have made similar overtures and declined to increase production targets. War as a constant: Even if the war were to end in short order, its consequences for the oil and natural gas markets are to remain due to already-imposed and planned embargoes of Russian petroleum, and due to Europe’s intentions to displace Russian pipeline gas with LNG imports from the U.S. and other friends. The Energy Information Administration forecasts Russia’s liquids fuel production to fall by around 2 million barrels per day in the fourth quarter of the year, compared to the first quarter. The pressure is on: The industry is, and has been since the war started, under pressure already from President Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress to get their production levels up, as they’re accused of exploiting the war’s effect on oil prices to get richer. To be sure, not all companies are all taking the exact same course. Biden singled out Exxon on Friday and urged the company to “start investing” to increase production. An Exxon spokesperson stressed in response that the company plans to increase production by 25% this year in the Permian Basin, telling Jeremy the company has “been in regular contact with the administration, informing them of our planned investments to increase production and expand refining capacity in the United States.” Chevron is also planning to increase production this year and committed to increase capital spending by over 60% compared to 2021, chairman and CEO Mike Wirth told the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight in April. Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner Energy and Environment Writers Jeremy Beaman (@jeremywbeaman) and Breanne Deppisch (@breanne_dep). Email [email protected] or [email protected] for tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email, and we’ll add you to our list. HOUSE DEMOCRATS PROBE ROLE OF PR FIRMS IN FOSSIL FUEL CAMPAIGNS: Two House Democrats have issued requests for five PR firms, as well as the American Petroleum Institute, to turn over documents detailing their work for major oil and gas companies, as part of an ongoing probe to determine whether these groups helped downplay the role of fossil fuels in climate change. The letters were sent by House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raul Grijalva of Arizona and Katie Porter of California to API, as well as the groups Blue Advertising, DDC Public Affairs, FTI Consulting, Singer Associates, and Story Partners. Porter, the chairwoman of the House Natural Resources Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, said that “fossil fuel companies have been lying to the public for decades to cover up the damage they’re doing to the planet and our long-term economic wellbeing.” “At a time of record inflation and rising energy costs, we need solutions to unlock more American energy to keep the lights on and meet demand while reducing US emissions," API senior vice president Megan Bloomgren said in a statement. "Any suggestion to the contrary is false. American energy is produced safer, more reliably, and to among the highest environmental standards in the world.” CHINA OVERTAKES GERMANY AS LARGEST IMPORTER OF RUSSIAN ENERGY: Since the start of the war in Ukraine, China has overtaken Germany to become the top buyer of Russian energy, according to a new report from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. Though Germany remains deeply dependent on Russian energy supplies—namely, on natural gas—it managed to cut its Russian imports by a modest 8% in May, researchers at the Helsinki-based center found. This is in keeping with broader EU trends, which come as the bloc moves to cut its dependence on Russian imports and secure alternative energy supplies. Imports to China remained constant, however, allowing it to overtake Germany as the number-one buyer. Beijing imported roughly 12.6 billion euros of Russian energy supplies, the group found. India has also become a significant importer, purchasing 18% of Russian exports. Fossil fuels are filling the Kremlin’s war chest: Despite the EU’s efforts to punish Moscow by shunning its energy supplies, heightened demand and a global scramble for fossil fuels has created something of a windfall for Moscow in the short-term. As the report noted, Russia’s average export prices were an average 60% higher than last year, even if they were discounted from international prices. BRITS INVESTIGATING HIGH FUEL PRICES: The British government’s competition authority will investigate the national retail fuel market to provide an answer as to why fuel prices rise quickly but fall slowly. Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng requested the investigation over the weekend, and Competition and Markets Authority head Andrea Coscelli confirmed in a letter today that the agency would carry out a review and advise the government on what it can do in response. Kwarteng, who in May wrote to the United Kingdom’s leading energy trade associations asking them to ensure that drivers are getting a “fair deal” on fuel prices, announced his request to the CMA yesterday on Twitter. “Fuel prices are always quick to go up but slow to come down - let’s see why,” he said. Congressional Democrats have similarly drawn attention to the spread between retail fuel prices and crude oil to make the case that energy companies are gouging drivers, while industry players point to the “rocket and feather” effect to describe why fuel is quick to rise and slow to fall. MEANWHILE, IN US, GAS PRICES PASS $5 MILESTONE: Gas prices in the U.S. passed a national average of $5 per gallon for the first time ever this weekend, according to AAA—a new and painful price point that analysts expect to climb even higher this summer. Gas prices in the U.S. reached $5.01 per gallon, up 58 cents since May, and $1.94 compared to the same point last year. JPMorgan Chase analysts predicted gas prices will climb to roughly $6 per gallon this summer, a spike it attributed to unresolved supply chain issues and high travel demand. When inflation is considered, however, the new numbers fall short of the all-time record seen in July 2008—then when prices peaked at $4.11 a gallon, or today’s equivalent of $5.40 a gallon. SENATE BILL MEANT TO HELP VETS EXPOSED TO TOXIC CHEMICALS: Senators are slated to pass a sweeping bill this week to expand health care and disability benefits for U.S. veterans who were exposed to toxic chemicals. The bipartisan effort has been hailed as a “major achievement” for veterans, including many who served after 9/11 and were exposed to burn pits and other toxins. The legislation, crafted by Senate Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat, and ranking member Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, would expand benefits for roughly 3.5 million veterans. House lawmakers approved a version of the bill, 256-174, earlier this year. The amended Senate version is all but certain to clear both chambers, and Biden has also vowed to approve it when it reached his desk—telling reporters last month he would “sign it immediately.” Under the bill, the VA would add 23 new illnesses and conditions related to burn pit and toxic exposure—ranging from brain cancer to hypertension—to its list of “automatic qualifiers” for VA healthcare benefits and disability checks. Read more about the legislation here. CONSERVATIVE YOUTH CLIMATE GROUP CONCLUDES INAUGURAL SUMMIT: The American Conservation Coalition hosted more than 200 young conservative activists in D.C. over the weekend as part of its first-ever summit to talk over conservative solutions for dealing with climate change. The three-day event featured Republican House Western Caucus member Reps. Dan Newhouse and Bruce Westerman, Rep. Dan Crenshaw, and former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. See ACC’s summary video here. The Rundown Bloomberg How the ‘energy shock’ has upended the global economy Reuters Global nuclear arsenal to grow for first time since Cold War, think-tank says Wall Street Journal Mexico takes aim at private companies, threatening decades of economic growth Reuters Striking South Korean truckers say they may block coal to power plant Calendar THURSDAY | JUNE 16 3 p.m. 1201 Pennsylvania Ave. Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions (CRES) will hold a forum examining the SEC climate disclosure rule and role of U.S. plastics in global climate mitigation. A networking reception will follow. Find out more and register here. | Energy & Natural Resources |
On the Frontline of Exposing the Truth About Russia and Brexit
Four years ago, Tom Mutch thought he had the ‘scoop of the century’ blowing open Russia’s involvement in Brexit. Now, after the UK has left the European Union and Putin wages genocidal war in Ukraine, he wonders whether we are any closer to knowing the truth
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“As I told my friend Boris Johnson, it’s you and I that are always being blamed for this,” the Russian Ambassador in London, Alexander Yakovenko, said as he turned to me and smiled. It was a mischievous answer to my question on whether Russia had been involved in campaigning for Brexit.
The charming and sharp-suited senior Russian diplomat had just given quite a speech at the Oxford Union. It was May 2018 and he had been invited to promote the upcoming FIFA World Cup. Instead, he used his perch to deny Russia’s involvement in the ills of the world, issuing denial after denial.
No, Russia was not involved in the war in Ukraine. Nor had it interfered in the 2016 US Presidential Election. He repeated conspiracy theories about the Skripal poisoning in Salisbury and said he “couldn’t know” whether the head of the Chechen republic Ramzan Kadyrov was right about there being no gay people in that part of Russia.
I had collared him for a short interview. “Tell me, why would Russia want to cause such a mess?” he asked me with an expression of bafflement on his face.
He could not have known then, but I had a particularly good answer to that question. For I possessed evidence that Yakovenko may have been personally involved in what could have been one of the biggest boons for Russian foreign policy of all time.
Having spent the past months in bunkers and trenches watching Putin’s armed forces trying to annihilate Ukraine, I thought about the Russian Ambassador’s waspish charm – and its incredibly ominous undertones.
Bad Boys of Brexit
I had worked with journalist Isabel Oakeshott as a researcher on The Bad Boys of Brexit, the book she had ghost-written for Arron Banks – an outspoken businessman and donor to the far-right UK Independence Party, which had pushed David Cameron into calling a referendum on the EU. Banks had given around £8 million to fund Nigel Farage and his campaign for Britain to quit Europe. Being a Brexit supporter, I had little problem with this at the time.
In the book, Banks described his campaign to take on the British establishment with a ragtag team of fringe politicians and social media whizzes. With money from his insurance companies, combined with some pluck, gusto and well-placed Twitter trolling, Banks credited himself for pulling off one of the biggest upsets in British political history.
It was a tale that would take him to the top of Trump Tower, where he and his team were photographed next to a grinning President-Elect Donald Trump. Banks would later claim a little credit for this other great electoral shock.
But in the year after the book was published, Banks had come under serious scrutiny from both journalists and regulatory agencies around the source of his funding.
Reports – which Banks contested – suggested that his businesses were losing money and he could not have afforded his donations. Oakeshott and I had heard from a security services source that spooks were probing whether Banks had serious business interests in Russia and if this was connected to his Brexit largesse.
In late 2017, I was sitting with my family in Australia when I got a call from Oakeshott. Could I check the records we retained from our time working on the Bad Boys of Brexit and find if there was any truth to the allegations? I agreed. What I found deeply concerned both of us.
The documents revealed many undisclosed meetings between Banks’ Leave.EU campaign team and officials based in the Russian Embassy in London. Rather than the ‘single boozy lunch’ the group had claimed in our book, it had held around a dozen meetings.
Several of these were with a Russian spook they described as “the KGB’s man in London”. They included a series of lunches with the Russian Ambassador, who had offered Banks and his business associates significant investments in Russian state-controlled gold and diamond firms. They had also met to discuss the Brexit campaign and frequently traded messages of friendship and mutual support. One example was an email sent during a public dispute between Russia and the UK over the Syrian refugee crisis. “Suggest we send a note of support to the Russian Ambassador,” Banks wrote.
Isabel and I had already become uncomfortable with his attacks on journalists investigating him. He had shared a meme depicting Observer journalist Carole Cadwalladr being beaten in a mock-up of a scene from the comedy film Airplane. He said she “wouldn’t be so lippy in Russia!”. Other emails detailed his plans to hire private investigators to dig up dirt on the BBC Newsnight team investigating his finances. This was “personal stuff, things like girlfriends, if he’s in debt”.
Nothing we uncovered proved any illegality. Putting out false press statements or ‘leading journalists up the garden path’ is not a crime. Nor is meeting representatives of foreign governments or considering investment proposals. Banks was a businessman, after all, with significant legitimate investments in commodities including diamonds.
But it was clear that the Russians were trying to cultivate important UK political figures to increase their influence.
The announcement of Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 US election showed how high the stakes were – especially as I was aware how intricately connected the two transatlantic campaigns of Brexit and Trump were.
Other documents showed Banks and Wigmore were offered a meeting with both Marine Le Pen of the French National Front, and that a Trump foreign policy advisor had asked them for an introduction to members from the German far-right AfD party.
The team behind the book drafted a public statement, saying that Oakeshott was concerned that Banks could be working as an “agent of influence for the Russian state” and that she “cannot stand by while Banks publicly lies about his connections” to hostile foreign powers. Unfortunately, she did.
Oakeshott, and her publisher Michael Ashcroft, decided to instead hold the material for an upcoming book about UK defence. I accepted this, but was never that comfortable with it. As time went on, revelations about Cambridge Analytica and the poisoning of Sergei Skripal increased my concerns that this material needed to come out.
I began speaking with journalists from other organisations about the documents, including Byline Times’ co-founder, Peter Jukes. He shared a draft with the Observer, which published it and all hell broke loose. The story was on the front pages of newspapers, the lead item on CNN and the UK Government called for an investigation into Banks’ finances. Senior opposition politicians were claiming that Brexit needed to be stopped until these allegations could be investigated.
A few months later, the National Crime Agency would announce a criminal probe into Banks, based on reasonable suspicion that he “was not the true source of his funding for the Leave.EU campaign”. Further investigations would show that one of Banks’ business partners had filed court documents claiming that the money he had raised from Russians to expand his diamond mines in a South Africa business had been diverted to fund Banks’ Leave EU referendum campaign.
It seemed like the scoop of the century – the smoking gun connecting Trump, Brexit and Russia.
A Drink with Mr Banks
The NCA closed its investigation with no charges. Boris Johnson suppressed a report by a parliamentary committee into Russian interference ahead of the 2019 General Election, which he won by claiming to ‘Get Brexit Done’. On 31 January 2020, the UK officially left the EU.
Shortly afterwards, the pandemic struck and – by an odd twist of fate – Arron Banks and I both ended up being stuck in Auckland. I asked if he would be willing to meet. To my surprise, he agreed.
Sitting in a small restaurant in the quiet suburb of Mt Eden, he looked a picture of health. Trim, well-dressed and beaming with energy. The restless politico was keeping himself busy with projects in the Antipodes and said he had just lunched with the populist New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters. He toasted me with his glass of pinot noir. It was his fourth or so bottle of wine by about 2pm.
“A few games of squash, a couple of glasses of wine, and I feel the best I have in years,” he said. “After what we went through, I needed a break!” Banks explained that, after the publication of his correspondence with the Russian Embassy in London, a Sunday Times reporter had called to tell him “I can’t believe it, we’ve never, in all my time at the paper, devoted the first six whole pages to a single report”.
He said “we were on the front page of The New York Times, the Washington Post” and “we had who knows how many hit pieces on us from Newsnight and Channel 4”. He explained how he had suffered heavily at the hand of the ‘fake news’ press; a slight smirk betraying how he somewhat enjoyed the notoriety.
We had met just once before, at an election night party on the eve of Trump’s victory. Held at London’s exclusive Devonshire Club, I had listened to Banks’ close associate and press guru Andy Wigmore explain just how deep those transatlantic connections went.
He reckoned Trump could pull off a similar upset to Brexit. Leave.EU, he explained, had assisted the Trump campaign to design a strategy for targeting white working-class voters in the ‘rust belt’ states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. This, he told me, was based on data and experience derived from Nigel Farage’s bus tour around similarly deprived communities in the north of England.
Banks said something similar in an email to a friend that December – “we have been in the US helping the Trump campaign for the last few months”. He also boasted “close relationships with three of the most senior figures in the incoming administration” – Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway and Jeff Sessions.
It appeared his connections were taken seriously by figures in the UK. Steve Hilton, David Cameron’s former advisor and advocate for ‘positive populism’, reached out to Banks to request a mobile number for Bannon. Wigmore even passed his contacts in the Russian Embassy a telephone number for the Trump transition team.
I asked Banks if this account was accurate. “Yes,” he said, before backtracking and claiming that Wigmore had slightly oversold it. “What we did do was help Trump deliver his message better,” he told me. “Before we got there, he was reading these dull, pre-written speeches. Nigel got him to ditch the teleprompter, improvise more and liven things up.”
Then, as the talk flowed, he let slip the thing that surprised me most. “You know the lads from the National Crime Agency – like most of the police – are very working-class,” he said. “They made it clear to me they were backers of Brexit.” I could not know exactly what he meant by this, but I had long harboured my own suspicions that the NCA’s investigation had lacked rigour.
Failures to Investigate
The National Crime Agency’s headquarters is a series of squat, grey, concrete rectangles built across a small courtyard in south London. Investigators working on ‘Operation Centile’, as the probe was known, had requested an interview with me and I had agreed to cooperate. In a cold, clammy basement two stories below ground, I walked them through the disturbing connections I had found.
“We are very interested in all of this,” one of the officers told me gravely. Their subsequent actions would not bear this out.
They gave me a cable to transfer my records from my laptop to one of their computers. The transfer completed and I left.
Around a week later, they called again. The transfer had failed midway and corrupted the files and they wanted me to upload the material to a cloud-based system and give them a link to open it. I did so and then they changed their minds again, saying they were worried about the chain of custody of the evidence if they opened the link. They wanted me to transfer all the material to a hard drive, travel to the Peruvian capital of Lima (I’d been travelling in South America at the time) and hand this drive into the British Embassy in the city. Despairing, I made it clear if they wanted, they could come and get it.
They never contacted me again.
When the NCA released a letter outlining its findings, there was no mention of any investigation of Banks’ links to the Russian state. The Electoral Commission, which had initially referred the case to London’s top cops, took the extraordinary step of publicly criticising the judgment for “allowing foreign money into British elections”.
The NCA claimed it had interviewed Banks and examined material from his business records in the Isle of Man, where his companies are based. The Isle of Man is regarded as a tax haven and has some of the world’s most secretive banking laws. I spoke with a senior source working for its financial regulatory agency who told me that its financial crime team had spent significant time preparing to deal with a request from the NCA to probe Banks’ dealings. This request had never arrived and the NCA did not probe Banks’ confidential financial records, according to this source.
There were hints that people at the agency knew more than it had let on.
Shortly before it publicly cleared Banks, a security source told the Daily Mail that “Cabinet ministers joining Boris Johnson’s Government in July were warned by security officials to steer clear of insurance tycoon Banks and his associates… they were gently told they risked huge embarrassment if charges are brought and they were still meeting”. The article went on to say that the NCA investigation was “still live” and that “sources say its scope has widened”. Another report claimed that former Prime Minister Theresa May had blocked a security services probe into Banks’ activities as it had been too politically sensitive.
As Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee’s report into Russian interference in the UK showed, the Government and the security services had made no effort to investigate potential Russian influence on the Brexit vote.
Ashes
In Oxford in 2018, before he left, Alexander Yakovenko motioned for me to come closer. “Do you want to know the secret about Brexit?” he whispered.
After an ominous pause, he cracked a smirk and exclaimed: “We really just don’t care!” He broke into a peal of laughter and turned to the group of students huddled around. “That’s all from me today!” he said, giving a wave. A moment later, he was whisked away.
The same week I met Yakovenko, I also attended a talk at the Institute for Statecraft, a think tank in central London but supposedly a haunt for members of the intelligence community. Brexit inevitably came up.
An audience member asked: “Will the British public change their minds on Brexit, once it is publicly revealed how deeply the Russians could have been involved?” After everything I have done to expose the links, I know the answer – no, it didn’t change a thing.
Banks sued Carole Cadwalladr in a court case that dragged on for nearly three years when she said he had lied about his connections with the Russian Government.
The judge in the case concluded that “the four meetings… were probably not the full extent of Mr Banks’ meetings with Russian officials” and that the reason Banks gave for claiming and then denying his trip to Moscow “was not credible”.
Around the same time this judgment was handed down, I was standing beside a platoon of Ukrainian soldiers watching Russian rockets smash into the fields just a few hundred metres in front of us. Melodic birdsong mixed with the whistle and crash of the shells landing all around us. I was in Donetsk on the frontline of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Though the truth behind the Russian state’s involvement in Brexit seems murkier than ever, we now know the depths of evil that Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy has been aiming towards. No longer is the Kremlin content with meddling in democratic elections – it is now engaged in a full-on war intended to annihilate its democratic and sovereign neighbour.
As I hear the rumble of artillery outside my windows, I finally see what was lurking behind the ambassador’s mask of jovial charm. And that’s the story of my whole ‘scoop of the century’: what I had thought were diamonds, turned out to be ashes.
Byline Times has repeatedly contacted Arron Banks on a variety of issues raised in this article, meeting with no response or one of curt dismissiveness | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
Last autumn, Boris Johnson brought the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities into being. Naming a ministry after a catchphrase seems to suit our age of rhetoric as policy. How long before we see a Department for Getting on Your Bike, or a Department for Unleashing the British Entrepreneurial Spirit?The levelling up initiative was born out of the Conservatives’ 2019 election victory, in which many former Labour constituencies in the north and Midlands – the so called “red wall” – changed sides. The thinking was that these acquisitions, the fruits of the war over Brexit, could not be kept once Brexit was “done” unless their needs were addressed. The idea of levelling up – finding policies to reverse regional gaps in income, health, education and jobs – was part of a wider narrative of a “realignment”, moving left on economics, right on questions of social policy. It was a way to consolidate the coalition brought together by Brexit so that it would have a life beyond Brexit itself.The problem is, levelling up is running into difficulties and looks as if it is getting nowhere. For a start, the government has been distracted by both Partygate and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. While these distractions may be temporary, other obstacles will remain. The small-state, libertarian faction of the Tory party, which wants low taxes and a government that stays out of the economy, is no fan. Neither are those in the “blue wall”: MPs from traditional Tory constituencies that don’t want to lose funding to more deprived areas. Internal opposition aside, the pressure to keep taxes as low as possible, and the other calls on the government purse, greatly limit the cash available to make levelling up a reality.But if the policy fails, we should not mourn its passing. Why? It’s not likely to work, and there are initiatives more deserving of money that probably will.It’s hard to diagnose the dysfunctions that create regional disparities. They can be rooted in the people of a particular place, or caused by an accident of history. There may be as many causes as there are people or firms in a particular place. Accidents of history also play a role. Things like fancy amenities or infrastructure may well be part of the reason for a town’s success, or they could be the fruits of it (or both). This difficulty in diagnosing root causes is part of the reason why regional inequality is so entrenched. It’s also why income gaps between nations across the world are so hard to close.If you don’t know with any certainty why one place is succeeding and another isn’t, then you are likely to waste money by building bridges or transport links that will be underused, or producing housing or industrial estates that are unwanted.In my view, there is no ethical defence of the disparities in incomes and life chances that market forces help to generate. In an ideal world, they would not exist. But the pure socialist systems that try to prevent them have such bad side effects – corroding incentives and personal liberties, and being vulnerable to exploitation by powerful members of the party hierarchy – that we have no choice but to tolerate a certain level of disparity. What applies to people also applies to towns, cities and regions. Part of the problem is that people are drawn to a place to do business because of who else is going to be there; yet who else is going to be there is determined by what they think others will do, creating a chicken and egg situation. Governments can help convince people that a place is viable by providing good attractions, amenities, or a university or a transport node. But a city’s viability can unravel quickly and unpredictably, as seen in Detroit, which, from a high of about 1.85 million people in 1950, lost almost two-thirds of its population.Levelling-up enthusiasts see regional devolution as a way to help crack these problems of diagnosis and prescription. But devolution carries it own risks. Devolving tax and spending limits the possibility of redistribution from richer areas to poorer ones; it unravels the fiscal union, setting the scene for the kinds of difficulties the euro area experienced after the financial crash. In addition, local politics is more vulnerable to corruption. Local politicians won’t have national interests at heart, so may engage in unproductive fights simply to move economic activity from one place to another.None of this is to say that every levelling up initiative is a bad idea. But right now, there are a lot of other things governments could do that would be better value for money. We need to tackle the cost of living crisis by moving money from those who can pay to those who are experiencing hardship. We have got to address the Covid legacy of long NHS waiting lists, and put the service on a more resilient footing to deal with future pandemics and other challenges. Government has to deal with the crisis in social care. The gap between real funding per head in state and private schools is widening. And we have to wean ourselves off fossil fuels, something made all the more urgent by the imperative of weaning ourselves off Russian fossil fuels. There is other post-Covid work to do in broadening access to high-speed internet and making food and other distribution networks more resilient.This is a long list of policies that are expensive but essential, and will stretch government capacity and the electorate’s tolerance of taxation to its limits. Many of them, if they work, will also help with the broad set of objectives put in the bucket marked “levelling up”. For instance, better funding for the NHS and social care will help close one of the worst aspects of inequality, the gap in life expectancy between rich and poor.Even at the best of times, we need to recognise the limits of a generous and muscular state. Offering everyone the chance to do the job of their choice at the same wage wherever they live is well beyond those limits. Providing decent education, health and social care and green energy is not – and we should focus on those things instead. Tony Yates is a former professor of economics and head of monetary policy strategy at the Bank of England.Further readingInequality, what can be done? by Anthony B Atkinson (Harvard, £16.95)Brexitland: Identity, Diversity and the Reshaping of British Politics by Rob Ford and Maria Sobolewska (Cambridge, £15.99)Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo (Penguin, £9.99) | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
On a March evening at New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport, an agent beckoned me over to the check-in counter and asked for my passport. As he thumbed through its pages, he paused on the page with a red visa stamp and an imprint of a baobab tree.“What’s your reason for traveling to Senegal?” he asked in a tone simultaneously neutral and stern.“I’m attending a basketball tournament there,” I told him.“Oh, some people flew from here only a few days ago carrying jerseys,” he said, perking up in his chair. He told me he was from Senegal himself. “Basketball is coming up in Senegal,” he said proudly.I thought of the agent as I watched the the opening ceremony of the second season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) at the 15,000-capacity Dakar Arena – a spectacle of color, music and dancing against a backdrop of raucously cheering fans. Videos would later circulate on social media of Dikembe Mutombo – the Congolese star who played nearly two decades in the NBA and who is now an investor in its nascent African project – dancing with fans. All around the arena, people sang and waved the green, yellow and red flag of Senegal.“In Africa, when something special is happening in a family, we need to celebrate,” Mutombo would tell me later in a phone interview, laughing. “It’s always been my dream since I got into the league: I want to see the next Dikembe Mutombo playing in the NBA. I want to see the NBA on my continent. The continent of Africa was a place full of treasure and I was happy to see that taking place.”Mutombo’s joy reminded me of something similar that the journalist Syra Sylla told me weeks earlier. A French-Senegalese basketball writer, who played basketball growing up in France, she was “obsessed” with NBA basketball, particularly the Los Angeles Lakers.“We all dreamt of Europe and the United States, but now we have this league,” she said. “It’s like the NBA has come to us. We can see and admire players in Africa, and it’s great to have those role models who are good.”Clube Atlético Petroleos de Luanda huddles after an April game against the BC Espoir Fukash at the Hassan Mostafa Indoor Sports Complex. Photograph: Armand Lenoir/BAL/NBAE/Getty ImagesBAL is a joint project between the NBA and Fiba, basketball’s world governing body, that hopes to tap into a market with a huge, tech-savvy and youthful population, while also giving African hoopers the platform to showcase their talent on the continent and a potential path to one day star in the US. Those who have shown their support for the league include Mutumbo, Barack Obama, NBA commissioner Adam Silver and some of Africa’s top businessmen.“There is now a clear pathway, back from grassroots to elite, where a young boy, no matter where they are from, can dream about playing the sport, have access to play the sport, have the development stages they can go through and be a success,” Amadou Gallo Fall, a former Senegalese player who is now president of BAL, told me in an interview.“The Basketball Africa League is the culmination of really many decades of work across the continent to grow the sport, to shine a spotlight on basketball,” he said.Playing host to the Sahara Conference for this second season of the BAL came at a celebratory moment for Senegalese sports. Tens of thousands of fans had burst onto the streets of the capital, Dakar, a few weeks earlier to celebrate their country’s football team winning its first Africa Cup of Nations.Evidence of this pride was for all to see as I landed at Dakar’s Blaise Diagne International Airport. After making my way through customs, I was greeted by a blown-up image of stars from the team on an ad from the French telecom giant Orange. Stepping out into the hot Senegalese sun, I was met by another gargantuan face: this one belonging to Sadio Mane, the country’s football superstar, the country’s football superstar, who played for Liverpool in the English Premier League until a recent move to German giants Bayern Munich.I asked my shuttle driver, Aboubakar, what he thinks about basketball. “It’s cool,” he said. “Football is No 1.” But basketball is cool, he repeated.En route to the hotel, Senegalese flags were everywhere, yet more reminders of the pride its recent soccer victory brought to the 17m people of this West African nation. Mosques abound. West African Islam is at the core of people’s identity here. But as important as tradition is, it was hard to miss another salient fact of Senegalese demography: The population is strikingly young – with a median age of just over 18.The challenge for the BAL is that a lot of those young Africans want to emulate emulate Senegal’s Africa Cup of Nation winners, rather than the Golden State Warriors or Boston Celtics.Soccer has long pulled any African kid with a hint of speed and agility into its grasp. And it’s also cheap: to play soccer, all a child has to do is roll up some corn husks or rags and tie them tightly into a ball with a few grocery bags scooped from the trash.“We make a ball and wrap plastic around it and pass it to each other,” Bismack Biyombo, a 10-year NBA veteran from the Democratic Republic of Congo who played for the Phoenix Suns last season, told me. Basketball, on the other hand, requires at the very least a concrete court, if not a wooden floor, and two suspended hoops. Not to mention a ball that can bounce.The NBA and BAL don’t think they can overtake soccer, but they hope they can change the balance a little. A half-hour drive from the Palm Beach is where you’ll find NBA Academy Africa. Red-roofed buildings with cream-colored walls are housed within a campus encircled by soaring pine trees. In 2017, the NBA launched the academy with the goal of providing NBA-level training for talented young prospects across the continent. A year later, the academy brought with it the construction of two indoor basketball courts that, from the outside, look like they reside within a greenhouse.Ulrich Kamka Chomche of the NBA Academy Africa celebrates a three-pointer against the Rwanda U23 National Team at the Kigali Arena. Photograph: Armand Lenoir/BAL/NBAE/Getty ImagesSoon, young players from across Africa began trickling onto the court, and a chorus of basketballs thudded around the gym. The court was the theater of dreams for these kids, the promise of what was to come. On the other side of the gym was the famous NBA logo. The message for the kids in that gym was unmistakable – you could join African stars like Joel Embiid and Pascal Siakam and be a part of the league’s future.Ulrich Kamka Chomche from Cameroon stood out. He has been at the academy for three years. The 16-year-old is already 6ft 11in but has the agility of a guard. He easily drove by a coach and threw down a ferocious dunk.Chomche told me later after practice that the first time he watched an NBA game on television was when he arrived at the academy. He began playing when he was about nine years old. He would compete on his village’s concrete courts, where he’d scrape his knees and hurt his back, he said. He was grateful for the chance to play on hardwood.Basketball is almost meditative to Chomche. When he plays, he enters his own world. “I’m doing the thing that I love the most,” he said. “I want to be the best player I can be. That’s why I practice hard.”He finds inspiration in the success of his countryman, Embiid, who finished second in NBA MVP voting this year, was the league’s scoring champion and is considered one of the finest players in the world.“I can make it too, like him. So, If I work hard, I am going to make it like him,” he said. “It’s not impossible.”NBA executives know that recruitment of the likes of Chomche and other young talent ever earlier in their basketball development is a crucial part of the strategy for growing the game on the continent.Kim Bohuny, a longtime head of NBA’s international basketball operations, says that compared to the US, where almost everyone touches a basketball growing up, African players have tended to start later.“They are not as instinctive because they are starting later,” she told me. “They have specific talents but not all-around talent, offensively or defensively. You might be a great shot-blocker or instinctive rebounder.”In Saly, Chomche showed that he is more than just a big man who just rebounded and blocked shots. He was an example of the modern talent that can emerge out of the continent.The young Cameroonian was one of 12 NBA Academy prospects who played for teams competing in the 2022 BAL tournament. For the league, the move created another pathway for talented young Africans to gain elite, competitive experience. Chomche was a key contributor for his side, Cameroon’s FAP, during their journey to the playoffs. Another academy product, guard Serigne Saliou Mbaye, an 18-year-old from Senegal, helped Guinean champions SLAC make it to Kigali for the knockout phase of the tournament.The young men hoped to emulate the success of Egyptian Mohab Yasser, whose starring role in BAL last season with the eventual champions Zamalek during the league’s inaugural season, helped him secure a path to play college basketball in the United States.Back in the day, NBA scouts looked for big African players who could grab rebounds and not much else. The NBA wants to challenge that stereotype, says Roland Houston, the Academy’s technical director, as he sat courtside and directed the training in the gym.“We focus in on having a complete basketball player,” he said.He pointed to a 15-year-old from South Sudan who was executing a post-move drill on the court. “You see how he has footwork, how he’s moving with the feet? And that’s very important. You’ve got to have good footwork,” Houston insisted. “We also want big guys to be able to dribble the ball and shoot the ball, not just rebound and block shots.”For Houston and the NBA in Africa, the Academy is part of the league’s mission to change the culture and structure of the evolution of talent on the continent.“It’s just not seven-footers and we have plenty, plenty of them,” Houston said. “But we have 6ft 5in, 6ft 4in guards who are elite-level players, too. They have the opportunity to go from junior NBA to academies.”“And now we have the BAL, which is phenomenal,” Houston said.For 10 days in March, the Dakar Arena was the focal point of the BAL, playing host to the elimination rounds for the Sahara Conference, which included teams from Senegal, Tunisia, Morocco, Rwanda, Mozambique and Guinea. Four of those six teams would go on to the playoffs, scheduled to take place in Kigali, Rwanda, in May.In games that were both physical and frenetic, Rwanda Energy Group came out on top, followed by the Tunisian powerhouse and last year’s finalist, US Monastir. Moroccan outfit AS Sale and the Guineans of SLAC took the remaining playoff spots.The basketball was terrific and provided several highlights that went viral on social media. There were ferocious dunks, closely contested games and game-winning buzzer-beaters. But none of that, it seemed, was enough to keep people in the stands.When the home team, DUC, played, 2,000 rabid fans – many of whom were students from the Cheikh Anta Diop University where the team is housed – showed up and made noise.When DUC wasn’t playing, however, things were a lot quieter. When Jean Jacques Nshobozwabyosenumukiza hit “the biggest shot” of his career to win the game for Rwanda’s REG against SLAC, few fans were there to see it happen.I asked Mutombo about the lack of fans when the local team wasn’t on the floor.He said the timing of the games may have hurt attendance and acknowledged that there is work to do. “We are new on the continent,” he said. “It’s a new experience for the NBA as well. But we learned a lot.”An overall photo of the Dakar Arena during the game between the Dakar Université Club and the Seydou Legacy Athlétique Club in March. Photograph: Pape Emir/NBAE/Getty ImagesHe expected there to be more fans at games in Egypt, where the season moved to next, when the games tipped-off after working hours. But even in Cairo, where there was rabid support for the defending champions Zamalek, few fans showed up for the other games. Things did change during the playoffs, more fans packed the BK Arena in Kigali to watch Africa’s top talents compete for the championship.In the final, Tunisian champions US Monastir outdueled Angola’s Petro de Luanda to win the 2022 BAL title avenging the loss they suffered in last season’s title game.In Senegal, the legendary Tunisian Radhouane Slimane, who at 41 was still playing at an elite level and went on to help his AS Monastir team win the BAL title later in Kigali, blamed the lack of fans on local media not doing enough to cover the league.“The media in the country has a big responsibility. Maybe a lot of fans here don’t know that there is BAL playing now in this arena. They have to work on it,” he said in an interview. “In Tunisia, a big event like this, you are going to have the arena full. No empty spaces. Because the people there, love basketball.”Yet even with half-empty arenas in Dakar, the “product”, as NBA Africa executives refer to the BAL experience, was a high-level production that appeared to be well shared beyond the basketball court. Before each game day, a live Twitter Spaces show provided pre-game analysis. During games, highlights were shared on social media platforms as broadcasters beamed the action across the world.All this, in theory, game after game, tournament after tournament, should make stars of the players and personalities beyond the court. For the league – again, in theory – it should steadily build an audience of engaged fans. For the audience, the multimedia echo should project an image of a professional and, hopefully, thrill-a-minute league. And with any luck, say BAL’s true believers, the two will feed upon each other.“More affordable technology has made the continent a much more relevant market for the consumption of content and products,” NBA Africa CEO Victor Williams said. “We’re starting from a base where basketball is already the second sport or the top-two sport in many countries around the continent, and there’s a hunger on the continent to explore it.”Coach Liz Smith, who was the only female head coach at this year’s BAL and led her Moroccan side AS Salé to the playoffs as the third seed from the Sahara Conference, said the new league has given African basketballers – from players to coaches – their moment to shine.“They’ve given time, resources, and dedicated their lives to playing basketball in Africa,” Smith told me in a Zoom interview from her home in Rabat. “It’s great for them to be rewarded for all the sacrifices they’ve made. And the BAL is a perfect league for them. Because they are made to feel like professionals. They are made to feel like they are the stars, right? And that’s what I really appreciated about the league.”On the morning of my last day in Senegal, I sat down with John Manyo-Plange, BAL’s vice president and head of strategy and operations. Manyo, a stocky man with a clean-shaven head and a gray-speckled beard and is originally from Ghana, was deliberate in his speech. He presented a vision of a decade-long strategy of growing the BAL that is rooted in the belief that the “cool factor” of basketball is a perfect match for Africa’s youthful population.I asked him what was at stake for the NBA in its expansion into Africa. “Everything,” he said. “All of this is, is part and parcel of the NBA’s global strategy. So, to answer that question, everything’s on the table, everything’s at stake.”He declined to give specifics on how much the NBA was investing into the new league and only said it is in the “multiple, multiple, millions of dollars”.Manyo said the NBA was paying teams to cover their costs of operations during the tournament, including funds for them to attract and pay top talent – each team is also allowed a certain number of foreign players from Europe and North America – who will take part in the league.“In addition to covering all the expenses, there’s actually team payments that we make,” said Manyo. “And that’s really meant for them to go out and get higher level talent to augment whatever the existing talent there is.”The NBA was betting that the cache of being part of an NBA-run league will spur countries and teams to invest in their teams and in basketball infrastructure overall in order to get a shot at competing in the BAL.“We are creating an aspirational product that everybody then wants to be in,” Manyo said. “To do that, they have to invest, they have to play, they have to sweat, and that lifts everything up.”The vision that has led to the projected $1bn valuation of the NBA’s Africa business, according to Williams, is that, as the BAL grows, and the quality of play improves, so too will interest from television broadcasters, advertisers and fans – all of whom will drive revenue growth.“They’ll be attracted to African heroes, and there will be fantastic stories that they can relate to that come out of the BAL,” Williams said. “All of those will help drive the building of the brand as well as the commercial propositions associated with the league.”In Senegal, Manyo painted a vision of the BAL as a platform for Africans to realize their hoop dreams on the continent without having to go search for it elsewhere. “We’re adding value to human capital, on the African continent, by the African continent, for the African continent,” he said. “And we’re showcasing it in such a way that it’s appreciated and consumed globally.”The commitment the NBA was making to African basketball and BAL was “permanent”, Manyo said. “We are here,” he added. “We’re not going anywhere.” | Africa Business & Economics |
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden told The Associated Press on Thursday that the American people are “really, really down” after a tumultuous two years with the coronavirus pandemic, volatility in the economy and now surging gasoline prices that are slamming family budgets.
He said a recession is not inevitable and bristled at claims by Republican lawmakers that last year’s COVID-19 aid plan was fully to blame for inflation reaching a 40-year high, calling that argument “bizarre.”
As for the overall American mindset, Biden said, “People are really, really down.”
“They’re really down,” he said. “The need for mental health in America, it has skyrocketed, because people have seen everything upset. Everything they’ve counted on upset. But most of it’s the consequence of what’s happened, what happened as a consequence of the COVID crisis.”
Speaking to the AP in a 30-minute Oval Office interview, Biden addressed the warnings by economists that the United States could be headed for a recession.
READ MORE: What is the yield curve and how could it warn of the next recession?
“First of all, it’s not inevitable,” he said. “Secondly, we’re in a stronger position than any nation in the world to overcome this inflation.”
As for the causes of inflation, Biden flashed some defensiveness on that count. “If it’s my fault, why is it the case in every other major industrial country in the world that inflation is higher? You ask yourself that? I’m not being a wise guy,” he said.
The president said he saw reason for optimism with the 3.6 percent unemployment rate and America’s relative strength in the world.
“Be confident, because I am confident we’re better positioned than any country in the world to own the second quarter of the 21st century,” Biden said. “That’s not hyperbole, that’s a fact.”
Biden’s bleak assessment of the national psyche comes as voters have soured on his job performance and the direction of the country. Only 39 percent of U.S. adults approve of Biden’s performance as president, according to a May poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Research, dipping from already negative ratings a month earlier.
Overall, only about 2 in 10 adults said the U.S. is heading in the right direction or that the economy is good, both down from about 3 in 10 in April. Those drops were concentrated among Democrats, with just 33 percent within the president’s party saying the country is headed in the right direction, down from 49 percent in April.
The president outlined some of the hard choices he has faced, saying the U.S. needed to stand up to Russian President Vladimir Putin for invading Ukraine in February even though tough sanctions imposed as a result of that war have caused gas prices to surge, creating a political risk for Biden in an election year. He called on oil companies to think of the world’s short-term needs and increase production.
Asked why he ordered the financial penalties against Moscow that have disrupted food and energy markets globally, Biden said he made his calculation as commander in chief rather than as a politician thinking about the election.
“I’m the president of the United States,” he said. “It’s what’s best in the country. No kidding. No kidding. So what happens? What happens if the strongest power in NATO, the organizational structure we put together, walked away from Russian aggression?”
Biden spun out the possibility of chaos in Europe if an unimpeded Russia kept moving deeper into the continent, China was emboldened to take over Taiwan and North Korea grew even more aggressive with its nuclear weapon ambitions.
Biden renewed his contention that major oil companies have benefited from higher prices without increasing production as much as they should. He said the companies needed to think of the world in the short term, not just their investors.
“Don’t just reward yourselves,” he said.
Consumer prices have jumped 8.6 percent over the past year, the steepest rise in more than 40 years. Republican lawmakers have said that Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package from last year kick-started a spiral of price increases.
WATCH: As the U.S. economy slows down, fears of a possible recession grow
The president said there was “zero evidence” for that claim, noting that other countries have endured higher prices as economies reopened and people became vaccinated. Still, Biden acknowledged Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s contention that the spending had a limited inflationary effect.
“You could argue whether it had on the margin a minor impact on inflation,” he said. “I don’t think it did. And most economists do not. But the idea that it caused inflation is bizarre.”
Still, high inflation has created a conundrum for Biden. He prioritized bringing back millions of jobs and has seen the unemployment rate return to close to pre-pandemic levels. The Federal Reserve on Wednesday increased its benchmark interest rate, in hopes of slowing the economy and pulling inflation down to its target rate of 2 percent.
The tightening of Fed policy has caused financial markets to slump and led many economists to warn of a potential recession next year. The president encouraged Americans to stay patient.
“They shouldn’t believe a warning,” he said. “They should just say, ‘Let’s say let’s see which is correct.’” | Inflation |
ANKARA, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Turkey's central bank sent a letter to local lenders on Monday, warning them against conducting forex transactions with foreign banks during "off hours" and offering deposits with very high interest rates to avoid bond holding requirements.The central bank has introduced rules in recent months to reduce the gap between the policy rate and lending rates and encourage loans to sectors including exports and production.The latest rule mandates lenders with less than half of deposits in lira in 2023 to hold an additional seven percentage points of government bonds. Authorities have also sought to dissuade forex holdings.The central bank said banks should not direct customers to hold funds from lira loans in demand deposits and they should also not allow lira loans to be deposited in accounts under a scheme that protects against forex depreciation, it said.Such issues are "not supportive of establishing financial stability," the central bank said, adding that lenders should make the maximum effort to abide by regulations.The central bank had already warned banks last week about conducting forex sale-purchase transactions overnight, saying it will take "necessary measures" if the issue continues.In the past, if central bank requests on various issues have not been followed, it has taken measures such as requiring banks to hold government bonds.Reporting by Nevzat Devranoglu; Writing by Ali Kucukgocmen; Editing by Chris Reese and David EvansOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Forex Trading & Speculation |
Pop-rock prince Harry Styles had Australia in a chokehold during his worldwide tour (before Taylor Swift hype blew everyone out of the water).
Over the course of the two-year tour Styles raised $US6.5 million ($9.8 million) for charity, and the beneficiaries of that cash were announced on Tuesday.
One of the 25 recipients, announced in Variety, was “Sydney Zoo”. We love a conservationist.
However, it appears a slight mix-up is afoot: while there’s a Sydney Zoo in the city’s west that was founded in 2015, Taronga Zoo, the more established harbourside attraction, is the actual recipient of Style’s philanthropic gift.
Taronga doesn’t say publicly who donates to them or how much, but CBD has confirmed the cash is headed Taronga’s way, although there are no plans for a Styles snake enclosure or a tribute to the star’s feather boas (which are probably slightly controversial in conservation circles, plastic feathers or otherwise). In any case, we’ll take the win for wildlife.
Taronga Zoo became part of Styles’ Australian legacy when the singer was here in March and struck up a relationship with Horses singer Daryl Braithwaite. On March 3, Braithwaite performed at the zoo and held up signs from the audience reading “I had a ticket to see Harry but I picked you instead!” The 74-year-old performed a cover of Styles’ Watermelon Sugar to soothe the burn.
The next night, Styles repaid the tribute in spades, inviting Braithwaite to perform Horses with him in front of 80,000 Sydneysiders in his final Australian show.
Matter of interpretation
One month ago embattled consultancy giant PwC announced it was booting eight partners, including Sydney-based Peter van Dongen, following an internal investigation into its tax leak scandal.
This week, van Dongen made his departure from PwC LinkedIn official with a decidedly different perspective on events.
“Almost 40 years since starting as an undergraduate in the Melbourne assurance practice, I have agreed with PwC to bring forward my planned retirement by a few months, and voluntarily retire,” he wrote, adding he wished PwC nothing but great success. “Now for a short career break – and then to re-emerge for whatever is next …”
CBD was confused, so we checked with PwC Australia, who said that van Dongen “was given notice of [the firm’s] findings against him, and a process was started under the partnership agreement to remove him from the partnership. He did not contest the findings made by the firm and has retired and exited from the firm.” Van Dongen did not respond to our requests for comment.
NO, THIS IS A WAIT
We know Australia’s migration system is as slow as molasses – a recent review referred to waiting times for a parent visa of 40 years or more.
But Sydney woman Anna, who has been trying to bring in her British sister-in-law under the last remaining relative visa, can top that. In 2014, Anna sought help from Scott Morrison, who was then immigration and border protection minister, and was told the wait would be 56 years. Sue, a literacy specialist, was 50 years old at the time.
Anna hasn’t been told what the wait is now, but the signs are not good. The Home Affairs Department said it was processing remaining relative visa applications with a queue date up to July 31, 2012.
DOFF TO THE PROF
Former NSW minister for digital government and QR code kingpin Victor Dominello has landed on his feet since departing Macquarie Street. Dominello was appointed director of the UNSW-UTS Trustworthy Digital Society Hub in May, tasked with leading research on “citizen-centred” digital platforms.
In listing the new role on LinkedIn, Dominello is described as a professor – a title that usually denotes a PhD, years of academic drudgery and leadership in your field of research. What gives?
The UNSW announcement of the hub has Dominello as a humble “Mr” but a recent Financial Review piece about the former minister’s appearance at the Government Services Summit also referred to him as Professor Dominello (it has a ring to it, we admit).
After a little digging, CBD confirmed Dominello has been made a “professor of practice”, an academic appointment bestowed on someone who might have a fraction the HECS debt of a bona fide boffin but makes up for it in real-world experience.
“I spent 12 years as a minister. You can’t teach that in a book,” Dominello proudly told CBD.
He’s not the only recent public figure to add that feather to his pleather cap. In 2019, former race discrimination commissioner Dr Tim Soutphommasane was appointed the University of Sydney’s first professor of practice, in sociology and political theory. (Soutphommasane had some serious academic chops that include a master’s degree and doctorate in political theory from the University of Oxford).
Hugh Harley, who was a PwC financial services leader until 2019, is also a professor of practice at USyd in the global economy. We hear he’s writing a dissertation on jumping ship at the exact right time.
YES, CHEF!
Restaurateur Shane Delia’s gourmet meal delivery business Providoor, which fed us in lockdowns and collapsed this April, has found a buyer.
But who is it and what will they do? Liquidators RSM Australia Partners would not say, and prospective buyers such as Woolworths, Coles, Menulog and DoorDash wouldn’t bite.
CBD has been reliably informed the buyer is Sam Benjamin, the founder and managing director of under-the-radar Sydney firm Seventh Street Ventures, which has investments in music publisher Rolling Stone Australia and gourmet food delivery business Kaspa.
Benjamin wasn’t available to talk, but CBD hears he plans to relaunch the brand, selling heat-and-serve meals rather than ready-to-finish meals.
The latest liquidator report shows Providoor revenue peaked at $45 million in the 2022 financial year, and then collapsed to $6.5 million as we exited COVID hibernation. There were eight offers for Providoor’s business assets, which include trademarks and its customer database, and were sold for $250,000 plus GST.
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here. | Nonprofit, Charities, & Fundraising |
India Among Few Big Economies On Track To Meet Climate Pledges: Bhupender Yadav
In his opening address at the environment ministers' session at the second Voice of Global South Summit, Yadav highlighted India's active role in the fight against climate change, despite its historically minimal contribution to global warming.
India has set an example with its robust domestic climate action and stands among the few major economies on track to meet their national plans to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said on Friday.
In his opening address at the environment ministers' session at the second Voice of Global South Summit, Yadav highlighted India's active role in the fight against climate change, despite its historically minimal contribution to global warming.
The minister said India's current per capita greenhouse gas emissions are less than one-third of the global average.
He emphasised that developed countries are yet to fulfil their commitments to providing sufficient climate finance to developing nations to address climate-change impacts.
Yadav reminded the developed countries of their commitment to mobilising $100 billion annually by 2020 for climate finance and doubling their contribution to adaptation finance from the 2019 level by 2025.
He said 44% of India's total installed electricity-generating capacity now comes from non-fossil fuel sources, surpassing the original NDC target of 40% by 2030.
Yadav highlighted India's adoption of the green credit programme, designed to incentivise voluntary environmental and climate-conscious actions by individuals as well as public and private entities, aimed at accelerating collective efforts toward achieving a sustainable economy.
India, with 17% of the global population, accounted for only 4% of global carbon emissions from 1850 until 2019. In contrast, the developed nations, with the same percentage of the global population, contribute nearly 60% of global carbon emissions.
Last August, India updated its nationally-determined contributions (NDC), committing to reducing the emission intensity of the GDP by 45% by 2030 from the 2005 level and achieving 50% cumulative electric power-installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030. | Renewable Energy |
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NIR OZ, Israel (AP) — The Hamas attack on the kibbutz of Nir Oz started a little after 6:30 a.m. on Oct. 7 and lasted long into the afternoon, with dozens of fighters rampaging unopposed through the community with an apparent mission: To capture as many civilians as possible.
WATCH: Israel expands Gaza invasion south, forcing many to flee areas previously considered safe
By the time the last fighter left, one in five residents of Nir Oz was a hostage. The remaining residents emerged from their safe rooms and gathered together in a shelter, spending the long night tallying the missing.
Eight weeks into the Israel-Gaza war, the recent release of dozens of Israeli hostages — with as many still in captivity — is bringing new focus on what Hamas did on Oct. 7, the day its fighters rounded them up from communities across southern Israel. The kibbutz of Nir Oz, where militants rampaged unopposed, is perhaps the best place to understand Hamas’ hostage strateg y, an operation that was unprecedented both in its scope and execution.
More than 100 Palestinian militants stormed Nir Oz on Oct. 7 for hours and left with some 80 of its roughly 400 residents. That means people from Nir Oz made up a third of the 240 hostages taken in all and nearly half of the Israelis released, with more than 30 still in Gaza. For Israelis, Nir Oz embodies their country’s vulnerability that day, with the absence of Israeli security forces, the capture of unprotected civilians, their deaths and disappearance into Gaza and their subsequent exchange for Palestinians.
The men who shot out the guard post at dawn on Oct. 7 were the first of about seven groups of armed fighters. They carried out their plan relentlessly as messages flew back and forth on the kibbutz chat and WhatsApp groups.
9:16 a.m. “How do you lock the safe room?????”
10:15 a.m. “We are officially hostages.”
10:19 a.m. “They are threatening to blow up the house if we don’t open up.”
One by one, people dropped out of the flow of messages. Some later appeared in Hamas videos.
One terrified mother clutches her two redheaded toddlers as they are led away in a blanket, her eyes huge with fear. A boy is hauled away by his armpits. An elderly woman is pulled to her feet after tumbling off a motorcycle.
Those seized from the kibbutz ranged in age from 9 months to 85 years. More than half were women and children. All 13 Israeli hostages released in the first exchange on Nov. 24 were from Nir Oz, and they bought the freedom of 39 Palestinian prisoners from Israel.
A review of hundreds of messages among Nir Oz residents shared exclusively with The Associated Press, direct interviews with 17 and accounts from many more, security camera footage and Hamas’ own instruction manuals suggests that the group planned well ahead of time to target civilians. Four experts in hostage situations agreed that Hamas’ actions, both on the day of the attack and afterward, indicated a plan to seize civilians to prepare for the war to come.
Danielle Gilbert, a political scientist at Northwestern University who researches hostage-taking, said Hamas and other armed groups generally use hostages as human shields or as currency to negotiate an exchange. But the difference here, she said, is that most armed groups take able-bodied adult men.
“It is extremely rare for armed groups to kidnap children, to kidnap women, to kidnap the elderly and people who are otherwise vulnerable,” she said. “The hostage-taker needs to make sure that their hostage can survive captivity.”
READ MORE: Democratic senators demand Israel reduce civilian casualties in Gaza as part of aid package
Hamas has hinted at capturing hostages but has been vague in public statements about whether it planned to kidnap a maximum of civilians.
“We were shocked by the colossal collapse (of Israel’s army).We planned and expected to win; enter the settlements and get what we wanted and take hostages. But this army was a paper tiger,” Ali Barakeh, a Hamas official in Beirut, told The Associated Press on Oct. 9.
Deliberate intent is also laid out in a manual entitled “How to take Captives,” which the Israeli army said it found among dead Hamas militants in another kibbutz attacked on Oct. 7: “Separate and isolate (women and children/men). Kill the difficult ones and those who pose a threat.”
Hiding in his safe room in Nir Oz, Eyal Barad reconfigured his security camera to see what was happening outside. A white pickup truck pulled in front of his house, and a group of armed men jumped off and walked off-screen. For about half an hour, the screen filled with the movement of motorcycles, bicycles, stolen farm machinery and gunmen.
One attacker emerged from the left, firmly pulling a clearly reluctant unarmed man by the hands. They disappeared off-screen.
A few minutes later, a motorcycle drove past carrying three people. A cap covered the face of the person trapped in the middle, much smaller than the two others.
From the house across the road, a gunman took position near a closed window. A second man yanked open the metal shutter and pulled out a woman. They covered her face and head with a white cloth.
“It looked very rehearsed,” Barad said. “It looked like this was the plan.”
In another house nearby, two adolescent brothers called their mother. On the open phone line, Renana Gome Yaacov heard the safe room door burst open, with voices shouting in Arabic, which she did not understand. Her younger son tried to reason with the men.
“I could hear him say to them, ‘Don’t take me. I’m too young,’” she recalled. The line went dead.
Palestinian video shot under midafternoon light shows a relatively orderly procession of stolen cars, motorcycles and farm equipment headed across the fields back to Gaza. And, on two wheels and four, hostage after hostage.
WATCH: Family of freed Israeli hostages discusses release and loved ones still held in Gaza
Hamas has freed most of the women and children of Nir Oz during the brief truce, including the woman Barad saw from his camera and Yaacov’s two sons, but all the men remain missing in Gaza. and News of the death of some of them in Gaza has started to trickle in.
Gilbert was pessimistic about what the exchanges bode for the future with Hamas, at least in the short term. She feared it was a practice that Hamas would see as relatively successful and potentially worth repeating.
One of the first hostages to be freed, Yocheved Lifshitz, told a news conference that they were separated by kibbutz after arriving in Gaza. A few days in, Hamas leader Yehya Sinwar met with the Nir Oz hostages, she later told Israeli media. A doctor came every few days to check on them and take care of an injured man.
“Our needs were supplied,” she said. “They prepared for this. They were prepared for a very long time.”
Hinnant reported from Paris. Contributors include Sarah El Deeb in Beirut, Josef Federman in Jerusalem, Maya Alleruzzo in Nir Oz, Danica Kirka in London and John Leicester in Paris.
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San Francisco CNN Business — The pandemic shone a spotlight on the vast disparities in benefits and rights among America’s workforce and helped fuel a movement to unionize more workers. And with today’s tight labor market, workers continue to have the upper hand — there are almost two job openings for every unemployed person — creating an environment that’s even more favorable to labor union activity. In the last year, unions have been formed at big corporations such as Starbucks, Amazon, and Alphabet; union election petitions filed with the National Labor Relations Board from October 2021 through March 2022 were up 57% from the same period a year before; and a September Gallup poll found that 68% of Americans surveyed were in favor of labor unions – the highest level of approval since 1965. But as the war in Ukraine, record gas prices and spiraling inflation continue to put pressure on the US economy, what remains to be seen is whether the newly robust labor movement could weather higher unemployment and an eventual economic downturn. The extraordinary conditions that created this more pro-worker market won’t last forever, said Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute and former chief economist for the US Department of Labor under President Barack Obama. “To the extent that has contributed to this increase in workers organizing … that will abate,” she said. “But how much momentum will have been established before that time, it’s not going to be zero.” “This daily drumbeat of seeing workers win when they’re trying to organize, that’s not going to be quickly unlearned,” she added. In April, workers at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island were the first to vote to successfully unionize in the company’s history; what began as a slow drip of unionizing Starbucks stores now totals more than 100 locations; employees at Apple stores in Georgia and New York and, just last week, a Massachusetts Trader Joe’s, are trying to do the same, citing concerns related to health and safety, pay, benefits, hours and working conditions. Noel Bennett is a shift supervisor at a Starbucks in Santa Cruz, California, that voted to unionize last month. For workers at her store, it came down to a simple desire: To have their voices heard. “I think, especially due to the pandemic and seeing how corporations might not really think about the worker and workers’ experiences, I think that’s what really made partners at Starbucks realize that what’s happening could be better, and that unionization can be that thing that allows us to have a voice and to obtain the ability to live in this economy,” she told CNN Business. The latest batch of unionization efforts are still likely heavily influenced by pandemic-related issues and demands placed on workers, but the current economic state is layering in other factors, said Ileen DeVault, professor of labor history at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. “I think many of these efforts at unionization are still concerned about workers’ treatment in the workplace, whether that’s health and safety issues or hours of work or expectations about how much work is going to be accomplished,” she said. “I do think that inflation and, in particular, the ridiculous rise in gas prices is also really on workers’ minds.” But the current economy also benefits workers, DeVault said, adding that it’s easier to risk one’s job when there are plenty of other positions available. Also contributing to a potentially favorable environment are actions taken by the Biden Administration, which has explicitly promoted pro-union measures, including creating the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, which in February released nearly 70 recommendations for action; tapping former union leaders and lawyers to fill key roles such as Secretary of Labor and general counsel for the National Labor Relations Board; and backing the Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2019, which is stalled in the Senate after passing the House of Representatives last year. Yet despite the tight labor market and Biden’s efforts, union membership is not as common as it once was. In 2021, 14 million workers belonged to a union, the lowest number since 1983, when comparable data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics was available. And from the perspective of the business community, an increase in petitions and one-off unionization votes does not necessarily make a movement. “These campaigns tend to be very site-specific,” said Glenn Spencer, senior vice president of the US Chamber of Commerce’s employment policy division. Spencer noted while workers at one Amazon facility in New York voted to unionize, workers at another site there opted not to. “And I think if you look at even the individual Starbucks that are organizing, it’s 100 stores out of 17,000, so there’s not this broad movement sweeping through the company.” Spencer said the Chamber is paying particular attention to developments at the NLRB and other federal agencies. “We need to be very mindful of the regulatory framework that employers are operating under, so if there are changes to the rules that we can’t prevent, then we just need to make sure that employers know how to adapt to that new reality,” he said. The actions in recent months, albeit relatively small, could have an outsized influence on efforts to come, DeVault said in an interview with CNN Business. “Those are being talked about in newspapers and TV stories and radio stations across the country,” she said. “And so it means that the idea of forming a union is suddenly available to almost every American.” Tristian Martinez, an organizer for the Amazon Labor Union, told Delyanne Barros, host of CNN Audio’s Diversifying podcast, he hopes that to be the case. “We did it; we took on one of the richest companies in the world and we won,” Martinez said on Diversifying’s latest episode. “I hope and pray that there will be just a mountain of other dominoes falling everywhere. I only see it getting bigger and bigger.” | Workforce / Labor |
Jamaican migrant workers say they are treated like 'animals' in open letter under Canadian government review
The Jamaican government visited a number of Ontario farms last week after migrant workers claimed they were required to work “like animals” in an open letter currently under review by the Canadian government.
The visits come on the heels of a tense season for migrant farmers in Canada’s temporary foreign worker program and shortly after a group of workers in Brantford, Ont. penned the open letter published on Justice for Migrant Workers’ website.
The letter did not identify the farm, but an advocate for Justice for Migrant Workers confirmed the farmers who wrote the letter worked at Komienski Farms.
“These bosses, they think of Jamaicans overall, they think of us as some type of a slave, the way they talk to us, the way they greet us,” a 32-year-old Jamaican worker involved in the letter, who CTV News Toronto will call Alex, said while speaking from Komienski Farms.
“I don't want to say they are racist, but I do think it sometimes,” he said.
The farm has not responded to CTV News Toronto’s repeated requests for comment.
Federal Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault’s spokesperson said, in a statement issued on Wednesday, the government is working to ensure temporary foreign workers are safe, and treated with respect and dignity.
“But we know that is not always the case,” they said.
BATHROOM BREAKS AND BED BUGS
Jamaica Labour Minister Pearnel Charles Jr. travelled to more than 10 farms in Ontario last week, beginning with Komienski Farms – pinpointing “notable locations” from prior reports – and visiting Queen’s Park on Thursday. In a subsequent video, he vocalized his commitment to the rights and working conditions of Jamaican migrant farmers.
“I just want to make sure that this month the issue is resolved. Because we are all imperfect, but we are working to improve,” the minister said.
The letter, released on Oct. 18 in conjunction with the Canada-Caribbean Community summit in Ottawa, described bunkhouses infested with bed bugs and constraints on bathroom breaks, claiming these issues are not new. Open letters published in previous years, such as in Aug. 2022, have equated the program to "systematic slavery" in Canada.
CTV News Toronto spoke directly to two of the farmers involved in crafting the recent document.
Jamaica Minister of Labour Pearnel Charles Jr. visits Queen's Park in Toronto (Credit:pcharlesjr).
Junior, a 36-year-old Jamaican who has been farming vegetables in southwestern Ontario for eight years, said this is the year he decided to take a stand.
“We say enough is enough. We can’t take this anymore,” he said.
He said this season, he’s been denied a bathroom break while out in the field or in the packing house and told it’s “company policy” to wait until an official break. But at times, Junior said he doesn’t even have time to go to the bathroom during his break because of the time it takes to transition from field to field.
Alex voiced the identical issue. “The first time, I didn't do anything, but the last time, I punched out and stopped working,” he said.
“But I know with me doing that … there won’t be any requests for me,” he said, referring to the hiring process that selects farmers from Mexico, Jamaica and other Caribbean countries.
Alex has been working in Brantford since March, most recently harvesting squash and sweet peppers for the fall season. Since he arrived, his bunkhouse has been infested with bedbugs, he said.
Jamaica Labour Minister Pearnel Charles Jr. posts a video visiting farmworkers in Ontario (Credit: pcharlesjr). “When we just got here, we found one [bed bug], and then we spoke to them about it and [they] gave [us] spray and powders and removed a few bunk beds,” Alex said, showing a red, irritated bite on his skin in a photo to CTV News Toronto.
He said the employer finally brought someone to treat the bedbugs, only after Service Canada paid a visit to the farm, but the bugs came back.
‘PAY THE PRICE’
In response to the open letter, the spokesperson for Canada’s Ministry of Labour pointed to Boissonnault’s Oct. 5. Senate committee comments in which he warned bad actors that he will “find them and they will pay the price” if they mistreat or abuse migrant workers.
As the season nears its end for many temporary foreign farmers, Junior and Alex said they fear the financial ramifications their families could face if it is their last. “The farm has a tendency to not ask you back when you speak out at work,” Junior said. According to the workers, a fellow farmer who spoke out about work conditions to an official with the Ministry of Employment and Social Development last year was not called back.
In the open letter, they write: “We have left our children, spouses, parents, siblings, friends and other loved ones to come here.”
“We came to this country to get better – we came for more than this low-paying job. We should have the ability to work in a place that treats us with respect. We are no different than the generations of migrant workers that came before us.”
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U.S. dollar banknotes are displayed in this illustration taken, February 14, 2022. REUTERS/Dado RuvicRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSINGAPORE, June 27 (Reuters) - The dollar and Japanese yen both found support in a choppy Asia session on Monday, benefiting from a bid for safety as investors worried rising interest rates and softening economic data could signal a global recession is on the horizon.While stocks followed Wall Street higher, currency traders were wary of extending Friday's dollar selling too much because the dollar typically rises in times of uncertainty.The risk-sensitive Australian dollar was shaky along with commodity prices through the Asia session, and was last down 0.1% at $0.6935.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comThe euro was pinned at $1.0564. The beaten-down yen steadied at 134.81 per dollar. The U.S. dollar index was steady at 104.000, after reaching a 20-year peak of 105.79 earlier in the month.Weakening U.S. economic data knocked it off that perch last week, and a survey released on Friday showed consumer confidence at a record low, giving another prompt for investors to cut back bets on U.S. interest rate hikes.But the spectre of a global slowdown, and a preference for dollar-denominated assets in such times, has prevented further falls."The dollar tends to rise when people worry about a global recession," said Commonwealth Bank of Australia strategist Joe Capurso in Sydney.Futures pricing shows traders now anticipating the U.S. Federal Reserve's benchmark funds rate stabilising around 3.5% from March next year, a pullback from pricing in rates zooming to around 4% in 2023. Treasuries rallied last week.The New Zealand dollar hovered at $0.6321, while sterling was stuck at $1.2285.Chinese factory activity data due to be released later this week could provide a guide as to whether the world's second-largest economy is finding momentum again after the disruption caused by strict COVID-19 lockdown measures.China's yuan caught a boost after Shanghai's top party boss declared victory over COVID-19 and it was last up slightly at 6.6856 per dollar. read more Elsewhere, Russia's rouble fell in the interbank market as Russia headed for its first sovereign default since the Bolshevik revolution a century ago. read more The rouble was last quoted at 53.60 per dollar, which is actually stronger than where it sat before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, though sanctions make it sparsely traded.========================================================Currency bid prices at 0556 GMTAll spotsTokyo spotsEurope spotsVolatilitiesTokyo Forex market info from BOJRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Tom Westbrook; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and Christian SchmollingerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Forex Trading & Speculation |
Working dads might want to think about moving to Massachusetts, according to a new report If you are a working dad, you might want to consider moving to Massachusetts. That is according to a new report from WalletHub, which found the best and worst states for working dads this year. For its report, WalletHub compared all 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., based 23 measurements within the categories of economic and social well-being, work-life balance, child care and health. FOR FATHER’S DAY, 21 COOL AND AMAZING GIFT IDEAS FOR DAD THIS YEAR Aside from its overall ranking, WalletHub also found how states performed within specific measurements. For example, Mississippi was found to have the lowest child care costs adjusted for median family income, while Nebraska was found to have the highest child care costs. FATHER’S DAY 2022: GREAT GIFTS FOR GRANDFATHERSFive states – Utah, South Dakota, Nebraska, North Dakota and Virginia – tied for the state with the lowest unemployment rate for dads with young kids, while West Virginia was found to have the highest rate.WalletHub found that Massachusetts had the lowest male uninsured rate, while Texas had the highest. GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HEREMeanwhile, California was found to have the highest male life expectancy, while Mississippi was found to have the lowest male life expectancy. To see the overall results, here are the best and worst states – including Washington, D.C. – for working dads in 2022, according to WalletHub. Best states for working dads Massachusetts was found to be the best state for working dads in 2022, according to WalletHub. Boston, Massachusetts, is pictured. (iStock / iStock)1. Massachusetts2. Minnesota3. Washington, D.C. 4. Connecticut5. New Jersey6. Rhode Island7. Wisconsin8. New Hampshire9. Vermont10. IllinoisCLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESSWorst states for working dads Louisiana was found to be the worst state for working dads in 2022, according to WalletHub. Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is pictured. (iStock / iStock)42. Arizona43. Oklahoma44. South Carolina45. Idaho46. Alabama47. Nevada48. West Virginia49. Mississippi50. New Mexico51. Louisiana | Unemployment |
Ukrainian village left empty as last seven residents evacuated A village in eastern Ukraine has been left empty after the last seven residents were evacuated, an official has said. The governor of Luhansk Serhiy Haidai said "no one has responded and no movement has been noticed" in the de-occupied village of Stelmakhivka. In a Telegram post, he explained that residents were persuaded to leave because of heavy shelling attacks by Russian forces. "Wintering will be extremely difficult and dangerous there," he added. "In Stelmakhivka, the issue is closed - the village is empty." Russia hasn't decided whether to extend Ukraine grain export deal, says Kremlin Russia has not committed to staying in the Ukraine grain export deal beyond its current expiry date, the Kremlin has said. The United Nations-brokered deal, which freed agricultural shipments from a Russian blockade of its Black Sea ports, was originally signed in July and is due to expire on 19 November. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Russia still
needed to assess whether the deal was working before deciding
whether to extend its participation. It comes after Moscow resumed its role in the agreement after pulling out of it over the weekend following an attack on its Black Sea fleet in Crimea. Meanwhile, Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov urged the United Nations to step up its efforts to ensure Western countries ease restrictions on its own agricultural and fertiliser exports, which also formed part of the deal. "We still do not see any results regarding a second aspect:
the removal of obstacles to the export of Russian fertilisers
and grain," Mr Lavrov told a news conference. For context: Russian agricultural exports do not fall explicitly under
sanctions imposed by the US, EU and
others. But, Moscow says they are badly hindered by the
restrictions imposed on its financial, logistics and insurance
sectors. Defence secretary to 'fight for as much as I can get' as he warns military needs extra £8bn By Deborah Haynes, security and defence editorThe military needs about an extra £8bn over the next two years just to protect its budget and investment plans from inflation and a weak pound, the defence secretary has signalled.Ben Wallace, who is due to hold a crunch meeting with the chancellor later today, has pledged to fight for "as much as I can get".However, he indicated that hopes for a longer-term increase in defence spending to 3% of national income by 2030 have been eclipsed by the immediate need to prevent rising inflation, as well as foreign exchange rates eroding the value of the tens of billions of pounds that have already been committed to defence."The initial battle for the next few years is insulation from inflation and forex [foreign exchange]," the defence secretary said yesterday in evidence to a committee of MPs.The senior cabinet minister also dismissed reports that he had threatened to resign if the government did not commit to increasing overall defence spending to 3% of gross domestic product (GDP) by the end of the decade from just over 2% at present.This had been a commitment by Liz Truss, the former prime minister, but it has not been promised by Rishi Sunak - despite rising threats from Russia and China, and the biggest war in Europe since 1945 raging in Ukraine.Instead, the new leader has made clear that he and his chancellor will be taking tough decisions on spending plans across all departments because of the UK’s dire economic woes.Mr Wallace described the 3% target as an "aspiration" or a "planned marker".He revealed to the Defence Select Committee that he is due to meet with Jeremy Hunt today, but the timing of the meeting has not yet been made public.Offering a sense of the scale of the challenge he faced, the defence secretary said: "The inflationary pressures on my budget for the next two years is about £8billion - and forex.”This is understood to be the amount of money that is needed in order to maintain the annual budget in real terms and to continue to deliver a vital plan to modernise the army, Royal Air Force and Royal Navy with new equipment.The defence budget is currently around £50bn annually. At least 74,000 Russian soldiers 'eliminated' since war began, Ukraine claims At least 74,000 Russian soldiers have been "eliminated" since the war started more than eight months ago, Ukraine has claimed. In an update on Russian losses, Ukraine's Defence Ministry said around 2,734 tanks, 5,552 armoured combat vehicles and 1,442 drones have also been destroyed. Sky News has not been able to independently verify the figures. For context: Obtaining data about losses on the battlefield is particularly difficult, and each side in a war will have a vested interest in making the numbers suit their needs. Western officials have not provided a recent estimated figure.In late September, Russian defence minister Sergey Shoigu said 5,937 of the country's troops had died in the conflict - the first official update provided by the Kremlin since the end of March. However, this is thought to be a severe undercount and it is widely accepted that Russian forces have suffered significant losses. Emergency hourly power outages enforced across Ukraine Emergency hourly power outages have been enforced across Ukraine after Russia launched rocket attacks on energy infrastructure.Ukraine's national energy company, Ukrenergo, said the outages applied to residents in Kyiv, Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Zhytomyr, Sumy, Kharkiv and Poltava. Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kirovohrad have been placed on "emergency shutdown schedules", it added. "We remind you that the consumption restrictions are necessary to reduce the load on the networks, to ensure sustainable balancing of the energy system and to avoid repeated accidents after the power grids were damaged by missile attacks and drone attacks by the Russians," it said in a Telegram post. The company explained that such measures allow damaged facilities to be restored "as quickly as possible". Since early October, Ukraine has seen a number of attacks take place on its critical infrastructure and power sources. As a result, thousands of people have periodically been left without electricity and water. Russia claims to have prevented Ukrainian attack on Europe's biggest nuclear power plant Russia has claimed to have prevented a Ukrainian attack on Europe's biggest nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine.Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said special forces managed to stop a "terrorist attack" on the Zaporizhzhia plant this morning. Ukrainian forces "continue to shell the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant with Western weapons, which could lead to a global catastrophe," Mr Patrushev said. Repeated shelling of the plant has raised the possibility of
an accident, just 300 miles (500km) from the site of the
world's worst nuclear accident – the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.Ukraine and Russia have consistently blamed each other for the attacks, with both sides denying the other's claims. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has
repeatedly expressed concerns over the shelling,
has proposed the establishment of a nuclear safety and security
protection zone around the plant.Earlier, Ukraine's state nuclear company said that
Russian shelling had damaged high voltage lines at the plant, forcing it to run on back-up generators. Russian forces took
control of the plant in early March, but Ukrainian staff continue to operate it. The discussions on Russian talk shows are all about making UK pay - so what does the British ambassador's visit tell us? By Diana Magnay, Sky News correspondent in Moscow Russia's Foreign Ministry has said the British ambassador, Deborah Bronnert, was summoned to its offices this morning. The British Embassy says she was asked to come in for a meeting and that this was not a formal summons.These semantic differences reflect the weighting each side wishes to give the event.The UK tends to downplay these kinds of meetings, not least because their position, especially in this instance, is that the accusations Russia is throwing the UK's way are entirely groundless.Russia on the other hand is trying to make a point, primarily to its domestic audience, that the UK is responsible for anything they can throw at it - and that Russia will not put up with it. At the moment, this includes both the Black Sea drone attack and apparently the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines.As the ambassador attended that meeting, Nikolai Patrushev, Russia's Security Council Chief and the most hawkish of Vladimir Putin's advisors, held a meeting of his Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) counterparts. The CIS was founded after dissolution of the Soviet Union and has nine member states, including Moldova, Belarus and Kazakhstan.Mr Patrushev repeated Russia's unfounded claims that the British Navy were behind the attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines, that the US and British security services were recruiting members of international terrorist groups to fight in Ukraine, and that the West are helping Ukraine prepare a radioactive "dirty bomb". All these accusations have been categorically and repeatedly denied by the West.On the talk shows, the discussion is all about making Britain pay.Military analyst Igor Korotchenko railed against the British, saying they are a "tribe of islanders who've gone too far" and that the Anglo-Saxons should be dealt with "very harshly, pragmatically and precisely".Alongside the US, the UK has been consistently strong on Ukraine, providing Kyiv with the weaponry and support that it needsRussia does not like that. It sees Britain as America's lackey and a useful scapegoat at moments where it needs someone to blame.Throw a lot of mud, and it tends to stick. Ukraine never used Black Sea grain corridor for military purposes, official claims Ukraine did not use the Black Sea grain corridor for military purposes, and never intended to do so, a foreign ministry spokesperson has said. Oleg Nikolenko made the statement in a Facebook post, adding that his country has not made any new commitments that go beyond the terms of UN-brokered grain export deal signed in July. It comes after Russia accused the country of attacking its Black Sea fleet in Crimea, and it subsequently pulled out of the agreement. The country said it could not guarantee the safety of civilian ships crossing the popular trade route following the incident, which Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for.However, after receiving written guarantees from Kyiv that it will not use the Black Sea grain corridor for military operations against Russia, Vladimir Putin rowed back on the decision. In pictures: Russian reservists attend ceremony before being deployed Russian reservists have attended a ceremony before being deployed to fight in the Ukraine war. The soldiers were recruited during Vladimir Putin's partial mobilisation of troops and have been stationed in the Rostov region in Russia. Since September, the Kremlin has called up around 300,000 reservists to fight in Ukraine - causing hundreds of thousands to flee the country. Russia's Defence Ministry has since announced that it has completed the mobilisation drive, and no more reservists were needed. Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant being transferred to Russian operator, official claims Russian officials have announced the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant will now be under the jurisdiction of Russian operator Rosenergoatom, according to the Institute For The Study Of War (ISW). Russian deputy foreign minister Andrey Rudenko claimed that staff who are "critical" for the plant have signed contracts with the Russian company, and authorities are now exploring the creation of a security zone around it. Staff from Ukraine's nuclear energy company Energoatom still operate the plant, despite it being under the control of Russian forces. The ISW said the company stated on 28 October that only 100 of the 6,700 Ukrainian personnel remaining at the plant have signed new contracts with the Russian energy agency, Rosatom. The Ukrainian State Inspectorate of Nuclear Regulation added that Russian forces built an unknown structure at one of seven spent nuclear fuel storage sites at the plant in violation of nuclear safety standards.It comes as the power station was forced to operate on back-up diesel generators after being disconnected from the Ukrainian power grid by Russian shelling. Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other for shelling at
the site that has damaged buildings and threatened a nuclear
accident. The UN nuclear watchdog is pushing for a protection
zone to be set up to prevent further shelling. | Inflation |
Optus is facing a government review into the 14-hour outage yesterday that left tens of millions of customers without phone or internet services for most of the day.
The telco giant’s network dropped out from about 4am on Wednesday, leaving hospitals, schools, financial institutions and government departments unable to make or receive calls for at least nine hours.
Some people’s ability to call triple zero was also affected by the nationwide outage.
The communications minister, Michelle Rowland announced the review will be conducted by the communications department, and that it would look at potential lessons from the outage.
Speaking to Nine’s Today program, Rowland said: “It is critical that industry and governments take stock following large-scale outages, given no network is immune.”
The terms of reference and next steps will be announced at a later date, the minister said.
Guardian Australia reported yesterday the outage was likely caused by a misconfiguration in the company’s network but Optus has yet to provide any detail on the cause.
The CEO, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, told Nine Entertainment that the outage was caused by a “technical network fault” but did not elaborate.
Services were restored by Wednesday afternoon, with the network fully up and running again by 6pm but still customers were left in the dark on the exact cause of the lengthy disruption.
The government’s announcement of a review comes as the Greens call for a separate federal parliamentary inquiry in the Senate to examine what was behind the outage.
“We need to make sure that all Australians have access to affordable and reliable internet and telecommunication, because otherwise life as we know it stops, and that’s what Australians right around the country experienced (yesterday) morning,” Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (Acma) is also separately conducting an investigation into Optus’s compliance with rules requiring emergency calls to fall over to other networks when the services are unavailable.
Optus customers reported being unable to dial 000 from their mobile phones, despite the rules being in place.
Wednesday’s outage occurred only a year after the Singaporean-owned telco suffered a massive data breach from a cyber-attack that compromised the personal data of up to 9.8 million customers.
The industry watchdog has also asked for small businesses to discuss compensation options with Optus, given the impact on earnings during the failure. Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin said the company would turn its attention to ‘thanking’ customers for their patience and “reward them for their loyalty” to Optus in the near future.
The government has not been pleased with Optus’s response, especially given the criticism the telco received in the wake of the massive data breach, for a lack of communication.
Financial services minister Stephen Jones told ABC radio RN Breakfast Rowland was left “trying to fill the gaps” to explain what was happening during the outage on Wednesday.
“It’s not her job as the minister to explain what’s going on inside of a company,” he said.
Businesses are counting the costs after the nationwide outage ground trading to a halt. | Australia Business & Economics |
Peter Dutton has dramatically walked back his offer to symbolically recognise Indigenous Australians in the constitution, declaring Australians are “over” referendums after the voice poll.
On Monday the opposition leader all but abandoned his much-criticised suggestion of a second referendum, declining to recommit to the idea and warning that Australians won’t want a referendum “for some time”.
The policy will be reviewed by the Coalition senators Kerrynne Liddle and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, the shadow minister for Indigenous Australians and leading no campaigner.
While the opposition seeks to maximise the political damage by blaming the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, Labor faces calls for an accelerated rollout of the remaining elements of the Uluru statement from the heart, truth telling and treaty making, and an emphasis on practical solutions to close the gap in Indigenous outcomes.
The federal cabinet will meet to discuss the Albanese government’s next steps to address Indigenous disadvantage, with senior government figures favouring an interim listening mechanism to provide advice directly to the prime minister.
Dutton said: “We said that the question put to the Australian people should have been on recognition and dropped the voice because people supported recognition but not the voice. The prime minister didn’t do that.”
“The prime minister embarked on a divisive path,” Dutton told reporters in Canberra. “He spent $400m of taxpayers money. He was warned not to go down this path of division and he bears the responsibility for where our country is today.”
Asked about his policy for a second referendum to recognise Indigenous Australians in the constitution, Dutton said “look, all of our policy … is going to be reviewed in the process Kerrynne and Jacinta will lead now”.
“I think that’s important, but I think it’s clear that the Australian public is probably over the referendum process for some time.”
Dutton said that “millions of Australians at the moment are hurting because the prime minister has been completely obsessed with the voice over the course of the last 16 or 17 months”.
The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, said “the referendum was not a vote against reconciliation, the referendum was not a vote against closing the gap”.
“If you look at the way in which both the yes and no cases were argued, we can take from the referendum an increased resolve to act on closing the gap and to act on reconciliation,” Marles told reporters in Canberra.
“And that’s really what we need to take forward now, and in a sense of unity across the country.”
Although more than 60% of Australians voted no to the voice, opponents came to that position from a variety of perspectives: from shadow minister for Indigenous Australians Price’s claim that there were no ongoing negative impacts from colonisation, to independent senator Lidia Thorpe’s case that a no vote would advance Blak sovereignty.
Those contradictions continued on Monday in a train-wreck interview by the leading no campaigner Warren Mundine, who has caused consternation among conservatives by calling for treaties with Australia’s First Nations.
Asked about his position on treaties, Mundine told Radio National that Indigenous Australians were in one sense recognised “through land rights and through native title”.
Treaty “has to be with the traditional owner nations and it’s got nothing to do with sovereignty”, he claimed, even though recognition of First Nations sovereignty is an integral part of treaties.
Mundine appeared to conflate treaties with other agreements struck between groups of Indigenous people and “private enterprise, whether it’s governments or state and territories, in building roads, building rail … building houses, or getting projects and mining and energy and agriculture or whatever else”.
Mundine said that voters “did want to see Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in the constitution as the first people of Australia [but] they rejected the voice”.
Mundine said that he’d “love” symbolic constitutional recognition and polling suggested that 90% of Australians agreed.
“But the issue we got, and we all know this, is that that is the leadership of the Aboriginal community … they don’t want it and that so that’s going to be a problem.”
Asked if constitutional recognition would happen, Mundine replied: “Well, I don’t know to be honest. What we got to do is do something that the government failed to do, that Albanese failed to do, and that is get everyone onboard for things to happen.”
The influential crossbench senator Jacqui Lambie criticised Indigenous leaders behind the Uluru statement for taking a week of silence to “grieve” the result.
“You need to come out and fight now – come out and say to the leader of this country ‘what are you going to do for Indigenous communities out there?’,” Lambie told Sky News.
“But having a week’s break – not on guys, you need to stand your ground now, you need to come out and say ‘you’ve put us on a bloody life support for two years while you’ve been trying to sell this voice, and in the meantime you’ve done nothing in the Indigenous communities out there.”
The Greens have called for the government to establish a national truth and justice commission. Lambie labelled truth-telling a “talkfest”. | Australia Business & Economics |
Australia Aims To Conclude Trade Talks With India By Year-End
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May visited Sydney, and hailed the fast-growing Indian diaspora in Australia for the improving bilateral relations.
(Bloomberg) -- Australia hopes to complete an agreement with India that will expand market access for Australian exporters by the end of the calendar year and before next year’s Indian election, Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said.
Watt and a delegation of agribusiness representatives visited India earlier this month to discuss improving market access for Australian producers under a proposed Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, which would expand the partial free trade pact that came into effect at the end of last year.
“We are starting to see Australian producers take advantage of those opportunities under the existing deal,” Watt said in an interview. “But we are in the process of negotiating what we hope will be a broader deal.”
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May visited Sydney, where he held discussions with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and hailed the fast-growing Indian diaspora in Australia for the improving bilateral relations.
Other points:
- Australia is planning to continue talks with the European Union on a free-trade deal in August. While Canberra remains open to continuing negotiations, their EU counterparts are only open “to a point.” Issues to be resolved include access for some Australian agricultural exports, in particular beef.
- Australia is “very hopeful” China’s curbs on barley will be lifted in August. Canberra has agreed to suspend a World Trade Organization case for a fourth month while Beijing reviews the restrictions.
China imposed trade sanctions on a range of Australian goods in 2020 following a call by then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison for an international investigation into the origins of Covid-19. Relations between the countries improved following the election of Albanese’s Labor government in May 2022.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P. | Australia Business & Economics |
2032 Olympics backers confirm main Brisbane stadium will be demolished and rebuilt for the Games
The cricket stadium that Brisbane Olympics backers pitched as the centerpiece venue for the 2032 Summer Games is set to be demolished and rebuilt
BRISBANE, Australia -- The cricket stadium that Brisbane Olympics backers pitched as the centerpiece venue for the 2032 Summer Games is set to be demolished and rebuilt.
Queensland state’s Deputy Premier Steven Miles on Friday confirmed the 2.7 billion Australian dollar (US$1.8 billion) redevelopment of the stadium, widely known as the Gabba, would go ahead after the government accepted a project validation report.
Miles said the project would increase the seating capacity of the stadium to 50,000 and connect the Gabba, which has been the state’s cricket headquarters for more than a century, with a new underground rail station.
A local primary school will be relocated to make way for the stadium's bigger footprint. Cricket teams and the Brisbane Lions, a leading club in the Australian Football League, will also be temporarily relocated during the building phase.
Miles said construction would take four years, starting after the Gabba hosts an Ashes cricket test against England in late 2025, and be completed in 2030.
“That project validation report assessed four possible options for the Gabba and identified that a demolition and rebuild provided the best possible outcome, the best value outcome for the city,” Miles said. "It will be a well connected stadium but most importantly, it will trigger the urban renewal that we want to see ... it will be one of the best parts of the city to live in.”
Brisbane was selected as the 2032 Olympic host in July 2021 without a rival bid, making it the third Australian city to host the Summer Games after Melbourne in 1956 and Sydney in 2000.
The Brisbane bid was described by the IOC at the time as “a passion-driven, athlete-centric offer from a sports-loving nation.” Events will be staged across Queensland state, including the Gold Coast, which hosted the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
The Queensland state government is the main backer of the games, along with local councils from Brisbane and surrounding cities and with financial support from Australia's federal government.
The initial Brisbane bid said the hosts already had 84% of stadiums and event venues in place to fit the IOC’s modern demand of avoiding excessive spending and potential white-elephant projects. Initial plans called for an upgrade for the Gabba.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games | Australia Business & Economics |
A cashier checks Indian rupee notes inside a room at a fuel station in Ahmedabad, India, September 20, 2018. REUTERS/Amit DaveRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comMUMBAI, Aug 22 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee's fair value is around 80 against the U.S. dollar, given the country's balance of payment challenges and the Reserve Bank of India's interventions, JPMorgan's head of emerging Asia local markets strategy said.India's balance of payments, a measure of how much the country relies on money from abroad, has been squeezed by a record trade deficit that has prompted economists to revisit their current account deficit and balance of payments (BoP)projections. read more "India's CAD (current account deficit) is tracking 4% of the GDP, historically a wide number. If left unchecked, this should reflect on the price of the rupee. But things are not left unchecked, and RBI has been managing the rupee," Arindam Sandilya told Reuters in an interview.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com"Taking a holistic view on India's forex-relevant BoP position and the RBI, we reckon the fair value of the rupee is around 80."India's foreign exchange reserves have declined to $570.7 billion from a record high of about $642 billion in September 2021 as the RBI has stepped in to bolster the rupee. Still, the local currency is down 7.5% in 2022, and on track for its worst annual performance in four years.The rupee was trading at 79.85 per U.S. dollar on Monday, within a whisker of the record low of 80.0650 reached last month.A rebound in inflows into Indian stocks in the past few days, with foreign investors turning buyers for the first time in nine months, has helped the rupee to an extent.Sandilya reckons that JPMorgan's fair value was near 81-82 at the beginning of the current quarter, but the surprising turnaround in equity flows has led it to reassess its fair value to near 80.He said that rupee's valuations remained "a little rich" relative other emerging market (EM) currencies and short rupee positions had potentially "have more runway".Shandilya pointed out that the market's pricing of the U.S. Federal Reserve's slightly dovish path next year is contrary to what policymakers have been saying recently.On how much the oil's recent pullback will help rupee, Sandilya pointed that when there is a demand-side fuelled drop in oil prices, emerging market currencies, including that of oil importing nations, weaken.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Nimesh Vora; Editing by Neha Arora and Saumyadeb ChakrabartyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | India Business & Economics |
PwC Australia will overhaul its corporate structure, adding three non-executive directors to its governance board and a non-executive chair, as well as committing to publishing audited financial statements.
The announcement comes ahead of the release of an investigation into the firm’s misuse of confidential government information, which triggered a reputation crisis and widespread condemnation.
Partners at the firm were due be briefed on the report by former Telstra boss Ziggy Switkowski on Wednesday morning before the full report was expected to be released in full later in the day. The report will also be shared with regulators.
Switkowski’s report is expected to reveal how many people knew that confidential government information about proposed tax changes had been shared with the firm’s private clients and why this wasn’t stopped.
PwC Australia’s reputation was left in tatters after the misuse of confidential information was first reported by the Australian Financial Review. The fallout of the scandal has already led to PwC Australia divesting its entire government services division for just $1
The matter has also been referred to the Australian federal police by the Treasury for investigation, which is one reason why the firm was not recalled to an ongoing Senate inquiry into the matter this week.
Switkowski has conducted more than 90 briefings with senior PwC Australia staff and held 18 focus groups across the country.
PwC Australia will in future apply ASX corporate governance principles and recommendations, “to the extent that is feasible”, the company said. PwC Australia is a partnership and structured differently to ASX companies.
The firm will publish audited financial statements by September 2025. PwC Australia will also appoint three non-executive directors to its governance board and a non-executive chair.
The firm’s chief executive, Kevin Burrowes, has released a statement before the report’s release, saying it was an “important day for the firm”.
“It marks a moment from which we, and others, can measure progress against our commitments to enhance the firm’s governance, accountability and culture,” he said.
“From the top down we are committed to rebuilding and re-earning the trust of our stakeholders.
“We are committed to learning, changing and leading. This is our promise to our people, our partners, our clients and our communities.” | Australia Business & Economics |
Woman holds British pound banknotes in this illustration taken May 30, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comTOKYO/LONDON, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Sterling skidded briefly to an all-time low early on Monday as investors in Asia reacted to the new British government's fiscal plan, which threatens to stretch the country's finances to their limits.The currency plunged as much as 4.85% to $1.0327 in thin Asia trading, extending a 3.61% dive from Friday, when finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng unveiled historic tax cuts and the biggest increase in borrowing since 1972 to pay for them.Economists and investors said Prime Minister Liz Truss's government, in power for less than three weeks, was losing financial credibility in unveiling such a plan just a day after the Bank of England hiked interest rates to contain surging inflation.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSterling clawed most of its way back in early London trading, however, and was down 0.9% at $1.0760 at 0850 GMT.Reuters Graphics Reuters GraphicsIt was 0.7% lower against the euro at 89.97 pence per euro. The euro earlier rose as high as 92.6 pence, its highest in two years."Markets have a tendency to overshoot and I wouldn't overinterpret the fall this morning," Kit Juckes, head of currency strategy at Societe Generale in London."But there are two points: one is the loss of confidence in UK fiscal policy and that won't help sterling. The second is that the mini-budget has allowed sterling to be the short of choice against the dollar".Marc Chandler, chief market strategist at Bannockburn Global Forex, called the currency's record plunge "incredible"."The weekend press tarred and feathered sterling with assertions of its emerging-market status," he said."I don't buy that schadenfreude. Still, there is now bound to be speculation of an emergency BOE meeting and rate hike."Kwarteng's announcement marked a step change in British financial policy, however, harking back to the Thatcherite and Reaganomics doctrines of the 1980s that critics have derided as a return to "trickle down" economics.The so-called mini budget is designed to snap the economy out of a period of double-digit inflation driven by surging energy prices and a 15-year run of stagnant real wage growth.In total, the plans will require an extra 72 billion pounds of government borrowing over the next six months alone.British government bond yields surged by the most in a day in more than three decades on Friday, with yields on the five-year gilt - one of the most sensitive to any near-term shift in interest rate or borrowing expectations - up by half a percentage point."In this environment, you either need to see much higher growth - which isn't happening at the moment - or you need to see significantly higher bond yields to incentivise capital inflows. To get bond yields up to those levels, you need to see the BoE coming out and doing an emergency hike," said Chris Weston, head of research at Melbourne-based brokerage Pepperstone.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Kevin Buckland and Joice Alves; Additional reporting by Jamie McGeever; Editing by Jacqueline WongOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
Moving from the leafy Melbourne suburb of Kew to live in the Latrobe Valley town of Moe is hardly a well-worn path.
Key points:
The Regional Australia Institute has launched a recruitment drive to encourage city workers to consider moving to the regions
Jobseekers are encouraged to negotiate higher salaries and flexible working conditions
Regional Australia's population has grown by 70,000 since the pandemic
Sophie Brunton made that move in 2021 in search of a job and does not regret a thing.
The 23-year-old studied Conservation and Land Management at RMIT and was becoming fed up with the sometimes hour-long commute to the city campus.
By the time she graduated, Ms Brunton also struggled to find a career that motivated her.
That is when she decided to seek an "adventure" and leave the city for regional Victoria, scoring a job as an outdoor education facilitator.
She is part of a growing trend of Australians moving to the country in search of a better way of life.
Temptation of regional life
The Regional Australia Institute (RAI) has found half of metropolitan workers could be persuaded to take a job in the regions as cost-of-living pressures bite.
There were 91,000 vacant internet-advertised jobs in regional Australia in May.
RAI external affairs director Laureta Wallace said this was the perfect time for employees to push for incentives such as a higher salary, flexible working conditions and even a four-day working week.
"I know some local governments trying to attract doctors ... will even pay for your kids' education. Negotiate to get a package that ticks your boxes," Ms Wallace said.
Regions affordable, connected to city
For Ms Brunton, connecting with the Moe community has been an important part of her move to regional Victoria and she enjoys attending a large number of local events.
"I'm really keen to just keep exploring," she said.
"It's really lovely to walk down the street and say hello to anyone and just have a conversation. Knowing familiar faces, knowing people by name.
"The other wonderful thing is the scenery. It's just so gorgeous and green out here."
Moe's proximity to Melbourne means Ms Brunton is able to easily return to the city on weekends.
"I just hop on the train. To get into the city it takes a bit over an hour," she said.
When it comes to the cost of living, Ms Brunton said her country lifestyle was far more affordable than it would be if she lived in Melbourne.
"I live by myself in a little house in Moe. It's a small house, but it's really nice. It's affordable for me," she said.
Regional recruitment drive
The RAI has launched a campaign to educate city-based workers about the career opportunities that exist outside the nation's largest central business districts.
It says it is the nation's biggest recruitment drive, designed to showcase the 91,000 jobs on offer in regional Australia via a dedicated website.
Ms Wallace said there was not an industry or a sector across regional Australia that was not being affected by current job shortages.
The RAI said Australia was in the midst of "a great skills shortage", largely driven by the pandemic.
"The shutting of our borders during COVID meant less migrants coming to the regions to work," Ms Wallace said.
"Also, that mass exodus from the capital cities saw regional Australia's population grow by 70,000."
Finding schools for kids key
Prestige Staffing is a recruitment agency that connects businesses and employees in Mildura in Victoria's north-west.
Managing director Grant Beggs said for people moving from the city to fill regional vacancies, getting their children a quality education was a priority.
"If they have got school-aged kids, to get into the right schools [and] to be in the right zones is a big issue," he said.
"But then another aspect is what happens when they get to year 12 and finish, then they are going to have to move back to Melbourne or Adelaide to possibly further their education, if that's their desire.
"So that's always a factor as well — they come in and their kids have got to go away again."
However, Mr Beggs said the drawcards of regional living often sealed the deal.
"[It's] to give their kids an opportunity to enjoy life, [to] go to school and be home within 5 or 10 minutes and have that more laid-back lifestyle," he said.
Construction-led jobs growth
Paul Stein, who owns a plumbing business along the NSW-Victoria border, said there was still a widespread workforce shortage in many trades.
"At the moment, there's a shortage of workers and a backlog of work from COVID times," he said.
"If there were some incentives for the city folk to come out, that would make it easier."
But it is a double-edged sword because as more people relocate to regional areas, extra pressure is placed on the building industry and tradespeople.
"A lot of people moving out of the cities to the regional areas has put extra pressure on councils and governments and tradies," Mr Stein said.Loading | Workforce / Labor |
Steam rises from the cooling towers of the coal power plant of RWE, one of Europe's biggest electricity and gas companies in Niederaussem, Germany, March 3, 2016. REUTERS/Wolfgang RattayRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comBRUSSELS, June 22 (Reuters) - Europe must race to replace sanctioned and curtailed Russian energy supply and should double down on efficiency and renewables, including nuclear power, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Wednesday.Gas prices have hit record levels as a slowdown in flows from Russia in recent days has deepened worries over supply in higher-demand winter months. read more "In the near term, the scramble for alternative sources of fossil fuels creates clear openings for non-Russian suppliers," the Paris-based watchdog said in its annual report on investment.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comEurope must react to the crisis "with a determined acceleration of investment in efficiency, renewables and other clean technologies," it added.The EU and other developed economies have sanctioned Russian oil and coal but have held off on banning gas imports.Shoring up ageing nuclear infrastructure might provide a respite to soaring power prices and tight supply, the IEA said."In light of renewed interest in nuclear power's role in clean energy transitions, the war has underscored the need to explore options for ... investment in new facilities as well as the reopening of existing (uranium) conversion plants."More broadly, $2.4 trillion set to be invested in energy this year included record spending on renewables but fell short of plugging a supply gap and tackling climate change, the agency said.Rising 8% from the previous year, when the pandemic was more severe, the investment included big increases in the electricity sector and efforts to bolster energy efficiency, it said."This kind of investment is rising, but we need a much faster increase to ease the pressure on consumers from high fossil fuel prices, make our energy systems more secure, and get the world on track to reach our climate goals," said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol.Investment in oil and gas, on top of setting back efforts to reach climate goals, could not meet rising demand if energy systems were not retooled towards cleaner technology"Today's oil and gas spending is caught between two visions of the future: it is too high for a pathway aligned with limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees C but not enough to satisfy rising demand in a scenario where governments stick with today's policy settings and fail to deliver on their climate pledges," the agency said.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Noah Browning
Editing by Mark Potter and Bradley PerrettOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Europe Business & Economics |
Films and TV shows will get more support to create their visual effects in the UK, the government has promised.
The UK has become a popular destination to shoot Hollywood blockbusters, but there have been warnings that the current system of tax breaks leads some films to do visual effects elsewhere.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt pledged more tax relief in his Autumn Statement.
The UK Screen Alliance, which represents visual effects (VFX) industry, welcomed the announcement.
In recent evidence to a House of Commons committee, the body said the existing tax structure, "rather than attracting VFX work to the UK, very often drives it away".
A consultation document published by the government on Wednesday said: "There have been reports of visual effects activity moving overseas, with some UK-based companies reportedly focussing their expansion overseas."
According to the UK Screen Alliance, VFX is "the digital manipulation of images to enhance, augment or entirely replace elements of live-action shots in films, TV programmes or commercials".
After the chancellor's announcement, the alliance's chief executive Neil Hatton said the new measures "should aim to position the UK as the first choice destination for VFX production for international film and TV".
The organisation added: "The UK has world-class award-winning talent in this sector, but investment in the UK has stagnated, while other territories have increased the attractiveness of their incentive programmes."
Dame Caroline Dinenage, chair of the Commons culture committee, also welcomed the move, which she said "should provide this valuable part of the industry with a much-needed competitive edge".
The government said it would aim to implement additional tax relief for visual effects from April 2025, and called for input from the industry about how the new measures should work.
As part of the Autumn Statement, the government said it expected a rise in employment as creative industries embrace new technologies.
"To maximise the benefits of this, the government will further boost the international competitiveness of tax incentives for the UK's world-leading visual effects sector," it said.
However, other industry bodies said the government had not done enough to help different parts of the film industry.
Pact, which represents production companies, said it had made ministers aware that the independent film sector was "now at the point of market failure".
"The Autumn Statement is a missed opportunity for ministers to remedy a clear market failure within the independent film sector," it said on Wednesday.
"Investment into indie films has been in consistent decline and producers are finding it increasingly difficult to secure financing in a challenging market." | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
Bharat Forge Q1 Results Review - Braving Out The Challenging Times: Dolat Capital
Consolidated operating margin to see improvement.
BQ Prime’s special research section collates quality and in-depth equity and economy research reports from across India’s top brokerages, asset managers and research agencies. These reports offer BQ Prime’s subscribers an opportunity to expand their understanding of companies, sectors and the economy.
Dolat Capital Report
Bharat Forge Ltd.'s (standalone) Q1 revenue grew 6.5% QoQ led by 17% QoQ growth in domestic revenue (led by the supply of artillery system to Kalyani Strategic Systems Ltd.), offset by flat export revenue (improvement in Europe business was offset by U.S.).
Bharat Forge's management expects class 8 truck and European commercial vehicle volume to ramp up led by recovery in demand. Defense business to show strong revenue growth led by strong order book for export (stands at Rs 22-23 billion).
We expect rising contributions from defense, aerospace, JS Auto and a ramp-up in the volume of aluminium forgings capacities in Germany and USA to aid revenue growth and provide scale along with diversification.
We maintain 'Accumulate' with a target price of Rs 1034 (28 times FY25E earnings per share).
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Gas prices are forecast to ease through the winter according to Goldman Sachs, a view if correct should ease downside pressure on the Euro.
The Eurozone's single currency is proving highly response to gas prices, with the new sub-parity levels against the Dollar coming amidst surging prices.
A recovery by the Euro over the course of September has meanwhile coincided with an ongoing decline in gas prices; therefore further gas price declines would prove supportive.
"We maintain our view that, while at higher levels than what we expected previously, TTF prices will decline sequentially through winter," says Samantha Dart, Head of Natural Gas Research at Goldman Sachs.
Gains by the Euro against other currencies, including the Pound, have been evident through the course of September amidst falling gas prices.
The GBP/EUR exchange rate has retreated from around 1.1850 to current levels around 1.1518. The below charts shows both TTF gas prices and GBP/EUR peaked in August: Above: GBP/EUR has retreated as gas prices have fallen. To stay on top of this market, set your free FX rate alert here. "In case gas prices actually start to fall more noticeably over the next few months, due to storage facilities seeming to be comparatively well-filled, especially in Germany, a less deep or at most a mild recession can be expected, which would ultimately support the EUR," says analyst Marc-André Fongern, Managing Director at Fongern Global Forex.
But, ahead of the winter prices should remain elevated as Europe seeks to attract cargoes of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG).
"While we expect TTF prices sustained above 200 Eur for the remainder of summer to continue to attract LNG at or above the high rates we've seen recently, leading us to modestly increase our Sep/Oct expected LNG imports into NW Europe by about 20 mcm/d to 190 mcm/d," says Dart.
The need for seaborne gas deliveries to Europe come amidst the near-total shutdown in the flow of Russian gas into Europe.
Russia's Gazprom on Sept. 02 announced an indefinite shut down of the Nordstream 1 pipeline, the crucial artery that carries gas from Russia to Germany.
But in doing so Russia played their final card from the geopolitical sense: an indefinite shutdown always posed the 'worst case scenario' outcome for the German and European economyies with regards to gas supply.
That the worst has now come to pass inherently brings an end to speculative excess in gas and currency markets.
"Peak pessimism seems to have been hit for the time being, but I do urge caution, the ongoing geopolitical landscape remains highly vulnerable and indeed volatile," says Fongern. Goldman Sachs says the shutdown of Nordstream 1 has been mitigated by a combination of European gas demand destruction and imports via alternative channels.
They expect European gas storage levels to continue rising to a 90% threshold by the end of October.
Goldman Sachs forecasts TTF natural gas prices to fall to below 100 EUR/MWh by the first quarter of 2023.
This represents a halving from current levels, but relies on a average winter weather conditions in the region.
"As we go through winter, we expect the high storage levels at the start of the season to accommodate larger-than-average storage withdrawals, still leaving over 20% of full by end-Mar23," says Dart.
"We note that our winter TTF expectations are far lower than current prices - and lower than winter forwards. The higher the storage level at the start of the season, the easier for balances to accommodate larger-than-average storage withdrawals without threatening a stock-out. This implies a higher tolerance for lower prices vs current, and their associated higher demand," she adds. | Energy & Natural Resources |
FILE – High gas prices are shown in Los Angeles, on May 24, 2022. The nationwide average price for a gallon of gasoline has topped $5 for the first time ever. Auto club AAA said the average price on Saturday, June 11, was $5.00. Motorists in some parts of the country, especially California, are paying far above that.(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File) It’s been a long time since we faced the monster of inflation. The last time we had this type of terrible inflation, the Federal Reserve embarked on a chemotherapy approach to solving the problem. Then-Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker believed that to save the economy, he had to kill it. He believed that only by dramatically increasing interest rates above the inflation rate would the Federal Reserve be able to slay the inflation dragon. In the process, the economy went into a severe recession, the unemployment rate skyrocketed, businesses closed, trade shriveled up and the nation suffered. I don’t think we necessarily need to take the chemotherapy approach to whipping inflation now, as former President Ford might have put it. I think Republicans can offer specific free-market approaches that use the laws of supply and demand to bring down prices and counter the misguided policies offered by the Biden administration. For example, we can embrace again an all-of-the-above energy strategy that aggressively allows the exploration and production of petroleum and natural gas throughout the United States. The Biden administration, bowing to the demands of the wealthy environmental movement, has choked off production throughout the United States while making it more difficult for gas to come in through pipelines from Canada. Reversing those inflationary policies should and will be a top objective of Republicans if they retake Congress. Republicans should aggressively increase the labor supply, which is another reason why prices are skyrocketing. There are two approaches to getting more workers into the workplace. One is to dramatically scale back welfare benefits that make it easy for people not to work. The second is to import more workers through expanded visa programs. I would prefer the first approach, but I am open to the second one. We need more workers. Businesses can’t survive without them. Republicans should also embrace an anti-trust, pro-small business approach that brings more competition into the marketplace. Having two or three meat-packing companies corner the market leads to inflated prices. Breaking the Big Tech monopolies is a good long-term strategy to make our economy vibrant. And more competition leads to lower prices. Republicans should counter the Biden regulatory state. Ridiculous regulations lead to higher prices. The higher the regulatory burden, the higher the barrier to entry for smaller firms. The Biden regime is regulation-happy. Republicans need to make small business happy by finding a way to ease the Biden regulation burden. The housing crisis is a direct result of supply and demand interruptions, made worse by liberal NIMBY (“not in my back yard”) activists. Republicans need to find ways to counter these hypocrites and make it easier for builders to build more homes more quickly. The only thing that will help ease housing prices is more houses. Inflation is caused by too many dollars chasing too few products or services. Stopping the federal government’s spending spree is certainly one way to slow down inflation, but Republicans should be smart about how they cut spending. It makes sense to stop spending on useless government regulations and wasteful government bureaucracies, but it doesn’t make sense to raise taxes on productive businesses that create more products that consumers enjoy. So, a top way to fight inflation is to keep the Trump tax cuts in place, especially the corporate rate but also the tax cuts targeted to middle-class consumers. Finally, Republicans need to take a mature approach to trade. Robust trading relationships, even with China, have been a key way that prices have been held in check for more than two decades. If we decide to on-shore every product enjoyed by consumers, prices are going to increase. That’s just the reality, and we need to be honest with voters about the trade-off. The Biden administration has done nothing to further a coherent trade policy. Republicans should embrace both free and fair trade, acknowledging that cheaper supply chains start with trading partners that have cheaper workers. In that context, we should reevaluate the efficacy of tariffs that the Biden administration has seemingly embraced after being imposed by former President Trump. The free market and the laws of supply and demand can whip inflation, maybe not now, but in the short term, and they can do so without the pain of higher interest rates. Feehery is a partner at EFB Advocacy and blogs at www.thefeeherytheory.com. He served as spokesman to former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), as communications director to former House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and as a speechwriter to former House Minority Leader Bob Michel (R-Ill.). | Inflation |
Renewable energy workers say Alberta's pause will wipe out season of work
'Since when does a government shut down a booming industry,' says NDP utilities critic
Alberta's decision to pause approvals of new renewable energy projects is putting the lives of thousands of workers on hold, an industry group says.
"You're asking people to put a pause on their lives," said Luisa Da Silva, director of Iron and Earth, a group that assists fossil fuel employees transition to the renewables industry. "You're asking people not to work."
A week ago, Alberta's United Conservative government announced it had directed the province's utilities regulator not to approve any more renewable energy projects, citing what it says are rural and environmental concerns. The Alberta Utilities Commission is to hold an inquiry, reporting in February.
The move stranded dozens of proposed projects worth billions of dollars in a province that had, until then, been an industry leader in Canada. The pause was widely criticized by economists and companies whose projects are suddenly in limbo.
Industry was not consulted before the move.
Alberta government figures suggest about 10,000 people work in solar and wind installation. Although that figure is dwarfed by fossil fuel employment, jobs in renewables are estimated to be growing at about 10 per cent a year, while oil and gas jobs have been declining for years.
In early 2022, there were 3,425 unfilled positions in the industry.
"I don't know what their thinking is," Da Silva said. "But I don't think it's fair to ask people to not work and to basically shut down the industry for six months."
Da Silva said the effect of the pause is likely to last much longer, as both the pause itself and the uncertainty of its result will affect planning for next year's construction season and beyond. It comes as other jurisdictions in Canada and the United States are ramping up their renewable energy.
"What's going to stop workers from going where the jobs are?" Da Silva asked. "Not much."
UCP defends pause
Sam Blackett, spokesman for Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, defended the pause.
"We can't have an affordable and reliable power grid in this province without a reliable base energy source," he said. "Today that reliable source is natural gas.
"Wind and solar power have an important supporting role to play, but only if developed in a manner that is affordable, reliable, environmentally sustainable and preserves Albertans' most precious natural landscapes and prime agricultural land."
Meanwhile, video has surfaced of Rob Anderson, executive director of Smith's office, describing the renewable industry as a scam.
The video was made for The Western Standard, a conservative news outlet, on Nov. 4, 2021, before Smith re-entered politics and was still a lobbyist for an influential business group. The video was hosted by Bruce McAllister, who now heads Smith's Calgary office.
"All this is, is a scam," Anderson said. "This isn't about the environment."
Anderson accuses foreign companies of profiteering off government programs and despoiling Alberta's landscape.
"We have one of the most beautiful, pristine landscapes in the world, especially the eastern slopes (of the Rockies)," he said. "These things (windmills) are butt-ugly."
Asked if Anderson still held those views, Blackett neither disavowed nor denied them.
Nagwan Al-Guneid, the Opposition NDP's utilities critic, said major corporations that use and supply renewable power would be surprised to hear it called a scam.
"This is a multibillion-dollar industry that has created thousands of jobs," she said. "It is insulting to Albertans and to businesses and leaders who have been working in this industry for the last few years."
Al-Guneid said legitimate concerns over land use and reclamation could easily be handled without the pause and called on the government to rescind it.
"What are we doing?" she asked. "Since when does a government shut down a booming industry?" | Renewable Energy |
NEW YORK, Nov 2 (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point as it continued to battle the worst outbreak of inflation in 40 years, but signaled future increases in borrowing costs could be made in smaller steps to account for the "cumulative tightening of monetary policy" it has enacted so far.The policy decision set the target federal funds rate in a range between 3.75% and 4.00%, the highest since early 2008. The U.S. central bank has raised rates at its last six meetings beginning in March, marking the fastest round of rate increases since former Fed Chair Paul Volcker's fight to control inflation in the 1970s and 1980s.In a press conference after the meeting Fed Chair Jerome Powell cautioned against any sense the central bank will soon move to the sidelines. "It is very premature to be thinking about pausing" on the effort to lift the federal funds target rate, he said.STORY: read more MARKET REACTION:STOCKS: The S&P 500 (.SPX) briefly turned higher, then lost 38.15 points, or 0.99%, to 3,817.95BONDS: Benchmark 10-year note yields initially fell then rose to 4.0484%, vs 4.052% late on Tuesday. The 2-year note yield likewise turned higher to 4.5552%, vs Tuesday's 4.541%.FOREX: The euro turned 0.36% lower as the dollar roseCOMMENTS:JACK MCINTYRE, PORTFOLIO MANAGER, BRANDYWINE GLOBAL (by email)"The tone of Fed Chair Jay Powell’s comments was quite hawkish, which means the Fed still has a way to go to fight inflation, and the level of interest rates will be higher than previously expected. There were no hints of dovishness to indicate the Fed may be poised to pause. However, the key sentence in the FOMC comments is the one that states the Fed will consider the cumulative tightening of monetary policy, which is code for saying there has been a great deal of tightening of financial conditions already this year. This statement clearly suggests input from Vice Chair Brainard and opens the door for the Fed to slow down the pace of future rate hikes. However, it doesn’t end them. Monetary policy today is not sufficiently tight enough. We’ll know when the Fed is done tightening; they’ll tell us by simply saying that monetary policy is sufficiently restrictive. But that’s not today’s story. Today was all about—and only about—giving the Fed flexibility or optionality to back off their path of 75bps hikes. We don’t know what the terminal rate will be, but Powell told us it’s higher than markets expect. CPI reports, labor reports, and the ongoing impact of China’s zero-COVID policy on global growth are all more important than any signal of Fed action. From this point on, we should think slower and steady…until something breaks."MELISSA BROWN, GLOBAL HEAD OF APPLIED RESEARCH, QONTIGO, NEW YORK“(The market) does seem to like it so far, not the hike today but maybe the hinting future hikes would be smaller although I would argue that has kind of been the market’s mindset for a few weeks now. So expectations were met they weren’t necessarily exceeded in this latest commentary.”“Just looking at the volume data it seems the vast majority of people were sitting on the sidelines and saying we are just going to wait to see what happens. And the minute (Powell) is done talking they are going start to focus on what he is going to say next time.”“There may be less chance he is going to spook the market but if they decide these jobs numbers are just indicating the interest rate increases haven’t worked yet, it could spook the market the other way, that the next interest rate could be higher. I don’t think anybody is out of the woods."Obviously, they are very careful about the language they choose, he wouldn’t just throw that out there as a throwaway statement. Rates are up so much that the data is backward looking and the economy is a huge ship – you can’t turn it on a dime – and you don’t want to overdo so maybe it is not that surprising not just that he would say that but that is actually their plan.”TIM GHRISKEY, SENIOR PORTFOLIO STRATEGIST, INGALLS & SNYDER, NEW YORK"The statement and the market's reaction indicate that the Fed remains serious about combating inflation and is doing the right thing to get there. ... There were some feelings they might only raise 50 basis points. Investors are glad that the Fed is attacking inflation and being aggressive about it."BRIAN JACOBSEN, SENIOR INVESTMENT STRATEGIST, ALLSPRING GLOBAL INVESTMENTS, MENOMONEE FALLS, WISCONSIN“The Fed is finally acknowledging that they’ve already done a lot and it might be prudent to slow the pace of hikes. You can’t keep popping pills until you feel better. Sometimes you have to wait for the medicine to take effect.”JOSEPH SROKA, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, NOVAPOINT, ATLANTA“Certainly, the idea of returning inflation to normal is still the Fed’s full objective, but the interest rate increases over time are starting to take a cumulative effect and the Fed will likely view its future actions on monetary policy through the lens of the cumulative effect of the rate hikes.”“That means it’s likely we may start to see smaller increases at future FOMC meetings to fine-tune policy instead if these axe swings at inflation, the 75 basis point increases. They my start to whittle away at a more measured pace at future meetings.”“As much as investors were made to read the tea leaves in the past, (Fed Chairman) Jerome Powell has been fairly transparent about the Fed’s intentions all year. If he says ‘were going to look at the cumulative effects’, that’s what they’ll do, and they will be more data dependent.“The last thing we need to see regarding what the Fed will do in the short run is the election. If there’s a sense that fiscal policy will be more cooperative with monetary policy, it will make the Fed’s job easier.”Compiled by the Global Finance & Markets Breaking News teamOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Interest Rates |
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