Business

RAFAH, Palestinian Territories — With a practiced hand, a courier balances a tray of steaming cups and with the other grips his bicycle handlebars as he weaves between cars in the crowded Gaza Strip.

Shaaban Hamuda's modest coffee on wheels business is giving the coastal Palestinian territory its first taste of a delivery service inspired by the likes of Uber Eats or Deliveroo.

There are no vividly-coloured bulky backpacks as is customary in Europe and north America, just a tray and a few cups of hot Arabic coffee, covered with foil to avoid splashing and cooling.

Hamuda, 31, a business management graduate, launched his two-wheeled hot drink service in May, from his small stand near Rafah market, in the southern Gaza Strip.

A stove, a few saucepans and dozens of cardboard cups: Everything to prepare cafe au lait, Arabic coffee and mint tea.

Customers only need to contact him on WhatsApp for one of his employees to prepare the order.

Then, a delivery man gets on his cycle and rushes the steaming drink to the customer.

"People like what is new. I have received encouragement from many people," said Hamuda, who charges only for the beverage. Delivery is free.

"We use cycles to attract the attention of the public and it has proven to be effective," he told AFP.

It was through watching YouTube that the father-of-two came across the trend of home-delivery meals by bicycle, a service that has grown popular worldwide.

The young entrepreneur reports satisfactory revenues, but said sales have fallen since the outbreak of COVID-19.

The Gaza Strip, with an estimated population of two million, has been relatively spared by the pandemic, with just over 75 cases, one of whom has died.

But as elsewhere, the crisis has depressed economic activity in Gaza, where poverty and unemployment rates are both above 50 per cent.

The coastal enclave has been under an Israeli-enforced blockade since 2007, the year the Islamist movement Hamas took power.

The smell of coffee 

Ali Abu Jayab, one of the four deliverymen, could not afford university studies because he comes from a poor family.

"There is no hope for young people in the Gaza Strip," said the 25-year-old, who is delighted to have found work with Hamuda.

"Cycling is all about freedom of movement, it's sport, it's fun and free. It's a good idea and people love it," he said.

Sameh Juda, who owns a perfume shop, was seduced by the smell of Hamuda's coffee.

"I started by ordering a small weekly coffee and now it's one a day," he said with a grin.

"Shaaban's idea is good and innovative, and in addition it is very profitable since the bikes do not require fuel," he said, adding that he appreciates the speed of delivery and ordering via the messaging app.

Despite crippling poverty in Gaza, "young people have innovative ideas that can enable them to find sources of income," said Juda.

LONDON — Gold soared to a record high on Monday as investors rushed into the safe-haven commodity on concerns about heightened China-US tensions, spiking virus infections and a lack of progress on a new stimulus bill in Washington.

"Always a sign of trouble, gold continued its red hot streak on Monday, the safe haven commodity looking mighty attractive after another troubling weekend of COVID-19 and US-China headlines," said Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell.

Dollar weakness helped send gold flying, after vast monetary easing measures put in place by the US Federal Reserve (Fed) undermined confidence in the greenback.

The gold price hit an all-time high of $1,944.71 per ounce, well above its previous record of $1,921.18 in 2011. It later pulled back somewhat.

Relations between the world's two superpowers took another negative turn when a US mission in Chengdu was ordered to shut in retaliation for the forced shutdown of the Chinese consulate in Houston, Texas.

 'Worried what comes next' 

"Technically, the superpowers are all-square in this specific tete-a-tete — but investors are worried about what comes next," said Campbell.

After months of strong gains across equity markets — fuelled by trillions of dollars in government and central bank support — traders had already begun to step back, weighing the long-term economic impact of the coronavirus.

Eyes are on the Fed's policy meeting this week, with some predicting further measures to boost the economy — possibly negative interest rates — that could put more pressure on the dollar and send gold above $2,000.

There are also concerns that a worse-than-forecast reading on second-quarter US gross domestic product could spark another dollar sell-off.

The euro hit its highest dollar value since September 2018.

As gold rose, stock markets — a riskier investment — wobbled with investors fretting over the impact of the virus on the economy.

.In Europe, only Frankfurt held on in a sliver of positive territory after a key survey showed that German business confidence rose for the third month in a row in July. London and Paris were both lower.

On Wall Street, the Dow was also a touch weaker at the opening bell.

VOYNIVKA, Ukraine — When the first snail farm in Ukraine opened five years ago, local villagers could not hide their curiosity.

Residents of Voynivka south of the capital Kiev would peek over the fence of the old dairy farm where manager Yulia Koretska kept the snails to ask if people really ate them.

"They called me the snail mother," she laughed, surrounded by wooden boxes of snails in a green field under the blazing summer sun.

Ex-Soviet Ukraine's budding snail industry now boasts some 400 farms which have found eager buyers in European countries like Italy and Spain.

But sweeping coronavirus restrictions that plunged the global food service industry into an unprecedented crisis have threatened to wipe out the fledgling farms in one of Europe's poorest countries.

Most snail farmers in Ukraine — where the delicacy has yet to catch on — rely heavily on sales to restaurants in Europe where economies are still struggling to recover to pre-pandemic levels after months-long lockdowns.

"Last year everything was great. This year is the exact opposite," says Sergiy Danileyko who owns the Ravlik-2016 farm in Voynivka and runs a warehouse in Spain.

Lost orders from European Union countries have already cost Danileyko 55,000 euros ($63,748), he said, while snails meant for delivery are perishing in refrigerators.

Pre-virus boom 

Yuliya Nastasivna, director of Ravlykova Khata farm in the Zhytomyr region west of Kiev, has also struggled to shift stock.

She concedes that domestic sales will probably not make up for losses from Europe, since snails are too expensive for most Ukrainians and are still a culinary curiosity.

"If there is no export, then I'm afraid all farmers will collapse," she says.

Nastasivna worries the outlook will be especially bleak if France and Spain go into lockdown again later in the year if there is a surge in infections.

"We must survive," Koretska told AFP at the Voynivka farm. "We can't give up all this."

Before the pandemic, Ukraine's snail industry was booming.

Last year, producers delivered nearly 250 tonnes to Europe — up from just 93 in 2018 — according to data from Ukraine's consumer watchdog.

A national association of producers said it expected farmers to yield 1,000 tonnes this year compared with 200-300 tonnes in 2019.

Ukraine's snails are in such high demand because they are cheap and of good quality, says Nastasivna.

The exports include garden sails — which Nastasivna prefers and wild snails that she says "smell of soil".

"Many foreigners don't even believe there are snail farms Ukraine. When they find out, they want to know more and more".

'Escargot, puffs, burgers' 

The country's main competitor, Poland, has the added advantage of being part of the EU, she said, and Ukrainian farmers are working to woo European clients by undercutting prices by around 10 per cent.

The strategy saw her secure sales in France for the first time this year and before the pandemic she was in talks with buyers in Italy.

Danileyko and his business partner meanwhile was negotiating with Asian markets and developing snail-based products, like spreads and frozen products.

"We have a very large assortment of escargot, pastries, frozen fillets, fillets in jars," said the 43-year-old who also mentors other farmers.

"We even have burgers."

Despite their popularity abroad, Ukrainian snails have yet to find favour at home where they are prohibitively expensive and too peculiar for most restaurant goers.

But Anna Miller, manager the of Tres Francais restaurant in central Kiev, says her clients are venturing from their gastronomic comfort zones and snails are becoming more popular.

"If you compare to eight years ago, then, of course, snails have become more familiar to our guests," she says.

NEW YORK — Global equities took a beating on Friday as China-US tensions intensified, while stalled stimulus talks in Washington fuelled fears for the economy as the dollar fell further.

Lingering worries about the impact on businesses of fresh coronavirus outbreaks helped trigger major profit-taking, overshadowing a batch of bright data in Europe.

"It's a sour end to the trading week," said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

European indices were as much as 2 per cent lower at the close, while Wall Street stocks suffered a second straight session in the red.

Earlier in Asia, Shanghai and Hong Kong dived as relations between the world's two superpowers took another bad turn when China ordered the closure of the American consulate in Chengdu in retaliation for the United States shuttering Beijing's diplomatic mission in Houston this week.

The standoff is the latest in a string of issues — including Hong Kong, coronavirus and Huawei — that have dramatically worsened relations between the superpowers.

Stock markets were also still reeling from Thursday's report of a rise in new jobless claims in the US, which prompted doubts about any ongoing economic rebound there, traders reported.

Hopes that the data would spur US lawmakers to push on with fresh stimulus measures were undermined by the inability of Republicans and the White House to agree on a new relief proposal.

Haven asset gold jumped within spitting distance of $1,900 for the first time since late 2011, boosted by economic uncertainty, geopolitical tensions and Federal Reserve monetary easing that has weakened the dollar.

The greenback continued its retreat against the euro and other currencies and could be poised for further weakness, said BK Asset Management's Kathy Lien.

The currency could be in for more volatility next week with the expiration of US supplemental unemployment benefits, the release of second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) figures and a Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting, Lien said.

A surprisingly bad GDP figure "could send equities and currencies plunging lower," while Fed chair Jerome Powell is expected to continue to adopt a dovish line.

"The big question is negative rates — any mention of that being an option will be bruising for the dollar," Lien said. "Regardless, we expect the greenback to extend its slide before and after the FOMC."

AMMAN — Arab Bank Group reported net income after tax of $152.1 million for the first half of 2020 compared  $453.2 million for the same period of the previous year, posting a drop of 66 per cent.

In a statement, the Arab Bank Group attributed the drop to the build up of higher provisions, driven by current and projected economic conditions.

 They also resulted from lower revenues of interest and fee income due to the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak and lower market interest rates and weakening oil prices, the statement added.

Customer deposits grew by 5 per cent to reach $35.9 billion compared to $34.1 billion in the previous year, while loans grew by 2 per cent to reach $26.7 billion compared to $26.2 billion.

The group maintained its strong and robust capital base $9.2 billion in equity and with a capital adequacy ratio of 16.8 per cent, calculated in accordance with Basel III regulations. 

The group enjoys high liquidity with loan-to-deposit ratio at 74.4 per cent, while credit provisions held against non-performing loans continue to exceed 100 per cent, according to the statement.

In the statement, Sabih Masri, chairman of the board of directors, said the pandemic has come as a shock for the global economy, which will witness contraction in 2020. He added that the Covid-19 pandemic has had, and continues to have, a material impact on businesses around the world and the economic environments in which they operate.

The group’s CEO Nemeh Sabbagh said global and regional banking sectors will unavoidably face challenges as a result of the economic contraction, higher cost of risk, and lower interest rates. 

He added that growth in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council declined sharply due to the plunge in oil prices since the outbreak of the pandemic. 

Sabbagh said the group’s net operating income dropped by 21 per cent, and the bank opted to build significantly more provisions during the first half of 2020 against the financial implications of Covid-19, and that this has resulted in the drop in the reported net income after tax. 

He added that the drop in the group’s profitably is also the result of the fall in the profits of the bank’s affiliate in Saudi Arabia. 

WASHINGTON — Twitter on Thursday reported soaring user growth in the past quarter even as ad revenues took a hit amid civil unrest in the United States.

The short-message social network reported a net loss of $1.2 billion in the quarter, most of that coming from setting aside funds for income taxes.

Revenue slumped 19 per cent from a year ago to $683 million. Despite some modest rebound from the pandemic-induced economic slump, Twitter said that "many brands slowed or paused spend in reaction to US civil unrest" in May and June.

Twitter said ad revenue declined 15 per cent over the last three weeks of June, but appeared to have rebounded since then.

A key metric for Twitter, the number of "monetisable" daily active users, hit 186 million in the second quarter for a jump of 34 percent from last year.

Chief executive Jack Dorsey said the user gains showed "the highest quarterly year-over-year growth rate we've delivered" using this measure.

"People continue to come to Twitter to learn about and participate in conversations focused on systemic racism, Black Lives Matters, COVID-19 and the reopening and reclosing of economies all around the world," Dorsey told analysts on a conference call.

Twitter shares jumped 6.2 percent in pre-market trade following the release.

Recovering from hack 

The earnings report comes a week after Twitter suffered a hack that affected high-profile accounts and raised fears about security of the service which has become a key element of political conversation.

Dorsey apologised for the incident and added that Twitter "moved quickly to address what happened," and had taken additional steps "to improve resiliency."

Twitter acknowledged on Wednesday that in 36 of the 130 accounts that were compromised, hackers were able to access direct messages intended to be private, adding to the severity of the incident.

Those affected included one unidentified elected official in the Netherlands.

"We are actively working on communicating directly with the account-holders that were impacted," Twitter said on its security blog.

Dorsey said of the incident: "We understand our responsibilities and are committed to earning the trust of all of our stakeholders with our every action, including how we address this security issue."

Twitter, an important tool used by President Donald Trump, is seen by some analysts as an important element in news and political discussion, a key to its growth.

The research firm eMarketer said its estimate of Twitter's user base, using a different method than the company, shows the number of users will grow to some 305 million this year.

In the past quarter, "Twitter's user growth accelerated in Q2 as housebound consumers continued to use the platform to follow news about the coronavirus and other current events," said eMarketer analyst Jasmine Enberg.

Dorsey confirmed reports that Twitter is looking at some kind of subscription option that this would likely be "complementary" to the existing service.

He said Twitter was "in the very early phases of exploring" a new subscription plan and that some tests are likely this year, while adding that "we have a really high bar for when we would ask consumers to pay for aspects of Twitter."

PARIS — Many workers' lives have been abruptly upended by the coronavirus pandemic, as job losses in tourism, air travel, food and drink or other industries hit those both on fixed contracts and in the informal sector.

From employees making a comfortable living, to others just scraping by, people around the world are confronting anxiety over how to feed their families and shame at being forced to seek handouts amid growing poverty.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says that world gross domestic product (GDP) is set to plunge 4.9 per cent this year from the crisis sparked by the global pandemic, and warns that low-income households and unskilled workers are most affected.

AFP met people in France, Mexico, Ukraine, Spain, Colombia and the United States, who already are, or fear they soon will be, without work and spoke of their despair, sacrifices, dashed hopes and fears for the future.

Plunged into precariousness 

"I've slipped into a state of insecurity," says Frenchman Xavier Chergui, 44, who for 10 years has been a temp maitre d', filling in at Paris restaurants when they were short staffed.

The married, father of two made a monthly 1,800-2,600 euros ($2,062-2,978), and in a really good month could sometimes earn 4,000 euros.

But as soon as France locked down, the work stopped and the family is surviving on state aid of 875 euros.

He hasn't been able to meet his monthly rent of 950 euros since March, nor the electricity bill for three months.

Although he has managed to keep up his 250-euro car loan repayments, the family's holiday in the south west is now off the cards, he said.

"We've lost everything... Psychologically you have to cope with it," he told AFP.

But his wife is suffering from depression and he is just holding out for September when he hopes business will resume -- virus permitting.

Forced career about-turn

With dreams of becoming a pilot, 26-year-old Colombian Roger Ordonez had been working as a flight attendant for Avianca since 2017 but studying to get his wings.

"You get used to a certain lifestyle because you have a good salary and you can travel," he said.

He has visited various countries in the region and the US in recent years and took his family for their first trip abroad.

At the end of March, at the airline's request, he agreed to take two weeks' unpaid leave, which was then extended.

Two months later, he learned that his temporary contract would not be renewed after it ended on June 30.

In the meantime, Avianca filed for bankruptcy.

Ordonez has had to abandon his pilot studies and can no longer help his family out with the bills.

"I've looked for work but it's difficult because my sector is tourism and it's the most affected by COVID-19," he said.

He is thinking of retraining, perhaps in management, trade or sales, he says.

Food bank 'shame' 

To fill the fridge and feed her student son, daughter and grandson, Sonia Herrera has no choice but to rely on the food bank.

"It makes me a bit ashamed to ask for help," the 52-year-old Honduran, who lives in the Spanish capital, said.

People look, and there is the guilt of wondering if "maybe others need it more", she added.

As a domestic worker, she earned a monthly 480 euros until her employers in central Madrid let her go, the day after Spain's lockdown began.

As an undocumented migrant, she cannot claim state aid.

The whole family lives on about 600 euros in unemployment benefit that her daughter Alejandra, 32, receives after losing her job as a cook in a nursery which had to close during confinement.

With a few savings too, they scrape by.

But little pleasures "that you notice when you lose them", such as occasionally going out for an ice cream, are gone and their cat Bella's operation had to be put back.

"The end of the month scares me more than the virus. You have to eat after all," Herrera said.

'Total shock'

Ukrainian IT specialist Natalia Murashko, 39, was due for a promotion after four years as a senior quality-control engineer at American travel company Fareportal.

When the pandemic hit, about 15 employees were dismissed on March 31 but she thought her job was safe as her bosses had reassured her.

However, the very next day, she was given two weeks' notice. "I thought at first it was a stupid April Fool's joke," she said.

"It was a total shock."

Murashko's computer skills placed her in a rarefied group that can make several thousand euros a month in Ukraine, compared to an average salary in the country of around 300 euros.

She was able to afford a cleaner, trips to the beautician and new clothes.

From one day to the next, her life changed beyond recognition.

Now she is living off savings and odd jobs. Last month, the mum of two teens, who also looks after her 73-year-old mother, made 600 euros.

Her job hunting has been fruitless and she limits her spending to the absolute minimum.

"One thing I haven't cut is my psychotherapist," she said. Since losing her job, she has had trouble sleeping and suffers anxiety.

Living in fear 

Marie Cedile dreads hearing that she will be among those to lose their jobs at French shoe company Andre, which filed for bankruptcy on March 21 before going into receivership.

Under the only takeover offer on the table, just half of the 450 staff would be kept on.

She is worried that at the age of 54 and having spent all her working life at Andre, she will have trouble finding a new job.

"I have customers whom I fitted for shoes when they were little and who come today to get their children fitted," she said.

One of her two daughters died aged 29 last year of brain cancer, she said.

"Fortunately I had my work, relationships with the customers, that helps."

After 30 years she still earns the minimum wage -- 1,250 euros a month.

Just over 1,000 euros goes on rent for their flat in the Morangis suburb of Paris.

"You need two salaries to cover it. My husband is unemployed but he's younger than me, he should find a job," she said.

"I'll take anything if I'm laid off, even if it means cleaning houses, I'll find something."

Alone at the bar 

The barstools at Cafe Fili, the Mediterranean restaurant in Washington where Zac Hoffman works, are now mostly empty, as customers prefer to sit outside.

"I don't feel like I'm back to work. I don't have bar guests. The restaurant's never full 'cause it can't be," the 28-year-old said.

Restaurants have been Hoffman's life since he took his first job as a prep cook aged 15.

But six years ago, he realised that he preferred working behind the bar, where the customer is always close and making new friends -- never a bad thing as a candidate for the local area council -- is easy.

He used to make up to $40 an hour, mostly from tips.

But after a period of unemployment when businesses shut down as the pandemic intensified in mid-March, he now makes at most $25 an hour.

What worries him most, though, is whether local businesses will have to close again, in which case he believes most would never reopen, or whether he or his coworkers will be next to get the virus.

"All of our interactions are kind of governed by this anxiety of possible death, which is not really where we want to be," he said.

'Pushed to the bottom' 

Mexican tour guide Jesus Yepez has been sleeping at a homeless refuge after being evicted from his rented accommodation in the capital's historic centre early this month.

"I was born on a cosy mattress in Coyoacan (a bohemian district of Mexico City where Frida Kahlo and Leon Trotsky lived) but the vagaries of life have pushed me to the bottom," the 65-year-old said.

Before coronavirus, he would earn 500 pesos (about $22) leading an hour-long tour.

But Mexico's museums and galleries shut at the end of March as high season began and Yepez has struggled like many others in the tourism sector, which makes up 8.7 per cent of GDP.

Early on, he had some savings, but they are gone and tourists are not yet back.

His qualifications in architecture, international relations, English and French are of little use to him now.

"All that I ask is to get through this and find a retirement home to grow old in dignity. I'm not ill, just tired of life."

ROME — Italian prosecutors said on Tuesday they are seeking an eight-year prison term against the head of oil company Eni, Claudio Descalzi, as part of a long-running corruption case implicating the Italian firm and its UK counterpart Shell in Nigeria.

Italian investigators suspect the two oil groups used bribes to obtain rights in 2011 to a Nigerian offshore oil block estimated to hold nine billion barrels of crude, for $1.3 billion (1.1 billion euros).

Out of that sum, almost $1.1 billion was believed to be bribes to a London bank account that ended up going to various Nigerian politicians, including a former oil minister.

The trial of Eni and Shell for corruption opened in the spring of 2018 and two middlemen — a Nigerian and an Italian — were handed four-year prison terms later that year after an accelerated trial.

Both oil companies deny any wrongdoing.

Prosecutors also requested an eight-year prison term for Paolo Scaroni, who was chief executive of Eni at the time, and a seven-year term for Malcolm Brinded who was then Shell's head of exploration and production.

Italian prosecutors are also seeking a 10-year term for Nigeria's energy minister at the time, Dan Etete, as well as the recovery of the $1.1 billion.

In a statement, Eni called the requests by prosecutors completely groundless and noted that US authorities closed their probes and the payments had been made following an inquiry by Britain's Serious Organised Crime Agency. 

WASHINGTON — Sales of existing homes jumped a record 20.7 per cent in June, ending three months of coronavirus-driven declines as buyers returned to the market, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) said on Wednesday.

Sales were at a seasonally adjusted annualised rate of 4.72 million last month, slightly better than expected, though were down 11.3 per cent from June 2019.

NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun credited the month-on-month rebound to "buyers... eager to purchase homes and properties that they had been eyeing during the shutdown".

"This revitalisation looks to be sustainable for many months ahead as long as mortgage rates remain low and job gains continue."

Sales rose in all regions with the nation's west seeing the biggest jump, while prices were up 3.5 per cent from a year ago.

However, inventory tightened, with unsold units dropping to a 4-month supply from 4.8 months in May, and total inventory at 1.57 million units — down 18.2 per cent from June 2019 even if it's 1.3 per cent above last month.

"Home prices rose during the lockdown and could rise even further due to heavy buyer competition and a significant shortage of supply," Yun said.

The relatively healthy data comes despite otherwise gloomy projections for the US economy, where business shutdowns to stop COVID-19 sent the unemployment rate to 11.1 per cent in June and a surge in cases has forced some areas to roll back steps to reopen.

"This might seem hard to square with the surge in unemployment," Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics said of the NAR survey, "but the wave of job losses among the relatively young workforce in the leisure and hospitality sector has mostly hit renters; the median age of a US homebuyer is about 47".

NEW YORK — Nine global corporations unveiled an initiative on Tuesday to step up efforts to move to a "net zero" carbon emissions society, while Apple announced its own plan to be carbon neutral by 2030.

A new coalition including US-based Microsoft, Germany's Mercedes-Benz AG, France's Danone and Anglo-Dutch Unilever aims to "develop and deliver research, guidance, and implementable roadmaps to enable all businesses to achieve net zero emissions", according to a statement by the group.

The initiative, known as Transform to Net Zero, aims to help businesses achieve zero emissions no later than 2050.

"Over the past decade, many businesses have committed to net zero targets. It is now time to accelerate the actions needed to achieve this essential goal," said Aron Cramer, president of the non-profit consultancy BSR, which will serve as the secretariat for the initiative.

"We are now in a decisive decade, in which we must urgently decarbonise the economy, if we are to stave off the worst impacts of climate change."

Other founding members of the coalition include the Danish shipping giant Maersk, Brazilian personal care firm Natura & Co., US-based Starbucks and Nike, India-based tech firm Wipro and the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund.

"The gap between where we are on climate change and where we need to be continues to widen," said Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defence Fund.

"This new initiative holds tremendous potential for closing these gaps. Especially if other businesses follow in the coalition's footsteps."

 Apple goes green 

Apple said in a separate announcement it would become carbon neutral by 2030 for all its operations, including manufacturing.

The California tech giant, which is already carbon neutral for its corporate operations, said the move would mean no climate impact for all its devices sold.

As part of an environmental update, Apple said it plans to reduce emissions by 75 per cent by 2030 while developing "innovative carbon removal solutions" for the remaining 25 per cent of its comprehensive footprint.

This includes investing in projects to restore savannas in Kenya and a mangrove ecosystem in Colombia to remove or store carbon.

"Businesses have a profound opportunity to help build a more sustainable future, one born of our common concern for the planet we share," said Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook.

"Climate action can be the foundation for a new era of innovative potential, job creation, and durable economic growth."

Apple said it has commitments from over 70 suppliers to use 100 per cent renewable energy for Apple production.

As part of the effort, Apple will also establish an "accelerator" fund to invest in minority-owned businesses to contribute to the initiative, as part of its $100 million commitment to promote racial equity and justice.