Business

NEW YORK —  Five US tech giants including Apple, Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet have been named in a lawsuit over the death of child labourers in cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Impoverished but mineral-rich DRC is the world's largest producer of the rare metal, which is crucial for making batteries used in mobile phones and electric vehicles.

The case was lodged on Sunday in the name of 14 unidentified victims, who are members of the families of children killed in tunnel collapses, as well as children maimed as they worked.

It lists Apple, Google's parent company Alphabet, Dell, Microsoft and Tesla as defendants and was submitted by the International Rights Advocates (IRA) campaign group to a Washington tribunal.

A boom in the technological sector has led to a huge increase in the demand for cobalt, IRA wrote in its statement, adding the tech companies were aware the DRC's mining sector relies on children.

Child miners work for $2-3 a day "under stone age conditions for paltry wages and at immense personal risk", it said.

BMW along with German chemical giant BASF and Samsung announced a joint project to ensure "responsible" cobalt mining in the DRC earlier this year.

The mining industry has said it wants to adopt standards of good governance to improve working conditions.

The London Metal Exchange, the global center for trading in industrial metals, recently adopted new ethical standards to ensure better traceability of raw materials, including cobalt.

Earlier this year, the World Gold Council issued "Responsible Gold Mining Principles", although the guidance is non-binding.

DOHA — Qatar, the world's largest exporter of liquified natural gas, will see its budget surplus shrink in 2020 due to projected higher wage bills, a government statement said on Monday.

The country ran a provisional surplus of 4.4 billion riyals ($1.21 billion) — its first surplus in three years — in 2019 due to higher energy prices. That is now expected to shrink to 500 million riyals in 2020.

"Expenditure is estimated at 210.5 billion riyals, up by 1.9 per cent compared with 206.6 billion in 2019," the finance ministry wrote in a statement.

"Budgeted expenditure is the highest in the past five fiscal years, reflecting the country's commitment to the completion of multiple development projects" ahead of the 2022 World Cup.

A 3.3 per cent hike in the government wage bill was down to a hiring spree for newly completed education, health and railway projects, the statement said. 

Qatar has been under an economic and diplomatic boycott by neighbouring countries led by Saudi Arabia for the past two-and-a-half years although signs of reconciliation efforts have recently emerged.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed ties with Qatar in June 2017, accusing it of links to extremist groups and being too close to Iran.

Doha has denied the charges and increased business with existing trade partners outside the region, announced plans to produce more gas and sought new markets.

Qatar, the third largest economy in the Gulf, has also sought to secure new revenues to boost income streams that shrank due to the slump in oil prices after mid-2014.

In January 2018, the government announced legislation allowing 100 per cent ownership for foreign investors in most economic sectors in a bid to boost non-energy revenues.

Previously, foreign investors could own up to 49 per cent of companies listed on Qatar's stock exchange.

BEIJING — China enjoyed a better-than-expected pick-up in the key retail and industrial sectors in November, data showed on Monday, providing a further boost to Beijing after finally agreeing a mini trade pact with the United States last week. 

The readings come at the end of a tough year for the world’s number two economy, which is expanding at its weakest rate for three decades as it is buffeted by the long-running trade war with Washington as well as a slowdown in global demand for its goods.

Industrial production increased 6.2 per cent on-year last month, up from 4.7 per cent in October and the best reading in six months.

There was also positive news for the country’s shops, with retail sales up 8 per cent, compared with a 7.2 per cent rise the month before.

The figures exceeded expectations, with analysts surveyed by Bloomberg predicting just 5 per cent growth in industrial production and 7.6 per cent in retail sales.

Fu Linghui, spokesman at the National Bureau of Statistics, said the key economic indicators “performed better than expected” in the “face of mounting risks and challenges both at home and abroad”.

But he warned there was still “downward pressure” on the Chinese economy owing to “increasing external instabilities and uncertainties”.

Investment in fixed capital was up 5.2 per cent, the same as October and in line with predictions.

In November, Chinese shoppers set new records for spending during the annual “Singles’ Day” buying spree, with e-commerce giant Alibaba saying consumers spent $38.3 billion on its platforms during the world’s biggest 24-hour shopping event.

The figure was up 26 per cent from the previous all-time high set last year.

China’s economy is in an extended slowdown and the Singles’ Day fire sale is viewed as a snapshot of consumer sentiment.

Economic growth slowed to 6 per cent in the third quarter — the most sluggish rate since 1990 — as demand for exports cooled and Chinese consumers tightened their belts.

Fu said Beijing was on track to meet its full-year growth target of 6-6.5 per cent for 2019, but “must also acknowledge that the current international environment is still relatively complicated”. 

The partial trade deal had “reduced market uncertainty”, he said.

But analysts said Monday’s strong data was not necessarily a sign of long-lasting growth.

“We think this uptick will prove short-lived,” said Martin Lynge Rasmussen, China economist at Capital Economics, warning of the impact of a squeeze on financing in the important real-estate sector.

“Downward pressure on growth is likely to resurface before long,” he added.

NEW YORK — The first driverless cars were supposed to be deployed on the roads of American cities in 2019, but just a few days before the end of the year, the lofty promises of car manufacturers and Silicon Valley remain far from becoming reality.

Recent accidents, such as those involving Tesla cars equipped with Autopilot, a driver assistance software, have shown that "the technology is not ready", said Dan Albert, critic and author of the book "Are We There Yet?" on the history of the American automobile.

He questioned the optimistic sales pitch that autonomous cars would help reduce road deaths — 40,000 every year in the United States, mostly due to human error — because these vehicles themselves have caused deaths.

As a result, self-driving maneuvers in the technology-laden vehicles are limited to parking, braking, starting or driving in a parking lot.

Are autonomous cars on the roads? 

Autonomous vehicles have only been deployed in limited test projects in a few cities.

"When you're working on the large scale deployment of mission critical safety systems, the mindset of 'move fast and break things' certainly doesn't cut it," said Dan Ammann, CEO of self-driving car company Cruise.

General Motors, Cruise's parent company, had promised a fleet of autonomous vehicles would be on the roads in 2019.

There are driverless shuttles running on specific routes on university campuses, and Waymo, Google's autonomous car division, has been offering robotaxi service "Waymo One" for about a year around Phoenix, Arizona. However, there is a trained driver in the cars to take control in case of emergency.

Waymo is expanding that programme, and since the summer it has offered truly driverless service in some Phoenix suburbs that is free in the afternoon and sometimes in the evening. The company is also teaming up with ride-hailing app Lyft to expand to more areas.

Is the technology ready? 

"Automation may be used in areas such as closed campuses, where speeds are low and there is little or no interaction with other vehicles, pedestrians or cyclists or inclement weather," said Sam Abuelsamid, engineer and expert at Navigant Research.

The big problem is "perception": The software's ability to process data sent by the motion sensors to detect other vehicles, pedestrians, animals, cyclists or other objects, and then predict their likely actions and adapt accordingly, he said.

And that part is key, said Avideh Zakhor, engineering and computer science professor at the University of California-Berkeley.

"The perception part is not solved yet. The most advanced publicly available is 80-85 per cent [reliable]. That means that 15 per cent of the time, it's going to hit objects and kill and destroy them," she said.

What are the obstacles? 

Laws in place in some 40 US states only allow testing of these vehicles. The industry players hope the accumulation of thousands of kilometres travelled by self-driving vehicles will reassure authorities the technology is safe.

Authorities also will have to adapt road signage to these smart cars.

Contacted by AFP, the main road transportation regulator, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, declined to provide a status update.

When will autonomous cars be on the road? 

Not for a few years.

"We should see the deployment of autonomous fleets, likely at a regional level, over the next five years," according to Aurora, a start-up specialising in autonomous driving supported by Amazon and Fiat Chrysler.

But Navigant's Abuelsamid said driverless vehicles should be running soon on a small scale.

"We may see some limited numbers in a few locations by mid- to late-2020 with increasing deployments in 2021 and beyond," he said.

Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla, said in late October that his cars will be "able to drive from one's house to work, most likely without interventions", although "it will still be supervised."

Albert, the analyst, told AFP that Tesla may have overpromised, and he cautions that customers who paid $3,500 in advance for the promised fully autonomous features "effectively gave the company a no-interest loan".

HONG KONG —  Christmas came early to Asian markets on Friday as equities and the pound surged on reports China and the US had reached a trade agreement and exit polls predicted a landslide election win for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson that will allow him to push through Brexit.

Investors flocked back into stocks around the world on news that Donald Trump had signed off on a long-awaited pact between the world's economic superpowers that will see the cancellation of fresh US tariffs due at the weekend and the rolling back of previous measures.

After months of high-level talks, negotiators presented the president with a deal that will see China ramp up its purchases of agricultural goods, Bloomberg News reported.

The mood was already buoyant after Trump said an agreement was close on the first part of a wider pact.

"Getting VERY close to a BIG DEAL with China. They want it, and so do we!" Trump tweeted earlier in the day, which helped fuel a rally on Wall Street that saw the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit new records.

Trade tensions between the world's biggest economies have been a huge drag on global growth, with most countries being sucked into the stand-off, sending some into or close to recession.

"Does it mean we get a comprehensive deal in 2020? Hard to say, but it this has created the necessary Christmas cheer for a decent Santa Rally," said Neil Wilson at Markets.com.

Sterling surges 

The trade headlines came just as a closely watched exit poll forecast Johnson's ruling Conservative Party would win a huge 86-seat majority in a crucial general election.

The PM is set to have sufficient power to finally drive his EU Brexit deal through parliament, the stuttering passage of which has caused years of uncertainty in Britain.

Commentators also suggested that the large majority meant Johnson was not beholden to the extreme anti-EU members of his party and would give him the ability to push for a softer Brexit, which would be better for the economy.

The news sent the pound briefly soaring to $1.3514 —  its highest since mid-2018 —  from $1.3163 before the poll was released. It also rallied to 82.80 pence per euro —  a level not seen since just after the Brexit referendum in 2016.

"The market is getting two Christmas presents early," said Tai Hui at JP Morgan Asset Management.

The one-two of positive news for markets sent equities surging in Asia.

Tokyo soared 2.6 per cent, Hong Kong piled on more than 2 per cent, Shanghai clocked up 1.8 per cent, Seoul surged 1.5 per cent and Sydney rose 0.5 per cent. There were also big gains in Mumbai, Singapore, Taipei, Manila and Jakarta.

The soothing of tensions and removal of some uncertainty helped higher-yielding, riskier currencies rally.

The Chinese yuan jumped 1 per cent against the dollar, while the South Korean won and South African rand were both 1.5 per cent higher.

Australia's dollar, the Indonesian rupiah, Mexican peso and Russian ruble also saw big advances as investors grew in confidence.

PARIS —  Already reeling from the fallout of rolling "yellow vest" protests, French businesses are again counting their losses as an eight-day-old strike over pension reforms eats into their Christmas earnings.

With public transport in Paris and national rail services at a near standstill since December 5, shoppers have been thin on the ground.

Hotels and restaurants are also feeling the pinch.

"We've had a cascade of cancellations, more and more of them," said Franck Delvau, co-president of the UMIH union of hotel operators, the sector's largest.

The strike could be costing the economy as much as 400 million euros ($445 million) per day, the CPME confederation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which represents 99.9 per cent of French companies told AFP.

Of 920 SME company bosses polled, said the CPME, 49 per cent reported a drop in sales since last Thursday, compared with last year.

"Forty-two per cent of bosses believe the combined impact of the 'yellow vests' movement and the strike is placing their business in danger," the confederation said in a statement.

Ghost of Christmas past 

As the world's most visited country with more than 89 million international arrivals in 2018, according to the World Tourism Organisation, France's economy relies heavily on tourism.

The sector had only just rebounded from the aftermath of a spate of extremist attacks in 2015 and 2016 when simmering discontent over social inequality exploded last year into the "yellow vest" revolt.

The weekly demonstrations, several of which ended in rioting and looting, forced businesses in central Paris and other cities to remain shuttered over several consecutive weekends.

Now, the retail and hospitality sector are being squeezed again as France's militant unions paralyse transport links in protest over a major overhaul of the pension system that would particularly affect public sector workers, including train drivers.

"If this action continues beyond this week, it would be catastrophic for our members, after another complicated year end last year," said Gontran Thuering of the National Council of Commercial Centres noted.

Shopping malls, he said, usually count on making double their average monthly sales in December —  a target they are likely to miss this year.

'Catastrophic' impact 

The first weekend of the strike was "catastrophic", according to the GNI-Synhorcat unions of hotels, cafes and restaurants.

"Paris was empty; the restaurants, the brasseries... even fast food outlets —  everyone was affected," with some achieving half their usual revenue, it said.

The UMIH hoteliers' association said its members were similarly affected, with Paris hotels losing almost a third of their customers and restaurants as much as 50 per cent.

Several business meetings, congresses and seminars in the City of Light were postponed.

The OECD grouping of developed and emerging economies issued an economic survey for France in April, in which it warned that "prolonged and heightened social protests would hurt private consumption and business investment as well as exports through weaker tourism".

It noted that the age at which most people in France retire was one of the lowest among OECD members, at a little over 60.

Paris on foot

In recent days, thousands of visitors to Paris have had to rely on their ingenuity and patience to move about Paris.

With most metro lines out of service for days on end, trains connecting Paris and its suburbs slashed and inter-city connections severely hamstrung, many had no choice but to walk as public bikes and electric scooters were quickly rented out, and taxis charged a premium.

"We get around best we can, mainly on foot and sometimes by Uber," Guillermo Pulido from Colombia said at the foot of the fire-charred Notre-Dame cathedral which he was visiting with his wife and children amidst the cacophony of horns from cars and scooters jamming the surrounding streets.

"The perception of the strike from abroad is that France is both blocked up and violent, an image that is not new considering the 'yellow vests' movement," said Jean-Pierre Mas, president of the Entreprises du Voyage body, which groups some 1,600 tour operators.

"This is obviously not good for tourism, for visits and reservations for the future."

GENEVA — Despite the slowdown in air travel since early 2018 as a result of the trade war, in particular, this year has seen a broad range of growth across different travel markets with the strongest being the domestic China market which posted an 8.5 per cent increase, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) .

Brian Pearce, IATA's chief economist, said other emerging markets, including eastern Europe and within Asia also saw a growth of 8 per cent in air travel in 2019. 

A 7.5 per cent growth witnessed within Europe in 2019 was the result of the rise in the emerging markets in eastern Europe, the IATA chief economist said, adding that developed economies in Europe with more mature markets saw much slower air travel growth, close to 3 per cent or less.

The weakest market was across the Pacific, reflecting the impact on travel of the US-China trade war, he said. 

Despite regressing demand, Pearce explained that airlines have continued to connect more cities with regular air service. "We forecast that unique city-pair connections will rise over 23,000 for the first time in 2020.

"Connecting cities is the airline industry's critical value proposition to the world economy... It brings the flows of trade, investment, skilled workers, competition, innovation as well as tourism," he said during the IATA Global Media Days which commenced on Wednesday. 

On airlines profit margins, he said returns on capital and operating profit margins of airlines have been on the decline since 2016. 

"This year [with data through to Q3] the industry seems to have stabilised margins at a level of 50 per cent of the peak 3-4 years ago, but still better than earlier performance."

Citing forecasts of the International Monetary Fund for a better global gross domestic product growth in 2020 as a result of the policy response to weaker growth this year, Pearce said that the growth next year should contribute to improving demand and airline profits.

However, the economist said that the global GDP forecasts are based on trade war "truce" with one major uncertainty being the trade tariffs and how the US will proceed with its trade policy over the next year.

"Our working assumption for the forecast... that ahead of the US elections, we will see a 'truce' with no reduction in existing tariffs but no additional tariffs either."

He explained that the expected global economic growth from 0.9 per cent in 2019 to 3.3 per cent in 2020 will be "moderately supportive for the air cargo business".

However, the economist explained that, in case demand growth picks up in 2020, there is a threat that supply could rise even faster, given the 2100+ aircraft that are secluded to be delivered once, as expected, the B737 MAX returns to service. 

"At 7.5 per cent of the fleet, that represents an addition of more than 2 per cent points."

"Slightly stronger economic growth in 2020, together with stable fuel prices is expected to keep air travel growth close to this year's at 4.1 per cent. 2018 was the last of 9 years of air travel growth at or above the 5.5 per cent 20-year average. We have now entered a period of below trend growth for air travel,” he elaborated. 

GENEVA — The aviation industry provides better connectivity at affordable prices nowadays. However, several forces are putting pressure on the industry, Director General and CEO of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Alexandre de Juniac said on Wednesday.

Opening the IATA Global Media Days in Geneva, he said these forces include trade wars and the rise of nationalism.

Noting that flying is a freedom that grows prosperity and improves people’s lives, he said, “IATA has and will continue to take a strong stance that we are better off with borders that are open to people and trade”. 

“While respecting the right of countries to protect their borders, we believe that greater connectivity makes our world a better place. It is part of the DNA of our industry with a mission to bring people closer as a global community.”

On IATA’s global presence, the CEO said that the association’s 290 members represent 82 per cent of the total air traffic. “Together, they are vital to the important work of linking people and economies.”

He said that over four-and-a-half billion passengers and 61 million tonnes of freight will travel across a network of more than 22,000 unique city pairs connected by air in 2019.

“That’s more than double the number of routes that were available in 1998”, he noted.

“Flying is becoming more affordable, de Juniac said, explaining that the average return fare in 2019 before surcharges and tax is forecast to stand at 62 per cent lower than in 1998 after adjusting for inflation.”

Comparing how the condition of flying was 75 years ago when the Chicago Convention was signed with nowadays, the CEO said, “In 1945, some nine million people travelled by air. Today we transport that same number, on average, every 18 hours.”

Environment 

The CEO explained that aviation made “serious” climate action commitments in 2008 towards cutting carbon — “long before the word ‘Flyskam’ entered our vocabulary”.

He added that the aviation sector has been  committed to improve fuel efficiency by an average of 1.5 per cent annually.

With aviation held responsible for 2 per cent of global man made carbon emissions according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the CEO said, “We are committed to cut our emissions to half 2005 levels by 2050 which aligns aviation with the Paris agreement.”

However, the CEO urged governments to focus on driving the technology and policy solutions in a manner that can make flying sustainable. 

“In the immediate term, that means focusing on sustainable aviation fuels which have the potential to cut our carbon footprint by up to 80 per cent.”

“Carbon is the enemy, not flying. Our goal is to keep the world flying sustainably and with pride.”

AMMAN — The International Air Transport Association (IATA), in partnership with the Global Shippers Forum, the International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations and the International Air Cargo Association, are exerting more efforts to ensure the safe air transport of lithium batteries, according to an IATA statement. 

The organisations are also renewing calls for governments to crack down on manufacturers of counterfeit batteries and of mis-labelled and non-compliant shipments introduced into the supply chain, by issuing and enforcing criminal sanctions on those responsible.

Consumer demand for lithium batteries is growing by 17 per cent, annually. Subsquently, the number of incidents involving mis-declared or undeclared lithium batteries has also risen. 

“Dangerous goods, including lithium batteries, are safe to transport if managed according to international regulations and standards. But we are seeing an increase in the number of incidents in which rogue shippers are not complying. The industry is uniting to raise awareness of the need to comply. This includes the launching of an incident reporting tool so that information on rogue shippers is shared. And we are asking governments to get much tougher with fines and penalties,” said Nick Careen, IATA’s senior vice president, airport, passenger, cargo and security.

The campaign includes three specific initiatives.

They are an incident reporting and alert system for airlines, an industry awareness campaign on the dangers of shipping undeclared and misdeclared lithium batteries, and the facilitation of a joined-up industry approach.

The alert system is an industry information sharing platform has been launched to target mis-declared consignments of lithium batteries. The reporting system will allow real-time information about dangerous goods incidents to be reported in order to identify and eradicate acts of deliberate or intentional concealment and misdeclaration.

As for the campaign, a series of dangerous goods awareness seminars are being held across the world targeting countries and regions where compliance has been challenging. 

In addition, an education and awareness programme for customs authorities has been developed in collaboration with the World Customs Organisation.

 Regarding the joined-up approach, the industry has pledged support for an initiative presented by the United Kingdom, New Zealand, France and The Netherlands at the recent Assembly of the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organisation which calls for the adoption of a cross-domain approach to include aviation security, manufacturing standards, customs and consumer protection agencies. 

Currently air cargo is scanned for items that pose a risk to security such as explosives, but not safety such as lithium batteries. 

Governments must play their role with much stricter enforcement of international regulations to ensure the safe transport of these vital shipments, said the statement. The four trade associations urge regulators to follow through with significant fines and penalties for those who circumvent regulations for the transport of lithium batteries.

AMMAN — The value of the country’s industrial exports during the first 10 months of 2019 posted an 8.7 per cent increase as it reached JD4.933 billion, compared to the figure recorded at the end of the same period last year, according to a report by the Jordan Chamber of Industry, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, said. Leather and textiles exports were exported at around JD1.309 billion up from JD1.112 billion, recording a 17.7 per cent increase.

Exports of the chemical and cosmetics sector grew by 18.4 per cent to JD815 million from JD689 million, the news agency added. Mining sector exports totalled JD906 million compared to JD893 million, up by 1.5 per cent. Among the sectors that saw a decline in their exports were engineering and ICT industries, packaging industries, and wood and furniture industries.