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RIYADH — Saudi Arabia said on Friday it was offering tourist visas for the first time, opening up the country to holidaymakers as part of a push to diversify its economy away from oil.

The kingdom also eased its strict dress code for foreign women, allowing them to go without the body-shrouding abaya robe that is still mandatory public wear for Saudi women, as authorities open up one of the last frontiers of global tourism.

The push comes just under two weeks after devastating attacks on Saudi Arabia's oil infrastructure — blamed by Washington on Iran — which roiled global energy markets and raised fears of a wider regional conflict.

"We make history" today, tourism chief Ahmed Al Khateeb said in a statement.

"For the first time, we are opening our country to tourists from all over the world."

Citizens from 49 countries are eligible for online e-visas or visas on arrival, including the United States, Australia and several European nations, the statement said.

Kickstarting tourism is one of the centrepieces of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman's Vision 2030 reform programme to prepare the biggest Arab economy for a post-oil era.

But the conservative country is seen as an unlikely destination for global tourists aside from Muslim pilgrims visiting holy sites in Mecca and Medina.

But Khateeb said there will be no restrictions on unaccompanied foreign women, who will also not be obliged to publicly wear an abaya, even as they are expected to dress modestly.
Riyadh last year began issuing temporary visas to visitors to attend sporting and cultural events.

"Saudi Arabia is opening. We are opening our economy. We are opening our society," Khateeb said.

The government, reeling from low oil prices, says it hopes tourism will contribute up to 10 per cent of gross domestic product by 2030 — compared to three per cent currently — thanks to a targeted 100 million annual visits by both Saudi and foreign tourists.

But the kingdom currently lacks the infrastructure to accommodate visitors in such high numbers, with officials estimating 500,000 new hotel rooms will be required nationwide over the coming decade.

The sector is expected to create up to one million tourism jobs, the government says, as it battles high youth unemployment.

Saudi Arabia has splurged billions in an attempt to build a tourism industry from scratch.

In 2017, the kingdom announced a multibillion dollar project to turn 50 islands and other pristine sites on the Red Sea into luxury resorts.

Last year, construction of Qiddiya "entertainment city" was launched near Riyadh, which would include high-end theme parks, motor sport facilities and a safari area.

The country is also developing historic sites such as the centuries-old Mada'in Saleh, home to sandstone tombs of the same civilisation which built the Jordanian city of Petra.

BEIRUT — Petrol station owners in Lebanon on Friday suspended a strike and said they reached a deal with the government allowing them to pay suppliers in Lebanese pounds, following complaints over a shortage in dollars.

The Syndicate of Gas Station Owners on Thursday had announced an open-ended strike, saying banks were not supplying them with the dollars needed to pay importers and suppliers because of a shortage in reserves.

The strike was suspended pending a meeting with lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

"We have reached a solution with regards to the strike," said Sami Brax, head of the syndicate, after the meeting, quoted by the state-run National News Agency.

"We have agreed that... fuel distributors will be paid in Lebanese pounds," he said.

Owners of petrol stations in Lebanon are paid by clients in Lebanese pounds, but have to pay importers and suppliers in US dollars. 

This had caused a dilemma for gas station owners who said they had to purchase dollars on the black market or from money exchange offices at higher rates because of a shortage in dollar reserves.

Lebanese media this week reported that banks and money exchange houses were rationing their dollar sales over a feared shortage in reserves. 

Lebanese officials, including President Michel Aoun and central bank Governor Riad Salameh, have tried to play down the risk of an economic collapse.

When asked about a feared shortage in dollar reserves, Aoun on Friday said: "Lebanon is not in danger."

"I will not let Lebanon collapse," he told reporters.

Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil acknowledged "external pressure on the economy and the Lebanese pound", but said that local parties were exploiting the situation to undermine the government, the state-run National News Agency reported.

"There are local actors who are conspiring against the country and its economy," he said. 

They are "fabricating" the situation "to incite citizens against the state", he added. 

Salameh on Monday denied that Lebanon was facing a dollar crisis.

"Dollars are available in Lebanon," the central bank governor said in a news conference, calling reports of a shortage an "exaggeration".

Economic growth in Lebanon has plummeted in the wake of repeated political deadlocks in recent years, compounded by the impact of eight years of war in neighbouring Syria.

Lebanon's public debt stands at around $86 billion — higher than 150 per cent of GDP — according to the finance ministry.

Eighty per cent of that figure is owed to Lebanon's central bank and local banks.

Last month, ratings agency Fitch bumped the country down to "CCC" over what it called "intensifying pressure on Lebanon's financing model".

PARIS — European aerospace giant Airbus has been hit by a series of attacks by hackers who have targeted its suppliers in their search for technical secrets, security sources told AFP, adding they suspected a China link.

There have been four major attacks on Airbus in the last 12 months, according to two security sources involved in investigating the hacking.

The group has long been considered a tempting target because of the cutting-edge technologies that have made it one of the world's biggest commercial plane manufacturers, as well as a strategic military supplier.

In January, it admitted to a security incident that had "resulted in unauthorised access to data", but people with knowledge of the attacks outlined a concerted and far bigger operation over the last year.

Hackers have targeted British enginemaker Rolls-Royce and the French technology consultancy and supplier Expleo, as well as two other French contractors working for Airbus that AFP was unable to identify.

Romain Bottan of the aerospace security specialist BoostAerospace said the attacks showed that hackers were seeking out weak links in the chain to compromise Airbus's systems.

"Very large companies are very well protected, it's hard to pirate them, so smaller companies are a better target," he said.

VPN entry point 

The attack against Expleo was discovered at the end of last year but the group's system had been compromised long before, one of the sources told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"It was very sophisticated and targeted the VPN which connected the company to Airbus," the source said.

A VPN, or virtual private network, is an encrypted network that enables employees to access company systems remotely. 

Airbus suppliers sometimes operate in a VPN linking them with colleagues at the plane-maker.

The other attacks used the same methods, with the first of them detected at a British subsidiary of Expleo, formerly known as Assystem, as well as Rolls-Royce, which provides engines for Airbus planes.

According to several of the sources, the hackers appeared to be interested in technical documents linked to the certification process for different parts of Airbus aircraft.

They also said that several stolen documents were related to the engines of the Airbus military transport plane A400M, which has some of the most powerful propeller engines in the world.

One of the sources said the hackers were also interested in the propulsion systems for the Airbus A350 passenger jet, as well as its avionics systems controlling the plane.

None of the sources who spoke to AFP could formally identify the perpetrators of the attacks, pointing to the extreme difficulty in obtaining evidence and identification in any cyber attack.

PARIS — Google will not pay French news companies to show excerpts of their articles, pictures or videos in search results, a top executive said on Wednesday, although it will not display the excerpts without their approval.

The move comes after France became in July the first EU country to adopt the bloc’s wide-ranging copyright reform, aimed at ensuring media firms are paid for original content offered online by Google, Facebook and other technology giants.

The new rules create a “neighbouring right” to ensure copyright protection — and compensation — for media firms using their content.

Richard Gingras, Google’s vice president for news, told journalists in Paris that a Europe-based news publisher would now have to decide if it would allow Google to show “snippets” of content or thumbnail images alongside search results in France.

If they accept, publishers will not receive any compensation from Google, he said.

But if they do not, only a headline and link to their content will appear in the results.

That could sharply reduce online audiences for some publishers, since Internet users are more likely to click on results containing excerpts and images.

The new EU directive was passed last March amid fierce resistance from tech companies which generate huge profits from advertising shown alongside search results and other content they host.

Google had warned after the European Parliament vote that it “will lead to legal uncertainty and will hurt Europe’s creative and digital economies”.

Critics also said the reform would effectively create a “link tax” that would restrict Internet discourse, and did not strike the best balance between free circulation of information and copyright protection.

News publishers, however, said the changes were urgently needed to help them cope with plummeting revenues as their readers migrated online from traditional media outlets.

AFP was among the media organisations that lobbied for the creation of neighbouring rights.

AMMAN — Jordan’s trade balance deficit for the first seven months of 2019 dropped by10 per cent compared to the figure recorded at the end of the same period last year, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

The drop resulted from a 5.5 per cent increase in national exports, the new agency explained. According to the Department of Statistics figures, national exports were valued at JD2.749 billion during the January through July period of 2019, posting a 5.5 per increase compared to the figure recorded in the same period of the previous year. As for imports, they were valued at JD7.892 billion, registering a 4.4 per cent decrease.

LONDON — Sterling bounced briefly on Tuesday after Britain's Supreme Court ruled "unlawful" a decision by Prime Minister Boris Johnson to suspend parliament in the run-up to Brexit.

The pound rallied to $1.2489 as traders mulled the prospect that Britain could avoid a no-deal departure from the European Union on October 31, analysts said. The euro also slid versus sterling.

House of Commons Speaker John Bercow said parliament must "convene without delay", adding that he will consult party leaders as a matter of urgency.

Johnson had insisted that the extended parliamentary recess was designed to allow time to bring forward a new legislative programme — but critics accused him of trying to avoid lawmakers' scrutiny ahead of Brexit.

"Sterling bounced higher following the judgement, as pound traders once again reassess the probability of a no-deal Brexit being avoided," City Index Fiona Cincotta told AFP.

"With ministers heading back to parliament imminently, still five weeks ahead of 31st October, there is time to prevent a damaging disorderly Brexit."

The 11 judges of the country's highest court were unanimous in their verdict, which they said meant parliament could now immediately reconvene.

Johnson, who took office on July 24, had advised Queen Elizabeth II as head of state to prorogue parliament.

Most members of the house of commons oppose Johnson's threat to leave the European Union next month even if he has not agreed exit terms with Brussels.

The pound later handed back some of its gains to stand at about $1.2440, up 0.1 per cent from late Monday.

"Sterling is bouncing around as traders are wondering: 'What is next for UK politics?'" said CMC Markets analyst David Madden.

"A general election seems like the next move."

London's stock market bobbed into negative territory in late Tuesday morning deals, reversing earlier losses, but Frankfurt and Paris held onto gains.

"It's hard to see how this gets the UK and EU any closer to a deal that will be approved by MPs, but it does really deliver a massive blow to Boris Johnson," added Market.com analyst Neil Wilson.

"It's perhaps not fatal, but it's not going to make life any easier and we are now faced with significant uncertainty of a different hue.”

"I would simply suggest that the uncertainty is the norm now — we just have a different vector of uncertainty to contend with," Wilson added.

In Asia meanwhile, equities crept higher Tuesday but dealers remained on edge following contrasting global economic data as investors await developments in the China-US trade stand-off.

Top-level negotiations are due to start in Washington next month.

HONG KONG — Oil prices rallied on Monday after Iran warned the presence of US forces in the Gulf was causing instability in the region, while equities were mixed as US President Donald Trump said he did not want a partial trade deal with China.

While a loosening of monetary policy by central banks is providing support to investors, they remain on edge following last week's attack on Saudi oil facilities that was claimed by Houthi rebels in Yemen but blamed by the US on Iran.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday hit out at a US move to increase troop numbers in Saudi Arabia, saying: "Foreign forces can cause problems and insecurity for our people and for our region."

He called on outside powers to "stay away" and added Tehran would present a peace plan to the United Nations within days.

Investors are concerned about a possible conflict in the oil-rich Middle East after last week's attacks — which hammered Saudi Arabia's biggest crude plant — though both sides have said they do not want a war.

The US has ramped up sanctions on Tehran, targeting its central bank.

Both main oil contracts saw prices rise more than 1 per cent on Monday and traders are keeping tabs on Riyadh's progress in repairing the facilities.

"You can never say never, but with an Iranian delegation apparently due to attend the UN session opening week in New York, it is hard to imagine too many fireworks in the gulf this week," said OANDA senior markets analyst Jeffrey Halley.

NEW YORK — The past week's sudden surge in oil prices brought to mind the nightmare of shortages, but it is not too likely motorists will be queuing to fill up around the world, analysts say.

All it took was a September 14 strike on key oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia to abruptly leave the world's main supplier producing just half its normal amount. 

That sent the price of Brent crude flying 15 per cent higher in a single day.

The price on a barrel of crude has come back down since then and by Friday was trading around $65. 

Given the slowdown in the global economy and the abundance of crude produced worldwide, the prospect of a $100 barrel, for now, does not seem to be going to happen.

"In essence, the world is far better equipped to handle oil shocks than it was in the '70s," explained Harry Tchilinguirian, the head of commodity research at BNP Paribas.

In 1973, after an embargo by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) against Israel's allies in the midst of the Yom Kippur War, and in 1979, after the Iranian revolution, crude oil prices soared in just a few months, bringing developed economies to their knees.

 Reduced dependence 

"Currently, an oil shock would hardly have the same devastating effects" because countries grew accustomed to such events, economists at Commerzbank said in a note.

On top of that, "central banks would not react to a supply shock with massive interest rate hikes to combat rising inflation", they said.

Most importantly, however, economies have reduced their dependence on oil.

Consumption in the United States, for example, rose from 17.3 million barrels per day (mbd) in 1973 to 20.5mbd in 2018, an increase of only 18 per cent even as the country's real gross domestic product jumped 230 per cent. 

In Germany, households spent only 2.6 per cent of their budget on fuel in 2018.

Many economies have taken strides away from heavy oil consumption, thanks to transport and energy-efficient industries, and alternative sources such as natural gas or renewable energy.

When oil prices held well above $100 a barrel between 2011 and 2014, it did not lead to economic collapse. The world has also now become less dependent on a few huge producers.

The first oil crisis led to the creation in 1974 of the International Energy Agency, which requires OECD countries to keep in reserve the equivalent of at least 90 days of their net imports of crude.

On top of that, oil production has branched far beyond the Middle East, said Tchilinguirian, referring to North Sea oil exploited since the 1980s, deep-sea exploitation off the coast of west Africa and Brazil, and the oil sands of Canada.

The United States, long deeply dependent upon imports, has become a major producer and exporter thanks to shale oil and new technologies.

Such factors help smooth things out in the event of a major disruption like the attack on Saudi facilities.

As such, a country like Saudi Arabia would probably no longer decide to voluntarily suspend its exports "because it could lose its status as a reliable supplier", says Alan Gelder, refined products specialist for Wood Mackenzie.

Even if an oil shock is unlikely, "you can never say there is zero risk", said Andrew Lebow, oil market specialist for Commodity Research Group.

"Especially", he added "if there is a major war that closes the Strait of Hormuz", which a third of all petroleum products shipped by sea pass through.

The effects of a possible oil shock, however, "should not be underestimated", the Commerzbank economists warned. 

"Many economies are currently struggling with problems anyway and the central banks have little room for maneuver [...] to help the affected economies," they said.