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MOSCOW — Russian Internet giant Yandex on Wednesday launched its first ever smartphone in a highly anticipated move into hardware that builds on its popular service apps.

The company behind the most widely used search engine in Russia and the ex-Soviet region has recently diversified to defend its market share against Google. Like its US rival, it has created a range of popular phone apps for services from taxi-hailing to ordering takeaway food.

The new smartphone, called Yandex.Phone, will go on sale on Thursday in Russia and online. It will cost 17,990 roubles ($269) — less than similar phones from competitors Apple and Samsung — and will work with the Android system. 

While the design was created by Yandex, the phone is made in China.

Yandex’s various apps for payment, music, maps, taxi and food are pre-installed on the phone, which will also use a smart speaker called Alice (Alisa in Russian), which uses artificial intelligence and is similar to Amazon’s Alexa.

“We built Yandex.Phone to offer Russian users a smartphone that is equipped with all the localised tools that help users better navigate their daily routines,” Yandex official Fyodor Yezhov said.

“Within the smartphone, the Yandex apps are presented in the form of an ecosystem with Alice at its centre. It’s not necessary to open individual apps to solve a task — just ask Alice.”

New step 

The phone signals a major new phase in Yandex’s development and is designed to compete in Russia with giants like Apple, Samsung and Huawei.

This comes after Google has launched its own smartphone with mixed success and Facebook failed in its attempts to do so.

Yandex started in the 1990s as a search engine similar to Google but has expanded into every corner of the Russian internet.

The smartphone’s launch comes after the company last month disappointed tech enthusiasts by summoning journalists to what turned out to be a presentation not of the smartphone but of its smart speaker.

The Yandex smartphone is not the first to be developed by a Russian company. 

In 2013, the YotaPhone, designed in Russia but also made in China, was launched with the gimmick of having screens on both sides. However it failed to set the market alight.

This time the company behind the smartphone has much more clout. It is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and is renowned for its creative flair.

Tom Morrod, research director at IHS Markit, said that Yandex will not “be competing with iPhone or top-end models”.

“Non-hardware companies are often happy to take a mid-market position, not hoping to make money” from phone sales, Morrod said.

The phone will allow the company to “collect data on all aspects of a user — what they eat, what they listen to” and target them with ads, he said.

Yandex and its main Russian rival Mail.ru — which owns the country’s most popular social networking site VKontakte — are competing in the booming e-commerce sector as Russia faces pressure from Western sanctions and is turning towards China for joint projects.

Mail.ru recently announced a joint e-commerce venture with Chinese giant Alibaba while Yandex has linked up with Russia’s biggest consumer bank Sberbank for an e-commerce project valued at $1 billion.

DUBAI — Prices for Dubai's residential real estate went down 7.4 per cent in the third quarter of 2018 from a year earlier, with the drop accelerating from a 5.8 per cent fall in the second quarter, the United Arab Emirates central bank said in a report on Tuesday.

Prices have been falling quarter-on-quarter almost continually since the start of 2017 because of a worsening supply/demand balance. The central bank quoted the REIDIN residential sales price index, which showed that prices fell 2.5 per cent from the previous quarter in July-September.

Residential real estate prices in neighbouring Abu Dhabi, the other big emirate and the capital of the UAE, dropped 6.1 per cent year-on-year in the third quarter after a 6.9 per cent slide in the second quarter.

One factor weakening the demand for real estate is subdued employment growth in the UAE, particularly among white-collar workers who might buy homes. Most jobs in the wealthy oil-exporting country are held by foreigners.

Total employment grew just 0.6 per cent from a year ago in the third quarter — the slowest rate in over four years — after 1.2 per cent growth in the second quarter, the central bank said. 

In the first nine months of 2018, employment grew at an average rate of 1.6 per cent against a 2.6 per cent increase in the same period of 2017.

The central bank figures showed employment in sectors, including construction and real estate continuing to expand, partly because of Dubai's preparations to host the Expo 2020 World's Fair.

But employment in some sectors that generate large numbers of white-collar jobs, such as services, fell in the third quarter, in some cases at their fastest rates for several years.

In an effort to bolster white-collar numbers, the UAE government last week announced a scheme to offer long-term visas to rich property investors, senior scientists and entrepreneurs.

But eligibility for the visas is tightly restricted and they do not offer a path to UAE citizenship, so analysts said the scheme might do little by itself to change employment or real estate market trends.

DOHA — Qatar said on Monday it was quitting the Organisation of the Petroleum exporting Countries (OPEC) from January to focus on its gas ambitions.

Doha is one of OPEC's smallest oil producers but the world's biggest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter. Qatar said its surprise decision was not driven by politics but in an apparent swipe at Riyadh, Minister of State for Energy Affairs Saad Al Kaabi said: "We are not saying we are going to get out of the oil business, but it is controlled by an organisation managed by a country." He did not name the nation.

Kaabi told a news conference that Doha's decision "was communicated to OPEC" but said Qatar would attend the group's meeting on Thursday and Friday in Vienna, and would abide by its commitments.

He said Doha would focus on its gas potential because it was not practical "to put efforts and resources and time in an organisation that we are a very small player in and I don't have a say in what happens".

Delegates at OPEC, which has 15 members including Qatar, sought to play down the impact. But losing a long-standing member undermines a bid to show a united front before a meeting that is expected to back a supply cut to shore up crude prices that have lost almost 30 per cent since an October peak.

"They are not a big producer, but have played a big part in [OPEC's] history," one OPEC source said.

It highlights the growing dominance over policy making in the oil market of Saudi Arabia, Russia and the United States, the world's top three oil producers which together account for more than a third of global output.

Riyadh and Moscow have been increasingly deciding output policies together, under pressure from US President Donald Trump on OPEC to bring down prices. Benchmark Brent is trading at around $62 a barrel, down from more than $86 in October.

"It could signal a historic turning point of the organisation towards Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United States," said Algeria's former energy minister and OPEC chairman, Chakib Khelil, commenting on Qatar's move.

‘Unilateral decisions’

He said Doha's exit would have a "psychological impact" because of the row with Riyadh and could prove "an example to be followed by other members in the wake of unilateral decisions of Saudi Arabia in the recent past."

Qatar, which Kaabi said had been a member of OPEC for 57 years, has oil output of just 600,000 barrels per day (bpd), compared with Saudi Arabia's 11 million bpd.

But Doha is an influential player in the global LNG market with annual production of 77 million tonnes per year, based on its huge reserves of the fuel in the Gulf.

Kaabi, who is heading Qatar's OPEC delegation, said the decision was related to the country's long-term strategy and plans to develop its gas industry and increase LNG output to 110 million tonnes by 2024.

"A lot of people will politicise it," Kaabi said. "I assure you this purely was a decision on what's right for Qatar long term. It's a strategy decision." 

The exit is the latest example of Qatar charting a course away from its Gulf neighbours since the rift began last year. It comes before an annual summit of Gulf Arab states expected to grapple with the roughly 18-month standoff.

Once close partners with Saudi Arabia and the UAE on trade and security, Qatar has since struck scores of new trade deals with countries further afield while investing heavily to scale up local food production and ramp up military power.

"There is a sentiment in Qatar that Saudi Arabia's dominance in the region and the region's many institutions has been counterproductive to Qatar achieving its development goals," said Andreas Krieg, a political risk analyst at King's College London. "It is about Qatar breaking free as an independent market and state from external interference."

Oil surged about 5 per cent on Monday after the United States and China agreed to a 90-day truce in their trade war, but prices remain well off October's peak.

Asked if Qatar's withdrawal would complicate OPEC's decision this week, a non-Gulf OPEC source said: "Not really, even if it's a regrettable and sad decision from one of our member countries."

Amrita Sen, chief oil analyst at consultancy Energy Aspects, said the move "doesn't affect OPEC's ability to influence as Qatar was a very small player."

Kaabi said state oil company Qatar Petroleum planned to raise its production capability from 4.8 million barrels oil equivalent per day to 6.5 million barrels in the next decade.

Doha also plans to build the largest ethane cracker in the Middle East.

Qatar would still look to expand its oil investments abroad and would "make a big splash in the oil and gas business", he Kaabi added.

NEW YORK — US stocks finished a banner week on a positive note on Friday amid hopes of a US-China trade detente, as Microsoft overtook Apple in market value. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.8 per cent to 25,538.46.

The broad-based S&P 500 also added 0.8 per cent at 2,760.16, along with the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index, which finished at 7,330.54.

All three major indices notched strong gains for the week, with the S&P 500’s gain of 4.8 per cent the best since December 2011.

On Friday, the leaders of the United States, Mexico and Canada signed a huge regional trade deal to replace the old North American Free Trade Agreement.

Trump also said that were “good signs” ahead of talks on Saturday with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on the sidelines of a G-20 summit in Buenos Aires.

FTN Financial’s Chris Low said the signing of the North American trade agreement was “reassuring” but that many analysts were sceptical of a breakthrough on China. 

US stocks have been under pressure for much of the fall due to worries about higher Federal Reserve interest rates and slowing growth from the US-China trade fight.

But stocks gained this week, following a speech from Fed Chair Jerome Powell that investors viewed as dovish. 

Big movers in the Dow included Caterpillar, Intel and Coca-Cola, all of which gained about 3 per cent or more. Goldman Sachs was a laggard, dropping 2.2 per cent following a downgrade from Bank of America-Merrill Lynch.

Microsoft climbed 0.6 per cent to finish with a market capitalisation of $851.2 billion, edging out Apple by nearly $4 billion in value. It was the first time in eight years that Microsoft closed above Apple, which slipped 0.5 per cent.

Hotel chain Marriott International slumped 5.6 per cent after announcing that it suffered a hack of up to 500 million guests from the Starwood reservation database, which the company acquired in 2016.

General Electric fell 5.5 per cent after a Wall Street Journal report described a deepening US probe into accounting at the slumping conglomerate.

The article quoted one former employee who left the company out of concern that senior executives had not accounted for risk in an insurance division that went on to suffer a $15 billion shortfall.

BUENOS AIRES — Global leaders were expected to back an overhaul of the world body that regulates international trade disputes at a summit on Saturday, delegates said, ahead of high-stakes talks between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping aimed at defusing a trade war.

A consensus appeared to be emerging at the two-day gathering of the Group of 20 industrialised economies for a joint statement that would back reforms to the crisis-stricken World Trade Organisation amid growing global trade tensions, according to officials from the European Union and summit host Argentina.

"We reiterate that the multilateral trading system is the framework in which we are all working and committed," an EU official said, referring to the language of a draft statement. 

The WTO is on the verge of becoming dysfunctional, just when it is most needed to fulfill its role as umpire in trade disputes and as the watchdog of global commerce.

The United States is unhappy with what it says is the WTO's failure to hold Beijing to account for not opening up its economy as envisioned when China joined the body in 2001.

To force reform at the WTO, the United States has blocked new appointments to the world's top trade court. The European Union is also pushing for reform at the WTO. 

G-20 summit delegates said that negotiations on producing a final statement were proceeding more smoothly than at a meeting of Asian leaders two weeks ago that ended without a consensus, but they cautioned that the draft statement still required approval from leaders. 

Trump said in a Tweet that he was cancelling a news conference at the G-20 summit as a mark of respect following the death of former President George H.W. Bush.

European officials said the draft document included a reference to climate change, which has proved a sticking point in the past with the current US administration. 

The wording on climate change was "a little bit more than the status quo but not backtracking," one EU official said.

With the United States and China locked in growing disputes over commerce and security that have raised questions about the future of their relationship, global financial markets next week will take their lead from the outcome of talks between Trump and Xi over dinner on Saturday.

The first day of the G-20 summit offered glimmers of hope for progress between Washington and Beijing despite Trump's earlier threat of new tariffs, which would increase tensions already weighing on the growth of the global economy.

But ahead of what is seen as the most important meeting of US and Chinese leaders in years, both sides said differences remained, and the outcome of the talks were uncertain.

This year's summit has proved to be a major test for the G-20, whose leaders first met in 2008 to help rescue the global economy from the worst financial crisis in seven decades.

With a rise in nationalist sentiment in many countries, the group, which accounts for two-thirds of the global population and 85 per cent of the global economy, faces doubts over its ability to deal with trade tensions and other geopolitical differences among its members.

Apart from trade and climate change, Russia's seizure of Ukrainian vessels has drawn condemnation from other G-20 members, while the presence of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman at the summit has raised an awkward dilemma for leaders. 

Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, who arrived amid controversy over the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, has been ignored by other leaders at public events, although he has had a series of bilateral meetings with them in private.

Saudi Arabia has said the prince had no prior knowledge of the murder.

BERLIN — Germany’s anti-trust authority has launched an investigation into whether US ecommerce giant Amazon is exploiting its market dominance in its relations with third-party retailers who use its website as a marketplace.

The Federal Cartel Office said in a statement on Thursday that it had received many complaints from traders about the business practices of Amazon of late.

“Amazon acts as a kind of ‘gatekeeper’ to customers. The double role as biggest trader and biggest marketplace means there is a potential to impede other traders on the platform,” said cartel office President Andreas Mundt.

Mundt said the investigation would seek to examine business conditions that Amazon imposes on the traders which use its site, including a lack of transparency over terminations, delayed payments and shipping conditions.

Amazon’s German division was not immediately available for comment.

Germany is Amazon’s second biggest market. It has faced a long-running battle with unions in the country over pay and conditions for logistics workers, who staged another round of strikes last week.

The country’s antitrust watchdog is also investigating Facebook after finding that the social media giant abused its market dominance to gather data on people without their knowledge or consent.

LONDON — The dollar rose for a fourth straight day on Wednesday as rising trade tensions prompted investors to seek the safe haven of the greenback, although a speech by the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) chairman may curb those gains.

Expectations the Fed will raise interest rates twice more are priced into markets, but recent criticism of the Fed by US President Donald Trump has raised concerns the central bank may be wary of further tightening.

“Powell’s speech will be the highlight for markets today, and if he chooses to strike a dovish stance, that may signal more headwinds for the dollar,” said Morten Helt, a currency strategist at Danske Bank, referring to Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.

Against a basket of other currencies, the dollar drifted higher to 97.39, its highest level in two weeks and not far from its 2018 high. It later fell back to trade flat on the day as the euro and the British pound made some headway.

The dollar had been under pressure in recent weeks on signs the Fed might slow the pace of rate increases amid slowing global growth, peak corporate earnings and the escalating trade tensions.

“How concerned the Fed sounds about the current economic slowdown will be seen as an indication as to how quickly a rate pause might come,” said Thu Lan Nguye, a currency strategist with Commerzbank in Frankfurt. “I would be prepared for increased volatility in USD exchange rates.” 

Investors will also focus on whether Powell addresses growing hostility from Trump, who said in an interview on Tuesday he is “not even a little bit happy” with the Fed chairman and that the central bank’s policies were hurting the economy.

Dollar strength also reflected risks around the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires between November 30 and December 1. Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, are scheduled to discuss contentious trade matters there.

Trump said this week that it was “highly unlikely” he would accept China’s request to hold off a planned increase in tariffs. That drove investors to safe-haven currencies such as the dollar. 

The yen, another currency considered a safe place to park cash, on Wednesday hit a two-week low of 113.90, suggesting investors were far from panicked about the latest trade rhetoric.

The euro fell 0.2 per cent to $1.1267 but later recovered to $1.1285, to remain unchanged on the day. 

The euro has lost 1.5 per cent of its value in recent sessions on signs the eurozone economy is weakening and on tension between the European Union and Italy over Rome’s budget.

Sterling rallied towards $1.28 and 88 pence versus the euro as traders positioned before a UK parliamentary vote next month on Britain’s withdrawal agreement from the EU. 

Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to lose the vote, but there is some hope the opposition Labour Party could push for a second referendum if she fails to get her deal through parliament. 

LONDON — Stock markets headed south on Tuesday with traders on edge after US President Donald Trump warned he would ramp up his trade war with China should he fail to reach a deal with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at upcoming talks.

The pound, meanwhile, suffered after Trump warned Prime Minister Theresa May’s EU divorce agreement could hamper the chances of a trade deal between Washington and London.

Monday saw a global stock markets rally, fuelled by rising oil prices, Italy’s softer tone in its budget standoff with Brussels and May’s Brexit agreement with the European Union.

“A strong, sharp move higher in global equities faded almost as quickly as it occurred... in what is a clear sign of the growing sensitivity to this [trade] matter heading into the G-20 meetings later this week in Buenos Aires,” noted David Cheetham, chief market analyst at traders XTB.

“Comments from US President Trump... that downplayed the chances of a US-UK trade deal after Brexit have no doubt not helped the pound’s plight,” Cheetham said, adding that further pressure was coming from May’s struggle to get her Brexit deal approved by the UK parliament.

Elsewhere, traders are looking to see if China and the US will be able to work out an agreement that brings them back from the brink of a tariffs row that threatens to dent global growth.

In a paper published on Tuesday, European Central Bank researchers said that while rising protectionism’s impact on stocks and bonds has been “contained”, a global trade war risks “strong financial market corrections”.

While the Trump-Xi meeting is the main event this week, investors are also keeping an eye on speeches from top Federal Reserve officials including boss Jerome Powell, which could signal a slower pace of interest rate hikes.

Rising US borrowing costs — fuelled by surging US growth — have been a major cause of concern for investors but recent comments from the top central banker appear to show a more dovish outlook for 2019 as the global economy slows.

The pound dropped against the dollar and euro following Trump’s comments about May’s draft Brexit deal.

“Sounds like a great deal for the EU,” he said at the White House on Monday. “You know, right now, if you look at the deal, they may not be able to trade with us, and that wouldn’t be a good thing,” he added.

Oil prices steadied after recent extreme volatility.

As trade tensions begin to bite on the global economy, analysts are predicting slower growth into next year, which would translate into less demand for oil. 

“It has been our long-held view that slower global economic activity would be a factor weighing on oil demand in 2019 and that the market would move into surplus,” London-based research consultancy Capital Economics said.

TOKYO — Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said on Monday its board removed Carlos Ghosn from his role as chairman, following his arrest and ouster from alliance partner Nissan Motor Co. last week for alleged financial misconduct.

Ghosn's ouster marks the end of his chairmanship of Japanese automakers, just two years after he was praised for bringing a steadying hand to Mitsubishi Motors following a cheating scandal in 2016. CEO Osamu Masuko will become temporary chairman, the automaker said. 

The move comes amid discontent over French partner Renault SA's role in the 19-year alliance of which Ghosn was the driving force. Sealed in 1999 when Nissan was rescued from near-bankruptcy, it was enlarged in 2016 to include Mitsubishi and enabled the members to jointly develop products and control costs.

The alliance vies with Volkswagen AG and Toyota Motor Corp. for the ranking of the world's biggest automaker. 

Even as Nissan has recovered and grown rapidly, it remains a junior partner in the shareholding structure. Renault owns 43 per cent of Nissan and the Japanese automaker holds a 15 per cent non-voting stake in the French firm. And Nissan is almost 60 per cent bigger than Renault by sales. 

Top alliance executives are meeting this week in Amsterdam, aiming to shield their joint operations from the fallout of Ghosn's arrest as a power struggle between Nissan and Renault looms. Renault has refrained from firing him as chairman and CEO.

Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa told staff on Monday that power was too concentrated with Ghosn and that in future better communication between alliance board members and executives would help preserve independence and generate synergies among the automakers, a Nissan spokesman said. 

Ghosn was pushing for a deeper tie-up, including potentially a full merger between Renault and Nissan at the French government's urging, despite strong reservations at the Japanese firm.

Nissan removed Ghosn at a high stakes board meeting on Thursday after allegations of understating his income and using company money for personal use.

Ghosn has denied the allegations, public broadcaster NHK reported on Sunday. 

Nissan holds a controlling 34 per cent stake in Mitsubishi Motors and has two executives on the board.

While the automakers have stressed that operations and business are proceeding as normal, Nissan has postponed the launch of its high-performance Leaf electric car "to ensure that this important product unveiling could receive the coverage it merits", a Nissan spokesman said.

Shares in Mitsubishi Motors closed up 3.3 per cent ahead of the announcement while Nissan climbed 1.8 per cent, outperforming the broader market's 0.8 per cent gain.

WASHINGTON — When iPhone users want to edit blemishes out of their selfies, identify stars and constellations or simply join the latest video game craze, they turn to Apple Inc.’s App Store, where any software application they buy also includes a 30 per cent cut for Apple. 

That commission is a key issue in a closely watched antitrust case that will reach the US Supreme Court on Monday. The nine justices will hear arguments in Apple’s bid to escape damages in a lawsuit accusing it of breaking federal antitrust laws by monopolising the market for iPhone apps and causing consumers to pay more than they should.

The justices will ultimately decide a broader question: Can consumers even sue for damages in an antitrust case like this one? 

Apple, which is appealing a lower court decision that revived the proposed consumer class-action lawsuit, says no, citing a decades-old Supreme Court precedent. The Cupertino, California-based technology company said that siding with the iPhone users who filed the lawsuit would threaten the burgeoning field of e-commerce, which generates hundreds of billions of dollars annually in US retail sales. 

The plaintiffs, as well as antitrust watchdog groups, said that if the justices close courthouse doors to those who buy consumer products, monopolistic conduct could expand unchecked. 

“A lot of tech platforms will start making the argument that consumers don’t have standing to bring antitrust suits against us,” said Sandeep Vaheesan, legal director for the Open Markets Institute, a Washington-based antitrust advocacy group. 

“Uber could say, we’re just providing communication services to ride-sharing drivers,” Vaheesan said, referring to the popular ride-sharing company. “If there’s an antitrust issue, the drivers can bring a claim but passengers do not have standing.” 

The iPhone users accused Apple of violating federal antitrust law by monopolising the sale of paid apps, leading to inflated prices compared to if apps were available from other sources.

Although developers set the prices of their apps, Apple collects the payments from iPhone users, keeping a 30 per cent commission on each purchase. One area of dispute in the case is whether app developers recoup the cost of that commission by passing it on to consumers. Developers earned more than $26 billion in 2017, a 30 per cent increase over 2016, according to Apple.

The company sought to have the antitrust claims dismissed, saying the plaintiffs lacked the required legal standing to bring the lawsuit. 

Apple has seized upon a 1977 Supreme Court ruling that limited damages for anti-competitive conduct to those directly overcharged instead of indirect victims who paid an overcharge passed on by others. Part of the concern, the court said in that case, was to free judges from having to make complex calculations of damages.

Apple said it is acting only as the agent for app developers who sell the apps to consumers through the App Store. 

The company said allowing the lawsuit to proceed would be dangerous for the e-commerce industry, which increasingly relies on agent-based sales models. Apple cited companies like ticket site StubHub, Amazon’s Marketplace and eBay. 

Lawsuits against companies like these would multiply “and lead to the quagmire this court sought to avoid”, Apple told the justices in a legal brief. 

E-commerce reached $452 billion in US retail sales in 2017, according to US government estimates.

Apple is supported by President Donald Trump’s administration. The plaintiffs are backed by the attorneys general of 30 states including California, Texas, Florida and New York.

The US Chamber of Commerce business group, backing Apple, said in a brief to the justices, “The increased risk and cost of litigation will chill innovation, discourage commerce and hurt developers, retailers and consumers alike.”

The plaintiffs and some anti-monopoly groups disagree. They said that app developers would be unlikely to sue because they would not want to bite the hand that feeds them, leaving no one to challenge anti-competitive conduct. 

Developers “cannot risk the possibility of Apple removing them from the App Store if they bring suit”, the American Antitrust Institute advocacy group said in a brief.

Apple is “trying to make it harder for injured parties to assert their rights under federal antitrust law”, said Mark Rifkin, an attorney for the plaintiffs.

The claims against Apple date to 2011 when several iPhone buyers including lead plaintiff Robert Pepper of Chicago filed a class action lawsuit against Apple in federal court in Oakland, California. A judge initially threw out the suit, ruling that the consumers were not direct purchasers because the higher fees they paid were passed on to them by the developers.

The San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals last year revived the lawsuit, deciding that Apple was a distributor that sold iPhone apps directly to consumers.