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TAIPEI — Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn unveiled three electric vehicles on Monday, boosting its bid to be a major player in the rapidly expanding EV market as it seeks companies to partner with.

The world's largest contract electronics maker, Foxconn already plays a lynchpin role in assembling Apple's iPhones as well as gadgets for a myriad of top international brands. 

But it has been moving fast to diversify beyond electronics assembly and has ploughed money into electric vehicles, including a joint venture with local automaker Yulon Motor and purchasing a struggling auto plant in Ohio.

The models unveiled on Monday — a sedan, an SUV and a bus — are concept vehicles that Foxconn hopes it could build with other manufacturers.

"Foxconn is no longer a new kid in town," Chairman Young Liu declared at the unveiling ceremony in Taipei.

Foxconn's founder Terry Gou drove their "Model E" sedan to the presentation and said the company's EVs "demonstrate Taiwan's overall industrial strength".

A white sports utility vehicle — "Model C" — is expected to hit the market in Taiwan in 2023 with a price tag of under Tw$1 million ($357,000), the firm said. 

Its "Model T" electric bus could start operating in southern Kaohsiung city as early as next year if it passes the transport ministry's review, Vice Premier Shen Jong-chin said.

Foxconn has funnelled about Tw$10 billion ($355 million) into electric car development in 2020 and the company says its investment will rise over the next two years. 

Liu said the company "has gradually built an electric vehicle supply chain and distribution network", with one new partnership announced almost every month this year.

Among its recent partners is Fisker, one of a host of US-based electronic car startups hoping to one day challenge Tesla's supremacy. 

The two companies announced plans to jointly develop electric cars sold under the Fisker brand with a goal to start producing vehicles in late 2023.

It has been widely reported for years that Apple has a secret electronic car project, something Foxconn could be in an ideal place to partner on given its existing relationship with the Californian giant. 

The unveiling of Foxconn's models comes as car makers suffer from a global shortage of semiconductors after the coronavirus pandemic caused purchases of electronics and computer parts to sky-rocket.

Taiwanese high-tech chip foundries are some of the world's biggest and most advanced and have been ramping up production to meet the demand.

WASHINGTON — New data that was out on Friday showed $590 million in ransomware-related payments were reported to US authorities in the first half of 2021 alone, setting a pace to beat totals for the whole previous decade as cyber extortion booms.

The figure is also 42 per cent higher than the amount divulged by financial institutions for all of 2020, the US Treasury report said, and there are strong indicators the true cost could be in the billions.

"If current trends continue, [reports] filed in 2021 are projected to have a higher ransomware-related transaction value than... filed in the previous 10 years combined," said Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

The heists involve breaking into a company or institution's network to encrypt its data, then demanding a ransom, typically paid via cryptocurrency in exchange for the digital key to unlock it.

Washington has sought to crack down on a sharp rise in attacks, including issuing its first sanctions against an online exchange where illicit operators have allegedly swapped cryptocurrency for cash.

Recent assaults on a major US oil pipeline, a meat packing company and the Microsoft Exchange e-mail system drew attention to the vulnerability of US infrastructure to digital pirates who are extorting staggering sums.

Treasury said investigators found over 150 online wallets for cyptocurrency and by analysing them uncovered roughly $5.2 billion in transactions potentially tied to ransomware payments.

Companies and institutions face intense pressure to pay up in order to get their data unlocked, but also to keep the attack from potentially angry clients and authorities who issue stern warnings not to give cash to criminals.

The report, based on the suspicious activity alerts that financial firms have to file, noted it was unclear if the jump represented increased awareness of the cybercrime.

"This trend potentially reflects the increasing overall prevalence of ransomware-related incidents as well as improved detection and reporting," Treasury said.

The victims of the attacks were not identified in the report, which noted some of the apparent ransoms were paid before January 2021.

The new data on the scale of payments related to hacks came after more than two dozen nations resolved to collectively fight ransomware during a Washington-led summit.

The United States gathered the countries — with the notable exception of Russia — to unify and boost efforts to fight a cybercrime that is transnational, on the rise and potentially devastating.

Stronger digital security and offline backups as well as collectively targeting the laundering of the attacks' proceeds were identified as crucial steps in the fight.

"We will consider all national tools available in taking action against those responsible for ransomware operations threatening critical infrastructure and public safety," the nations said in a joint statement.

Great Britain, Australia, India, Japan, France, Germany, South Korea, the European Union, Kenya, Mexico, and others were among those that joined in the virtual gathering on Wednesday and Thursday.

During the summit, countries’ representatives recounted their agonising experiences with cyber extortion.

NEW YORK — Bitcoin breached the $60,000 mark for the first time since April on growing optimism that American regulators will greenlight the first US futures exchange-traded fund (ETF) for the cryptocurrency.

The digital currency was up more than 40 per cent from a month ago, reaching $62,253 at 20:50 GMT, according to Bloomberg News data, which reported that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) could allow the ETF to trade next week.

The SEC has rejected attempts to create a Bitcoin ETF since 2013.

"An SEC Bitcoin ETF approval is a watershed moment for the crypto industry as this could be the key driver for getting the next wave of crypto investors," said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA.

An ETF is a financial instrument that can include different assets and be traded on an exchange like other securities. A futures ETF means the product will be bought or sold at set price at a later date.

The SEC fuelled speculation of the imminent approval after writing the following advice on one of its accounts on Twitter: "Before investing in a fund that holds Bitcoin futures contracts, make sure you carefully weigh the potential risks and benefits."

The ETF would add to an eventful year for the world's leading cryptocurrency, which hit a record high at $64,870 in April and became a legal tender in El Salvador, the first country to adopt it officially.

China, meanwhile, has cracked down on trading and mining cryptocurrencies, which are created through solving complex equations — an endeavour that consumes enormous amounts of energy.

SEC U-turn 

Bloomberg, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter, reported that unlike past Bitcoin ETF applications that the SEC rejected before, the proposals made by financial firms ProShares and Invesco are based on futures contracts.

The proposals were filed under mutual fund rules that SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has said provide "significant investor protections", the news agency reported.

"This is a key development for the crypto space as it would allow many investors who were on the fence to enter the market in more traditional ways," said Walid Koudmani, analyst at XTB online trading.

An ETF would reassure investors "about previously associated risks such as lack of regulations and the possibility of having their wallet hacked", Koudmani said.

There are ETFs that include Bitcoin in other countries but getting one in the United States would take the cryptocurrency to another level.

"In America's case, it's the largest, most important market. To date, they [traditional investors] haven't had a simple vehicle in which to invest in Bitcoin," Charlie Erith, CEO of ByteTree Asset Management, which specialises in cryptocurrencies, said.

Erith cautioned that "the impact on the market might be overblown. You might see a short selloff but it won't be meaningful".

But, he added, "long term, it's an important development. It signals that authorities are getting more comfortable with people owning cryptoassets".

NEW YORK — Delta Air Lines reported a profitable third quarter on the gradual recovery in air travel on Wednesday, but said rising fuel prices could dent earnings in the current quarter.

"While demand continues to improve, the recent rise in fuel price will pressure our ability to remain profitable for the December quarter," said Chief Executive Ed Bastian.

The big US carrier, which endured a disastrous 2020 following a deep downturn in travel during the worst of the pandemic, said domestic travel remained a strong point in the wake of the Covid-19 vaccine release throughout the United States.

The airline also saw strength in travel to Latin America, while transatlantic travel "improved the most" during the quarter, driven by border reopenings, Delta said in its earnings release.

Corporate volumes were "stable," but the recovery in business travel paused in September as companies delayed reopening their offices due to the Delta variant of the virus.

Overall, Delta reported profits of $1.2 billion in the quarter ending September 30, compared with a loss of $283 million in the year-ago period.

Revenues were $9.1 billion, up from $3.1 billion in the year-ago period, but below the $12.6 billion in 2019. 

Delta anticipates fourth-quarter capacity to return to 80 per cent of its pre-pandemic level on the basis of factors that include "robust holiday demand," the company said.

The carrier projected that jet fuel in the fourth quarter would be priced at between $2.25 and $2.40 per gallon, up around 20 per cent from the level in the just-finished quarter.

Shares fell 4.5 per cent to $41.57 in mid-morning trading.

WASHINGTON — Rising energy prices are weighing on households but the recent spike is unlikely to fuel a 1970s-style oil crisis and should retreat early next year, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Chief Economist Gita Gopinath said on Tuesday.

Energy prices collapsed last year amid the shutdowns imposed to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, but 2021 has brought a sharp rebound in demand as the global economy recovered, Gopinath said in an interview.

In the energy market, a long, cold winter followed by a particularly hot summer led to greater demand and depleted stocks, especially gas reserves in Europe. 

"This recovery is really quite unique," she said, speaking on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank.

Supplies of many other goods have not been able to rebound as quickly as demand, hampered in part by the spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19, which has made workers reluctant to return to their jobs and snarled supply chains.

Those labour shortages are "feeding into price pressures" in countries like Germany, the United States and Japan, she said.

"We are in a difficult situation where we've seen prices go up very sharply," and the key question is whether that will persist, she said.

Worst case scenario? 

While energy prices "will be elevated" for the next couple of months, "We expect that to come back down by the end of the first quarter next year and into the second quarter," she said.

"Once we get past the winter months, we will be in a better place."

Oil prices have soared in recent weeks, jumping to multiyear highs on Monday, with the benchmark WTI crude jumping above $80 a barrel for the first time since October 2014 and up 30 per cent since August, which sent major stock markets tumbling.

The increase in energy prices has ramped up fears that overall inflation could tick even higher and hinder the global economic recovery.

Gopinath cautioned that the weather will play a factor, since a very severe winter could lead to broader power outages "that will have a much bigger effect on the world".

The worst outcome would be "an extremely severe winter in the Northern Hemisphere", driving up demand for energy, combined with a failure of producers including the OPEC+ to respond with increased output, which could feed into headline inflation, she said.

In February 2021, severe weather marked by polar temperatures and snowstorms caused a surge in electricity consumption in the southern United States. 

Texas, with a population of nearly 29 million, was unable to meet the explosion in demand, and blackouts affected hundreds of thousands of homes. 

However, Gopinath does not expect a crisis like the one seen in the 1970s because the world relies much less on energy relative to the size of the economy.

"It would take a much bigger ratcheting up in gas prices, for instance, to have a kind of a stagflationary event," she said, referring to the economic crisis in the 1970s when inflation spiraled due to high oil prices as growth stalled.

The IMF's latest forecasts call for inflation to return to pre-pandemic levels by the middle of 2022, but warn of "high uncertainty" and upside risks in the United States.

WASHINGTON — Kristalina Georgieva was secured in her job at the helm of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday, after the Washington-based crisis lender's board reaffirmed its confidence in the Bulgarian economist. 

Georgieva's role at the institution was called into question after the September 16 publication of the findings of an investigation carried out at the request of the ethics committee of the World Bank, where Georgieva had previously held a senior role.

The investigation by law firm WilmerHale concluded that Georgieva had manipulated data in favour of China while at the global body, which she has denied.

Drawn out uncertainty over whether Georgieva would keep her job ended on Monday when the IMF board said it "reaffirms its full confidence in the Managing Director's leadership and ability to continue to effectively carry out her duties".

"The executive board considered that the information presented in the course of its review did not conclusively demonstrate that the managing director played an improper role regarding the Doing Business 2018 Report when she was CEO of the World Bank," its statement read.

The board added it would "meet to consider possible additional steps to ensure the strength of institutional safeguards".

WilmerHale's controversial findings centre on the drafting of the 2018 and 2020 editions of the World Bank report that ranks countries according to their ease of doing business.

The push came while bank leadership was engaged in sensitive negotiations with Beijing over increasing the bank's lending capital.

'Difficult episode' 

Uncertainty over Georgieva's future threatened to overshadow the IMF and World Bank fall meetings that kicked off Monday, with Georgieva due to speak during a roundtable and give a press conference on Wednesday.

The storm at the top of the fund could pull focus from topics nominally at the top of the agenda, such as threats to global economic growth and helping countries bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Georgieva welcomed the IMF board's statement, reiterating that the allegations were "unfounded".

"This has obviously been a difficult episode for me personally," said the 68-year-old, who took the helm of the IMF in October 2019 after Christine Lagarde departed to lead the European Central Bank.

"I want to express my unyielding support for the independence and integrity of institutions such as the World Bank and IMF; and my respect for all those committed to protecting the values on which these organisations are founded," she said in a statement.

The investigation has deeply divided the 24 members of the IMF's executive board. 

While France, Britain and other European countries expressed their support for Georgieva, the United States has been more reluctant to keep her in post. 

It was only at the end of nearly four weeks of discussions that Washington agreed to retain Georgieva.

'Legitimate issues' 

In a separate Monday statement, the US Treasury said Secretary Janet Yellen spoke with Georgieva "to discuss the serious issues raised by the investigation", emphasising that "the report raised legitimate issues and concerns".

Yellen said her "priority is to preserve the integrity and credibility of the World Bank and the IMF". 

She said the Treasury agreed with some IMF board members that "absent further direct evidence with regard to the role of the managing director there is not a basis for a change in IMF leadership".

But she added that the Treasury would "monitor follow-up closely, evaluate any new facts or findings, and that the WilmerHale report does underscore the need for shareholders to be vigilant in defending the integrity of both the Bank and the Fund."

Georgieva was the only candidate to lead the IMF after Lagarde's departure, which traditionally is led by a European.

The institution had to change its bylaws to approve her appointment because she was over the age limit of 65 years old.

Until then, she had spent most of her career at the World Bank, becoming its chief executive in 2017.

Georgieva is a native of Sofia, where she taught economics for 26 years and built up environmental experience with a focus on agriculture and sustainable development.

Her main priorities at the IMF have been fighting inequality and climate change, as well as better integration of women into the economy.

DOHA — Qatar, the world's biggest liquefied natural gas exporter, said on Monday it was not pleased with current global prices which have surged to record peaks. 

"I am unhappy about gas prices being high," Energy Minister Saad Al Kaabi told a press conference. 

High prices, he said, "are negative for the customer, and the customers being satisfied is the most important thing to me". 

Kaabi added: "If the customer is unhappy, he's not going to buy." 

Low energy prices during the COVID-19 pandemic were expected to wipe out Qatar's budget surplus and lead to a deficit for 2021, the government had forecast in December.

Gas prices have since soared while oil has struck multiyear highs, fuelling global fears over spiking inflation and rocketing domestic energy bills.

Kaabi said Qatar's production was "maxed out" at 77 million tonnes per year. 

"We have never 'less than' maxed out... we've not gone down, we've not gone up," he said. 

"We're just consistent. We're producing what we can."

European and UK gas prices surged last week to record peaks, energised by fears of runaway demand in the approaching northern hemisphere winter.

Europe's reference Dutch TTF gas price hit 162.12 euros per megawatt hour and UK prices leapt to 407.82 pence per therm on October 6, before easing.

Gas demand is also heightened in Asia, particularly from China, a major customer for Qatar. 

In 2019, the same year Qatar walked out of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil cartel, the Gulf emirate said it aimed to increase its liquefied natural gas output to 126 million tonnes by 2027, based on a rise in its proven reserves. 

That was at the height of a diplomatic rift and economic blockade — settled early this year — of Doha by its neighbours. 

At the press conference where he announced a name change for state-owned Qatar Petroleum to QatarEnergy, Kaabi reiterated that Qatar has no plans to return to OPEC.

"It [oil] is not our main business. That's why we opted to get out. Some people made it political," he said. 

"We see, going forward, we're always going to be more of a gas company and country... it doesn't fit our strategy."

Gas has helped fuel Qatar's rise to become one of the world's richest countries, transforming one of the smallest Arab states and helping it to successfully bid for the 2022 football World Cup finals.

BERLIN — With a big wheel, music and an appearance by CEO Elon Musk, Tesla pulled out all the stops on Saturday to win over opponents of the electric carmaker's controversial new "gigafactory" near Berlin.

Thousands of people were brought in by special shuttle buses, with long queues forming at the Gruenheide site of the US electric vehicle maker's first European factory.

"I wanted to take a look. Tesla's a great, very innovative car manufacturer," said 25-year-old local resident Dominic, an engineer.

Construction at the plant had begun under an exceptional procedure granted by authorities two years ago, but opposition from locals over environmental concerns has held up final approval.

Demonstrators were already on the scene on Saturday morning, with a few people bearing signs like "Stop Tesla" and "water and forest aren't for private profit" gathered around 100 metres from the site.

"It's unbelievable that you can build a factory like this without permission," said 69-year-old local activist Gurdrun Luebeck.

Musk appeared at the "Giga-Fest" in the afternoon, and had to battle problems with the teleprompter to deliver a few sentences in German before continuing in English, stressing the company's green credentials.

"What this factory is about is to bring high volumes of affordable electric cars... to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy," he said to applause.

"We are ready to start production in a few months, basically November or December, and hopefully deliver our first cars in December," he added.

Environmental concerns 

Despite the local resistance, construction has been completed in double-quick time, replacing a swathe of pine forest with an enormous concrete-paved expanse accessed via "Tesla Road".

The company has laid on a big wheel, electronic music and vegetarian food trucks — an event conceived in the image of Berlin, Europe's party capital.

Tesla began construction at the site in Gruenheide in 2019 after receiving preliminary approval under a special procedure. 

But local authorities are still in the process of evaluating the environmental impact of the factory, despite the construction being all but finished.

The special treatment afforded to the company has angered some residents, who are concerned about the impact the plant could have on the water supply and biodiversity.

Supported by NGOs, opponents have sent letters, held protests and gone to court to try and stop the project.

Last year, work at the Tesla site was temporarily stopped after NGOs requested an injunction to protect the nearby natural habitat of endangered species of lizards and snakes while they were in their winter slumber.

A residents' consultation, part of the approval process, is due to close on October 14.

Until the survey is completed, final approval cannot be given and production at the factory will not be allowed to begin.

Even then, the state environment ministry in Brandenburg, where the plant is located, told AFP "no date has been fixed" for this authorisation. 

Economies of scale 

About 500,000 cars a year should roll off the line at the factory just outside Berlin, Tesla's first production location in Europe.

Not all the attendees at Saturday's party were convinced the region can take it.

"I'm sort of critical. There's not enough roads, not enough space for a factory like this here," said 35-year-old Marlen Winkler.

On the same 300 hectare plot, Musk also plans to build "the world's biggest battery factory".

The site will equally boast the "world's largest die-casting machine", said Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, director of the Centre for Automotive Research in Germany. 

In the event that the factory is not approved, the carmaker will be compelled to dismantle the entire works at its own cost.

Such a turn of events is, however, "unlikely", said Dudenhoeffer, since the project has considerable "political support".

"Every political party is in favour," the car expert explained, while noting that changes to the factory facade could be requested by authorities, delaying the beginning of production further.

First planned for July 2021, the start has already been pushed back to the end of this year as a result of the company's administrative troubles. 

Tesla was "irritated" by these setbacks, as it wrote in an open letter in March, in which the company called for a "reform" of Germany's planning procedures. 

Despite the country's reputation for efficiency, major infrastructure projects are often slowed down by excess bureaucracy.

Berlin's new international airport opened in October 2020, eight years later than first planned, while the construction of a new train station in Stuttgart is not yet finished, having begun in 2010.