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PARIS — Cryptocurrency investors have been transfixed over the past few days by the antics of a mysterious hacker who stole more than $600 million — before giving some of it back.

But is the thief a good samaritan who stole the money to expose a dangerous security flaw, or did they simply realise they were about to be caught?

The hacker struck Poly Network, a company that handles cryptocurrency transfers, on Tuesday in one of the biggest thefts of digital monies in history.

By Thursday they had returned some $342 million — still far short of the total, but enough to raise furious speculation over their motives.

In messages embedded in the transactions, the thief insisted they stole with good intentions.

"I am not very interested in money!" they wrote, adding it was "always the plan" to return the stolen funds.

Digital sleuths 

Despite their volatility and concerns over the huge waste of electricity they generate, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum have soared in popularity in recent years.

Their combined market value currently stands at nearly $2 trillion, creating alluring prospects for hackers. 

Most notoriously, thieves stole 850,000 Bitcoins from Japanese exchange Mt. Gox in 2014. Worth around $470 million at the time, the coins would today be worth a staggering $38 billion.

Another Japanese exchange, Coincheck, was hacked for nearly $500 million in 2018.

But in both cases, the technology that cryptocurrency uses allowed some of the funds to be traced — even though for Mt. Gox, it came too late to save the company. 

Cryptocurrencies use blockchains, digital ledgers that record every transaction made.

Pawel Aleksander, an expert in tracking stolen cryptocurrency, said thieves typically try to cover their tracks by splitting the money up and moving it around — "sometimes using hundreds of thousands of consecutive transactions". 

But his company Coinfirm is among a growing number that specialise in following dizzyingly complicated blockchain transactions, helping law enforcement agencies and investors to trace stolen assets. 

While some crypto-aficionados are hailing the Poly hacker as a hero, others suspect they began handing the money back because sleuths were on their trail.

The returns began after SlowMist, another investigative firm, claimed to have identified some of the hacker's personal details, including their email.

"It's hard to say what the hacker's initial intention was," said Aleksander's colleague Roman Bieda.

"The hacker could be simply afraid of action taken against him," he suggested, although he added that "white hat" ethical hackers do often seek to publicly shame companies for their security flaws.

Some investors would also consider it a "fair bargain" for the hacker to keep some of the money, as a reward for finding the security flaw, Bieda said.

End of the Wild West? 

Crimes involving cryptocurrencies are on a downward trend, despite spectacular thefts like this one and concerns about their use by criminal gangs.

A report this month by security firm CipherTrace estimated global crypto crime losses at $1.9 billion last year, down from $4.5 billion in 2019. 

It did, however, warn of an alarming rise in hacking and fraud linked to de-centralised finance, or "defi" — a form of crypto-financing, including loans, designed to cut out intermediaries like banks. 

The Poly heist is part of that trend, with the company calling it the biggest hack "in defi history". 

"The imagination of fraudsters in this industry is constantly developing," said Syedur Rahman, a British lawyer who specialises in cases involving cryptocurrencies. 

But he added that tighter regulations are increasingly forcing cryptocurrency exchanges to verify users' identities, while law enforcement agencies are growing more experienced in handling crypto crimes.

Hackers extracted a $4.4 million ransom in Bitcoin from oil company Colonial Pipeline in May, but the FBI was able to track down most of the coins and seize them. 

Retrieving stolen crypto-assets can still be difficult, however. 

"Criminal activities in crypto are very much multinational," said Aleksander.

"It's typical that the victims sit in different jurisdictions, and the exchanges are registered in different jurisdictions."

Victims' battle to claw back money stolen in the Mt. Gox hack has been bogged down in years of international litigation. 

Hiring sleuths to trace stolen assets is an expensive option that is often out of reach for individual investors hit by hackers.

"When you have a consumer who has lost a nominal sum, there's not much that can be done," said Rahman. 

SAN FRANCISCO — Samsung unveiled two upgraded folding smartphones on Wednesday as the South Korean sector leader sought to head off rising competition from Chinese firms in a fast-evolving market.

The Galaxy Z Fold3 and Z Flip3 offer sleeker designs, improved water resistance and more durable screens are available for pre-ordering for delivery later this month in the United States, Europe and South Korea.

The new devices come with Samsung facing heightened competition from Chinese manufacturers including Xiaomi, which grabbed the number two position in the second quarter.

The Flip3, with a 17 centimetres display, will start at $999, in line with other premium and flagship devices, and the 19 centimetres Fold3 at $1,799.

"Samsung is once again redefining the possibilities with foldable smartphones that empower users with the flexibility and versatility needed for today's fast-paced world," said TM Roh, head of Samsung mobile.

"These devices equip consumers with technologies that unlock new ways to maximise and enjoy every moment with an ecosystem built on openness and innovation."

The Flip3 aims to offer an affordable foldable, and the Fold3 aims to replace the large-screen devices and will include a retractable pen than can be used on the screen.

A recent survey by the research firm Canalys showed Chinese electronics firm Xiaomi has overtaken Apple as the number two global smartphone maker in a market in turmoil due to a global chip shortage and consumers emerging from lockdowns.

The Canalys survey showed worldwide smartphone sales up 12 per cent, with South Korea's Samsung holding its top position with a 19 per cent market share.

Xiaomi meanwhile surged to the number two position for the first time ever with a 17 per cent share as sales jumped 83 per cent, according to Canalys.

Apple dropped to number three with iPhone sales up just one per cent, after getting a lift from last year's new models.

Chinese makers Oppo and Vivo held fourth and fifth place in the global market, each with around 10 per cent, according to Canalys.

Smartphone sales were up 11 per cent from last year but down from the first quarter as manufacturers struggled with a global shortage of semiconductors, according to the research firm.

SAN FRANCISCO — TikTok was the world's most downloaded app last year, overtaking Facebook and its messaging platforms, market tracker App Annie said on Tuesday.

The Chinese-owned video app surged in popularity despite efforts by former president Donald Trump to ban it or force a sale to US-based investors, according to the research firm.

TikTok, owned by China-based ByteDance, is believed to have one billion users worldwide including more than 100 million in the United States, and its short-form videos are especially popular with young smartphone users.

In June, US President Joe Biden revoked executive orders from his predecessor seeking to ban TikTok and Chinese-owned WeChat from US markets on national security concerns but ordered a review of the potential risks of foreign-owned Internet services.

While political debate about the video-snippet sharing sensation roiled, TikTok climbed from the fourth most downloaded app in 2019 to the top spot last year, according to App Annie data.

On the way, TikTok stepped over Facebook and two of the US internet giants texting apps Messenger and WhatsApp, the market tracker determined.

TikTok's popularity has prompted Facebook-owned Instagram to add video features to ride the hot trend.

Meanwhile, TikTok last month began letting users post videos up to three minutes in length, tripling the prior cap to stay ahead of competitors.

Facebook has argued that the surge in TikTok's popularity undercuts claims from antitrust enforcers in the United States that the California group dominates social networking.

BERLIN — German train drivers voted to go on strike from Tuesday over a wage dispute, their union said, in a blow for summer vacationers and adding to logistics and supply woes already plaguing the industry.

The walkout will affect cargo trains from 7pm (17:00 GMT) on Tuesday, before extending to passenger traffic at 2 am on Wednesday, said the leader of the train drivers' GDL union, Claus Weselsky.

Some 95 per cent of union members had voted for the first round of industrial action, which is due to end on Friday.

Train operator Deutsche Bahn slammed the decision as an "unnecessary escalation on the back of rail customers".

"Just as people are travelling more again and using trains, GDL leaders are destroying the upswing that we urgently need given the huge damage from the coronavirus pandemic," said Martin Seiler, DB board member for human resources and legal affairs.

But Weselsky argued that the GDL "intentionally chose this timeframe in the week to limit the impact on weekend and holiday traffic" and that it was "never the best time" for a strike.

He in turn accused DB managers of "lining their pockets while the little guys are getting their pockets picked".

The strike would be the first hitting rail traffic since December 2018, when a stoppage was called for four hours.

It marked a new setback at the height of the key summer vacation season for the travel industry which was only starting to recover after months of shutdown over coronavirus infection risks.

With the walkout also due to affect rail cargo, Germany's industrial groups already hit by supply chain issues risk seeing further delivery delays for raw materials or components from timber to steel to computer chips.

Struggle for influence? 

The last major conflict between unions and DB took place between 2014 and 2015, when over nine months, GDL organised nine rounds of strikes to demand regulatory reforms. 

The stoppage in May 2015 of six consecutive days has held the record as the longest in the company's history.

This time, GDL argues that it was fighting for a better remuneration deal for train drivers. Among its demands are 1.4 per cent pay hike and a bonus of 600 euros ($704) for 2021, and a further wage rise of 1.8 per cent in 2022.

Deutsche Bahn had offered to phase in a 3.2 per cent wage increase in two steps but the two parties were unable to agree on when the hikes would apply.

Critics have accused GDL of using the strike to gain greater influence and attract members from larger union EVG — which covers railway workers and public transport employees.

The fight for influence was all the more critical due to a rule coming in force this year stipulating that the collective deal negotiated by the biggest union applies across the sector.

Deutsche Bahn was already contending with huge losses as demand for travel drastically shrank over the pandemic which erupted in March 2020.

It was also struggling to rebuild kilometres of tracks destroyed by deadly floods that struck western Germany in mid-July.

BEIJING — Chinese factory inflation rose more than expected in July, data showed on Monday, as surging commodity prices offset government measures to temper costs.

The world's second largest economy has largely bounced back from strict coronavirus lockdowns last year but a fresh spike in cases of the highly transmissible Delta variant has raised concerns about the recovery.

That has raised concerns that inflation could spike further if lockdowns in parts of the country cause supply problems.

The producer price index (PPI), which measures the cost of goods at the factory gate, rose to 9 per cent on-year, the same as May, which was a 13-year high, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

That came despite moves by the government to temper the price increases by raising export tariffs on certain iron and steel products, temporarily exempting tariffs on pig iron and scrap steel, and canceling export tax rebates for some steel products, to increase supply in the domestic market.

"The price increase of industrial products expanded slightly, affected by sharp increases in the costs of crude oil, coal and related products," said NBS Senior Statistician Dong Lijuan in a statement.

While the PPI remains elevated, consumer inflation ticked down to 1 per cent, with officials stressing their work to stabilise prices in the wake of recent disasters including floods in central China and with companies appearing to absorb the increases instead of passing them on to consumers.

The slight fall in the consumer price index, a key gauge of retail inflation, came on the back of easing food prices as pork prices fell 43.5 per cent on-year, supported by China's pork reserves and rising supplies.

This was even as "extreme weather such as typhoons and heavy rainfall in some areas" bumped up the cost of fresh vegetable production, storage and transportation.

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia’s energy company Aramco said on Sunday its second quarter profits for 2021 had nearly quadrupled compared to the same period last year on the back of higher oil prices.

Aramco said its net profit rose to $25.5 billion in the second quarter of the year, compared to $6.6 billion in the same quarter of 2020, owing to a stronger oil market and higher refining and chemicals margins, and with the easing of COVID-19 restrictions.

"Our second quarter results reflect a strong rebound in worldwide energy demand and we are heading into the second half of 2021 more resilient and more flexible, as the global recovery gains momentum," Aramco Chief Executive Amin Nasser said in a statement.

The announcement comes approximately two months after the company said it raised $6 billion from its first dollar-denominated Islamic bond sale, posting earlier this year a 30 per cent jump in first quarter profits.

Aramco — the kingdom's cash cow — posted a 44.4 per cent slump in 2020 net profit, piling pressure on government finances as Riyadh pursues its multibillion dollar projects to diversify the economy. 

The company's debt has climbed as Saudi Arabia was hammered last year by the double whammy of low prices and sharp cuts in production triggered by the coronavirus pandemic. 

The world's leading oil producers agreed last month to continue to modestly boost output from August reaching a compromise after the United Arab Emirates blocked a deal. 

An OPEC+ meeting decided to raise output by 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) each month from August to help fuel a global economic recovery as the pandemic eases.

SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft on Thursday joined the ranks of tech companies requiring returning workers to be vaccinated, as Amazon delayed its plan to reopen offices until next year.

The earliest date for fully reopening Microsoft's US facilities will be October 4, according to the computing giant based near Amazon in the state of Washington.

"Starting in September, we'll also require proof of vaccination for all employees, vendors and any guests entering Microsoft buildings in the United States," Microsoft said in response to an inquiry.

Microsoft and other tech firms said they are closely tracking the pandemic and adapting plans as the situation evolves, keeping employee health as a top priority.

E-commerce colossus Amazon confirmed that it is delaying return of employees to its corporate offices until January of next year instead of having them come back in September as originally hoped.

"We require employees to wear masks in our offices, with the exception of those who have verified full vaccination," Amazon said.

Google and Facebook last week said workers returning to offices will need to be vaccinated against COVID-19, in the latest move by firms and US government agencies.

Spikes in infections due to a Delta variant of the virus have ramped up concerns in the United States, where more than 600,000 people have died in the pandemic.

Google last week made campuses off-limits to unvaccinated employees and extend its global work-from-home option through October 18.

"Anyone coming to work on our campuses will need to be vaccinated," Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said in a blog post.

Google and Facebook were among companies worldwide that abandoned campuses early last year, letting people work remotely rather than risk exposure to COVID-19 in offices.

"We will be requiring anyone coming to work at any of our US campuses to be vaccinated," Facebook vice president of people Lori Goler said in response to an AFP inquiry.

"We will have a process for those who cannot be vaccinated for medical or other reasons and will be evaluating our approach in other regions as the situation evolves."

Many unions and critics of mandates have spoken out against required vaccinations, citing personal freedom arguments.

Microsoft said that employees who are not vaccinated due to medical or religious reasons will be accommodated.

Rising pandemic concerns are also slowing the return to offices in the financial sector, with investment management giant Black Rock telling US workers it extended its "reacclimating period" a month to the start of October.

Wells Fargo and US Bank have also delayed having employees return to offices, according to a CNN report.

DOHA — Qatar Airways said on Thursday that it had been ordered by regulators in the Gulf state to ground 13 of its Airbus A350 aircraft over the rapid degradation of fuselage surfaces.

The airline, one of the Gulf "big three" carriers, previously stopped accepting delivery of the aircraft over the issue, according to media reports in June.

Qatar Airways said in a statement that it had been forced to press out-of-service Airbus A330 aircraft back into operation to fill the gap left by the grounding of the 13 aircraft.

Qatar Airways has 34 A350-900 types and 19 A350-1000s in its fleet, according to an Airbus document.

"The airline is working with its regulator to ensure the continued safety of all passengers... and following the explicit written instruction of [the airline's] regulator, thirteen aircraft have now been grounded," the airline said.

Qatar Airways is regulated by the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority.

The airline's chief executive Akbar Al Baker said he expects "Airbus treats this matter with the proper attention that it requires". 

"Qatar Airways will not accept anything other than aircraft that continue to offer its customers the highest possible standard of safety and the best travel experience that they deserve," he said in the statement. 

"Qatar Airways expects Airbus to have established the root cause and permanently corrected the underlying condition to the satisfaction of Qatar Airways and our regulator before we take delivery of any further A350 aircraft."

The statement said the airline was "cooperating with all the leasing companies affected by this A350 grounding who have started to inspect their impacted aircraft", without giving details of other affected parties.

Through the coronavirus pandemic, Qatar Airways positioned itself as the leading airline for repatriating stranded travellers, winning plaudits from Britain and France among other countries whose flag carriers were virtually mothballed.

More than half of the airline's fleet is made up of the mid-sized but long-range US-made Boeing 787 and French-built Airbus A350.

"We do not comment on our customers operations. As a leading aircraft manufacturer, we are always in talks with our customers. Those talks we keep confidential," Airbus said in a statement.