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LONDON — The British pound dived on Tuesday after German Chancellor Angela Merkel reportedly warned that a Brexit deal was "overwhelmingly unlikely", further stoking fears of a disorderly and costly departure from the EU.

Merkel told British Prime Minister Boris Johnson that a deal was doomed to fail unless London agreed to keep British-run Northern Ireland that borders EU-member Ireland in the bloc's customs union, a Downing Street source said.

The host of next week's European summit, EU Council president Donald Tusk, in turn accused British Prime Minister Boris Johnson of trying to shift blame for the failure of the Brexit talks.

"Markets are having to focus on the various potential outcomes which are now imminent," Interactive Investor analyst Rebecca O'Keeffe told AFP.

"A deal looks very unlikely unless the EU blinks first."

'Greater chance of no-deal' 

She added: "For many, the word of the PM is government policy, hence the global market is moving towards pricing in an ever greater chance of a no-deal." 

Losses were exacerbated by official data showing that British productivity tumbled at its fastest rate in five years in the second quarter of 2019.

Stock markets on both sides of the Atlantic, meanwhile, posted losses on growing investor doubts over chances of success in this week's China-US trade talks.

Losses for London stocks were limited thanks to the weak pound, which boosts multinationals earning in stronger currencies. 

Other European markets were nearly one per cent lower in the mid-afternoon, while on Wall Street the Dow Jones index was also down at the opening bell.

There had been a general feeling in recent weeks that a solution to the long-running US-China tariffs saga may be found, providing some much-needed support to equities in the face of worsening economic data.

HONG KONG — Most markets rose in Asia on Monday after a mixed US jobs report eased worries about a recession in the world's top economy but maintained expectations the Federal Reserve (Fed) will press ahead with more interest rate cuts.

However, there was some nervousness after reports said China had cut back on the number of areas it is willing to discuss at this week's top-level trade talks with the US, rekindling concerns about the chances of any agreement between the two.

After a string of below-par data last week that highlighted the impact of Donald Trump's trade war on the key manufacturing and services sectors, Friday's much-anticipated non-farm payrolls figures showed unemployment at a 50-year low in September.

But the pace of job creation was the slowest in four months, wages fell and the manufacturing workforce also shrank for the second time this year.

All three main indexes on Wall Street rallied more than one per cent as dealers breathed a sigh of relief that the jobs figures did not miss badly, with most still expecting another Fed rate cut at its next meeting this month.

"As the US unemployment rate dropped to its lowest level in 50 years, worries over US recession eased, but at the same time expectations for further rate cuts remain untouched," Hideyuki Ishiguro, senior strategist at Daiwa Securities, said in a commentary.

Most Asian markets followed the lead from New York.

Sydney rose 0.7 per cent and Singapore added 0.6 per cent with Seoul gaining 0.1 per cent, while Wellington jumped 0.8 per cent and Taipei put on 0.4 per cent. Mumbai and Bangkok also rose.

Tokyo closed 0.2 per cent down as the yen strengthened on bets for another Fed cut, while there were also losses in Manila and Jakarta. Hong Kong and Shanghai were closed for a public holiday.

In early trade, London fell 0.3 per cent, Paris lost 0.4 per cent and Frankfurt was off 0.2 per cent.

China's 'calculation' 

Focus turns this week to the resumption of high-level trade talks between China and the United States in Washington.

However, while there has been a broad expectation the two sides are coming together in some areas owing to their economies stuttering, reports said Beijing was looking to narrow the remit of any deal.

Bloomberg News reported that top negotiator Vice Premier Liu He had said he would not put on the table reforms to Chinese industrial policy or government subsidies, a key source of anger within the White House.

The story said Beijing had felt its hand had been strengthened by the beginning of impeachment proceedings against Trump as well as signs of slowing in the US manufacturing sector, which could hurt the president ahead of next year's election.

Chinese officials "are interpreting the impeachment discussion as a weakening of Trump's position, or certainly a distraction", said Jude Blanchette, at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. "Their calculation is that Trump needs a win" and could be open to some compromises, he added.

Stephen Innes, Asia-Pacific market strategist at AxiTrader, said the news came as a surprise to traders.

"With the US economy taking a decisive turn for the worse, China may be borrowing a page out of the Trump trade policy book, which sees China now turning the screws on the US," he noted. 

"However, at this stage, the market is still waiting for clarification, and if China walks down these innuendos."

Unease about the trade talks and long-running concerns about the global economy were keeping oil prices subdued, with both main contracts flat on Monday.

AMMAN — Jordan’s IPP3, located on a green field site at Al Manakher, 30km from the Jordanian, is the world’s biggest tri-fuel power plant, with an installed capacity of 573MW. As part of its social responsibility to support the surrounding Jordanian community, The CSR activities have been conducted by the owner of the plant AAEPC(Amman Asia Electric Power Company) and by O&M operator of KEPCO KPS in one of the disabled schools based in Sahab (Al Manar Center for Intellectual Development) exclusively dedicated to the Jordanian's society.

The CSR activities were conducted in Amman - Sahab on September 26 and concentrated on providing physiotherapy materials, stationery, school bags, desks and tables, 

In the course of CSR activities, IPP3 also carried out many maintenance works such as painting the classrooms, fixing the air conditioners and fixing the water system in the school.

IPP3 CSR activities included paint the classrooms as part of the main activities, dancing with students and The IPP3 crew shared a lunch with all students in order to bring joy to the hearts of students and to show that they are not less than any natural person in this universe in order to explore their potentials and discover their self-esteem.

At the end of the event, AAEPC CEO and KEPCO KPS Plant Manager have emphasized their continued support to the center and the Jordanian community and they will do what it takes to support this school to be sufficiently equipped to provide the necessary services to the students.

DUBAI — With the highest tower in the world, grand commercial centres and artificial islands, Dubai projects an image of prosperity, even as the city-state races to court investors to bolster it economy.

Despite boasting the most diverse economy in the Gulf region, the emirate's vital property, tourism and trade sectors have weakened in recent years.

Real estate deals plunged 21.5 per cent to $60.7 billion in 2018, according to government data, while the number of tourists visiting Dubai remained stagnant at around 16 million in the past two years.

"Dubai's economic growth has been lacklustre... following a weak real estate market and subdued consumer spending," M.R. Raghu, head of research at Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz), told AFP.

The emirate's economy grew by just 1.94 per cent last year — almost half of its 2017 growth and just a notch above the 1.9 per cent in 2010, when Dubai was still recovering from a recession due to the global financial crisis and its own debt problems.

Incentive measures 

But Raed Safadi, chief economic adviser to Dubai Economy, the government agency responsible for promoting development, downplayed reports about the slowdown.

"We are still growing. Yes, it is not at 4.5 per cent — the average between 2012 and 2016 — but given all the conditions around the world, it is healthy," Safadi told AFP.

He expects growth to pick up to 2.1 per cent in 2019 and rebound to as high as 3.8 per cent next year.

This prediction relies heavily on the Expo 2020 global trade fair that Dubai hopes will deliver an economic windfall and some 300,000 new jobs.

Safadi said Expo 2020 is expected to add some $35 billion to the economy over the subsequent decade.

But with the region's most open market, Dubai is exposed to global trade tensions, regional slowdown and the economic downturn in Iran under tough US sanctions, according to the London-based Capital Economics.

"All of this will weigh on Dubai's key logistics, tourism and manufacturing sectors," said James Swanston, an economist at Capital Economics.

To preserve Dubai's image as an economic hub, the city-state has implemented a raft of incentives.

Months ago, the government started granting permanent residencies to big investors and allowed foreigners to have full ownership of businesses throughout the emirate, including outside free zones.

Authorities also began offering long-term visas for foreign investors, students and talent, while revising fees on hundreds of services, freezing school fees and setting up a high-level committee to rebalance the property market.

With a population of 3.3 million — over 90 per cent of them expats — Dubai draws 70 per cent of its revenue from fees on various transactions and around 24 per cent from taxes and government company profits.

Just six per cent of its revenue comes from oil.

Public debt

Fahad Al Gergawi, CEO of Dubai Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), a public body, said reports of the downturn were exaggerated.

"The economic slowdown is not new to Dubai... but certain media reports highlight particular issues to show that Dubai is struggling," he told AFP on the sidelines of Dubai Investment Week held last week.

"We have passed through similar economic cycles in the past."

Gergawi said Dubai has been among the top 10 cities in the world for attracting new investment in the past five years and among the top three cities for FDI.

The government announced on Sunday that in the first half of 2019, the emirate received $12.7 billion in FDI, an increase of 135 per cent from the same period last year, surpassing even the $10.5 billion it received in 2018.

"In the medium term, spending related to hosting Dubai Expo 2020 and monetary easing measures would support growth. Furthermore, Dubai has been actively undertaking reform measures to boost the economy," Raghu said.

But Dubai, one of seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates, still faces high public debt of around $123 billion, or 110 per cent of GDP, divided almost equally between the government and state-linked companies.

About two-thirds of the debt of state-linked companies will mature by the end of 2023.

But Swanston said a "total debt default" is unlikely as oil-rich Abu Dhabi, the wealthiest emirate in the federation, "would come to the rescue" as it did when Dubai defaulted on its debt in 2009.

PARIS — European countries scrambled on Thursday to prepare a response to new US tariffs on billions of dollars' worth of EU goods after Washington got the go-ahead from the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to strike back over state subsidies for planemaker Airbus.

But officials also indicated they still hoped to find common ground to avoid escalating trade tensions that risk battering economies across the globe.

"We've been arguing for a trade deal for months. Our hand is extended," French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said.

"I hope the United States will listen to this voice, which to my mind is the voice of reason," Le Maire told journalists in Paris, calling Washington's move to tax $7.5 billion of EU imports a "serious economic mistake".

US President Donald Trump has already imposed tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, saying America has gotten a raw trade deal from its partners.

The Airbus ruling on Wednesday marked the first time the WTO has cleared the United States to impose countermeasures on EU products under international trade law.

"A nice victory!" Trump wrote on Twitter, saying the EU "has for many years treated the USA very badly on Trade due to Tariffs, Trade Barriers, and more".

However, the EU has also filed a WTO suit claiming illegal aid for Airbus's US rival Boeing, with a decision expected in the coming months.

In the meantime, the bloc has warned it will retaliate in kind.

"If the American administration refuses to accept the hand extended by France and the EU, we are ready to respond with sanctions approved within the WTO framework," Le Maire said.

 'Hit US consumers' 

In the immediate line of fire are civilian aircraft from Britain, France, Germany and Spain — the countries which formed Airbus — which will cost 10 per cent more when imported to the US from October 18.

According to US data, the country imported about $3.5 billion in aircraft from the EU in 2018.

But the tariffs also target consumer products like French wine, which Trump had vowed to take aim at in recent months. Bottles from France, Spain and Germany will now face 25 per cent tariffs.

Different kinds of cheese from across Europe will also cost 25 per cent more for American consumers, as will "Made in England" suits, cashmere sweaters and pyjamas.

Italian farmers breathed a sigh of relief, since Italian favourites such as tomatoes, olive oil and wine will not be taxed.

The Coldiretti agriculture body said the US tariffs would impact 500 million euros' (almost $550 million's) worth of the roughly four billion euros of Italian food exports to the United States.

The EU, meanwhile, warned on Thursday the tariffs would only end up hurting Americans' wallets.

"This is a move that will first and foremost hit US consumers and companies, and will make efforts towards a negotiated settlement more complicated," Commission spokesman Daniel Rosario said in Brussels.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on Wednesday he expected to begin talks with Brussels soon to try and resolve the dispute.

The EU and United States have reached such settlements in the past.

But European officials had already offered in July to call a truce on subsidies for airplane makers, in which both sides would admit fault and agree to curtail state aid — to no avail.

SAN FRANCISCO — Several features on Twitter were down on Wednesday, the platform said, with users from Japan to the USA reporting they were unable to log in, use the mobile app or see direct messages.

“We’ve been experiencing outages across Twitter and TweetDeck,” the social media giant said in a statement, without giving a reason for the disruption. 

“You might have had trouble Tweeting, getting notifications, or viewing DMs. We’re currently working on a fix, and should be back to normal soon.”

Monitoring site outage.report said it had received more than 3,200 complaints from across six continents as of Wednesday, with users in the US, UK and India among those particularly badly hit.

Almost half of those reporting outages said the mobile app was not working, with around a quarter saying the whole website was down.

The site’s TweetDeck dashboard function allows users to monitor multiple accounts simultaneously and is particularly popular with journalists. 

Some users posted alongside the hashtag #twitterdown, although the site’s trending section was working only intermittently.

The multibillion-dollar platform’s popularity has soared in recent years.

But it has also come in for criticism, with its CEO Jack Dorsey admitting to US lawmakers last year that Twitter had been “unprepared and ill-equipped” for the vast campaigns of manipulation that affected social media.

In August hackers briefly took over Dorsey’s account and posted a series of racist and offensive tweets. 

Twitter on Tuesday also reported a minor outage in displaying user analytics.

SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg has pledged to "go to the mat" to fight a government attempt to break up the social media giant, according to a report on Tuesday, based on a leaked audio recording.

Tech news site The Verge released leaked audio from a meeting of Facebook employees in July in which Zuckerberg said he would challenge a breakup effort, repeating his argument that splitting the company would not address issues raised by critics.

Zuckerberg specifically addressed the plan by Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Elizabeth Warren to break up major tech platforms.

"If she gets elected president, then I would bet that we will have a legal challenge, and I would bet that we will win the legal challenge," Zuckerberg said.

"And does that still suck for us? Yeah. I mean, I don't want to have a major lawsuit against our own government... But look, at the end of the day, if someone's going to try to threaten something that existential, you go to the mat and you fight."

Zuckerberg also told employees he did not plan to testify in other countries investigating the company on privacy and antitrust issues.

"It just doesn't really make sense for me to go to hearings in every single country that wants to have me show up," he said.

Speaking of Facebook's planned digital currency Libra, Zuckerberg said he remained optimistic on its prospects despite harsh comments from public officials in several countries.

"The public things, I think, tend to be a little more dramatic," he said.

"But a bigger part of it is private engagement with regulators around the world, and those, I think, often, are more substantive and less dramatic... That's where a lot of the discussions and details get hashed out on things."

Zuckerberg also said Facebook was planning a new service to take on the fast-growing social media app TikTok, controlled by a Chinese firm.

"We have a product called Lasso that's a standalone app that we're working on, trying to get product-market fit in countries like Mexico," he said.

"We're trying to first see if we can get it to work in countries where TikTok is not already big before we go and compete with TikTok in countries where they are big."

Facebook did not immediately respond to queries on the report.