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TOKYO — Takata suffered another crushing collapse on Thursday, plummeting more than 50 per cent on fears the airbag maker at the centre of the auto industry’s biggest-ever safety recall is headed for bankruptcy.

The Tokyo-based car parts giant, facing lawsuits and huge recall-related costs over a bag defect linked to at least 16 deaths globally, has tumbled for four straight days. 

It is now worth less than a quarter of its value from just a week ago when a report by Japan’s leading Nikkei business daily said it would seek bankruptcy protection and sell its assets to a US company.

At Thursday’s close, the embattled stock had plummeted 55 percent to 110 yen ($1) from a day earlier.

“The shares are going to keep falling because the only buyers are day traders hoping to lock in gains from fluctuations in the price,” Hiroaki Hiwata, a strategist at Toyo Securities, told AFP earlier.

Another Nikkei report on Thursday said Takata, with liabilities exceeding one trillion yen, would file for bankruptcy protection as early as Monday.

Takata’s major automaker clients reportedly support the bankruptcy filing plan.

The scandal-hit airbag firm and some of its car customers are facing legal claims they knew about the problem and kept silent about it.

Millions of vehicles produced by some of the largest firms, including Toyota and General Motors, are being recalled because of the risk that an airbag could improperly inflate and rupture, potentially firing deadly shrapnel at the occupants.

The ultimate cause of the malfunctions has not yet been identified, but three factors are suspected: a chemical component, ammonium nitrate, that responds poorly to humidity; extreme climatic conditions, such as heat and high humidity; and faulty design.

 ‘No decision’ 

Takata issued a brief statement on Thursday that said “no decision of any kind has been made” on a bankruptcy filing.

A filing would clear the way for American autoparts maker Key Safety Systems, owned by China’s Ningbo Joyson Electronic, to take over the firm’s operations, the Nikkei has said.

Takata’s US-based unit TK Holdings is also expected to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Nearly 100 million cars, including about 70 million in the United States, were subject to the airbag recall, the largest in auto history, over the defective Takata airbags. 

Takata has already agreed to pay a billion-dollar fine to settle lawsuits in the United States over its airbags, and the company was heavily criticised for staying largely silent as the crisis grew.

“They should have been more upfront with the public and their customers in the early days to tackle this problem and take it more seriously,” said Hans Greimel, Asia editor for the Automotive News.

“In Japan you have that mentality...of trying to solve things in-house, reduce the embarrassment, get through it quietly and correct it for the future but don’t make a scene.

“I think that’s (been) changing over the years but it’s still evident in cases like this.”

The scandal has involved almost every major global automaker, including top client Honda, which has already written down huge costs linked to the crisis.

The new company created under Key Safety would reportedly buy Takata’s operations and continue supplying airbags, seat belts and other products.

The downsized Takata would remain responsible for recall-related liabilities, the Nikkei said.

Little-known outside Japan, Takata was founded in 1933 as a textile company that evolved into an automotive parts giant selling airbags in the eighties.

It has dozens of plants and offices in 20 countries, including the United States, China and Mexico.

The airbag division has accounted for some 40 percent of its total revenue.

NEW YORK — Qatar Airways, its Middle Eastern business pressured by a diplomatic row with neighbours, is seeking as much as a 10 per cent stake in American Airlines, the US carrier said on Thursday.

The surprise investment push by Qatar Airways was disclosed by American Airlines in a securities filing Thursday saying the Qatari company planned to buy at least $808 million in American shares.

In addition, Qatar Airways' chief executive told his counterpart at American that the carrier sought a stake of about 10 per cent. 

"The proposed investment by Qatar Airways was not solicited by American Airlines and would in no way change the Company's Board composition, governance, management or strategic direction," American said in the filing.

American's bylaws require board approval to stakes of 4.75 per cent or more. Qatar Airways said it would not exceed this level without board approval and would "make all necessary regulatory filings" when required. 

"Qatar Airways sees a strong investment opportunity in American Airlines," the company said in a statement. 

"Qatar Airways believes in American Airlines' fundamentals and intends to build a passive position in the company with no involvement in management, operations or governance."

The move comes as Qatar faces conflict with neighboring countries after Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates severed ties over Doha's alleged support for extremist groups and Iran. The countries have suspended all flights to and from Qatar.

Qatar's government denies all the allegations.

Qatar Airways has downplayed the impact of the dispute on its business, saying on June 14 that the "vast majority" of its network was unaffected. But analysts have warned the profitable carrier could take a hit should the diplomatic crisis drag out. 

At the Paris Air Show this week, Qatar Airways was named the world's top airline for passenger service by Skytrax, a closely watched industry prize. 

Akbar Al Baker, the outspoken chief executive of Qatar Airways, used the occasion to blast Qatar's rivals in the region.

"At these difficult times of illegal bans on flights out of my country by big bullies, this is an award not to me, not to my airline, but to my country," he said.

'Open skies' controversy 

American also has had its differences with Qatar Airways, among other Middle Eastern carriers, over state subsidies the US air travel industry says violate international agreements. 

American chief executive Doug Parker has joined an effort with the leaders of Delta Air Lines and United Airlines to urge a crackdown by President Donald Trump on an alleged $50 billion in state subsidies to Qatar Airways and two other state-backed Middle East carriers that they argue allows those carriers to illegally compete in the US market.

The Qatar stake in American "does not alter American Airlines' conviction on the need to enforce the Open Skies agreements with the United Arab Emirates and the nation of Qatar and ensure fair competition with Gulf carriers, including Qatar Airways", American said in the filing.

"American Airlines continues to believe that the President and his administration will stand up to foreign governments to end massive carrier subsidies that threaten the US aviation industry and that threaten American jobs."

Qatar Airways already holds stakes in other foreign carriers, including a large holding in International Consolidated Airlines Group, the parent of British Airways. 

Shares of American Airlines jumped 1.7 percent to $49.24 in mid-morning trading.

DUBAI — Oil-rich Gulf countries, which for decades have attracted millions of foreign workers, thanks to their reputation as tax-free havens, aim to introduce value-added tax (VAT) in 2018 to plug budget gaps.

On top of administrative and technical hurdles, however, the project now faces an unprecedented diplomatic crisis after Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain on June 5 severed all ties with Qatar, their partner in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar are due to introduce VAT in early 2018, with the other three GCC members — Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman — following at a later date.

In case of a prolonged crisis, Qatar would have to replace imports from Saudi Arabia and UAE, valued at $4.55 billion annually, with “costlier” non-GCC goods, said M.R. Raghu, head of research at the Kuwait Financial Centre.

“Implementing VAT in such a scenario would lead to inflationary pressures, especially in food-related items,” he said. 

“If the crisis is prolonged, then Qatar might want to delay the implementation of this envisaged tax reform to balance any spike in prices of commodities in the local markets.”

If it goes ahead as planned, VAT is unlikely to tarnish the GCC reputation as a low-tax region or reduce its appeal to expatriates, according to Monica Malik, chief economist at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank.

An introductory rate of 5 per cent “looks to balance raising government revenue and still having a very attractive business environment, both for expatriates and corporations”, she said.

“We believe the UAE and the Gulf will still overall be seen as a low-tax environment on a global basis.”

VAT, a tax paid by the consumer, is also unlikely to deter businesses from setting up operations in the Gulf region, according to Jeanine Daou, indirect tax leader at PwC Middle East.

“From a business perspective, VAT should be neutral. What businesses are required to do is to collect tax on behalf of the government on their sales... It is not a corporate tax,” she said.

She said that 5 per cent would be “one of the lowest VAT rates across the globe”.

Worries of wholesale trader

But in Dubai’s old souk, a wholesale trader disagreed, expressing fear of having to bear the VAT cost due to low profit margins.

“I think 5 per cent will be too much,” said Obaid Tahiri sitting in his household appliances shop.

“For wholesale, we don’t have 5 per cent profit. Clients will not pay... I cannot increase the price for the customer.”

Although the UAE has announced plans to introduce VAT in January next year, many wholesale traders in the souk seem unaware of it.

“Until now, the government has not told us anything about tax,” said Abdullah Al Marzouqi, another trader.

The introduction of VAT is part of measures being taken by the energy-rich monarchies to reduce dependency on oil revenue and to diversify income.

“The governments’ objective is to diversify their revenue sources. It is about fiscal sustainability for the future. So, implementing VAT is an important tool allowing government to generate more revenue,” said Daou.

Although the 5 per cent rate is unlikely to address the fiscal pressure faced by Gulf governments, “it is a tool for future fiscal sustainability”.

Malik said the introduction of VAT across the six nations is expected to provide revenues of up to 1.5 per cent of total gross domestic product.

“The aim is not to end the fiscal deficit. It is rather to deepen and widen non-oil revenue,” she said, noting that hydrocarbons still account for between 50 and 90 per cent of government revenues in GCC countries. 

RAFAH, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES — Egypt began on Wednesday to deliver a million litres of fuel to Gaza, a Palestinian official said, in an attempt to ease the Palestinian enclave’s desperate electricity crisis.

The fuel, trucked in through the Rafah border between Egypt and Gaza, will be routed to the territory’s only power station — closed since April due to fuel shortages.

The deliveries come two days after Israel began reducing its electricity supplies to Gaza, following Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s decision to stop paying for them.

Wael Abu Omar, the Rafah crossing spokesman, told AFP that eight shipments had entered, with a further 14 expected later in the day.

“A million litres of fuel for the power plant will enter today,” he said.

That is enough to enable the power station to operate for two to three days, Samir Moutair, director general of the Gaza electricity company, told AFP.

Residents of impoverished Gaza — where two million people live fenced in between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean — were already receiving only a few hours of mains power before this week.

Israel had been supplying 120 megawatts of electricity to Gaza a month, making up around a quarter of the territory’s needs, with the Abbas-run Palestinian Authority paying the 11.3 million euros ($12.65 million) monthly bill.

But after Abbas announced he would no longer pay, the Israel Electric Corporation said power supply would “effectively be reduced on two lines out of 10 every day, until the reduction applies to all 10 lines”.

The move threatened to leave Gazans with as little as two hours of power a day, prompting a UN warning that basic services in the enclave faced “total collapse”.

The Egyptian response temporarily eases the crisis and Abu Omar said further deliveries were expected before on Saturday, ahead of the Muslim festival of Eid Al Fitr marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

Abbas’s decision to cut funding came amid a persistent rift with rival Palestinian movement Hamas, which runs Gaza.

The Islamists seized control of Gaza from Abbas’s Fatah movement in a near civil war in 2007 and multiple attempts at reconciliation have failed.

However, the Palestinian Authority had continued to pay Israel for some electricity delivered to Gaza until this month.

Israeli human rights group Gisha said in a statement on Monday that by reducing supplies “Israel is knowingly aggravating an already dangerous situation in which the strip is teetering on the verge of a humanitarian crisis”.

Hamas, which swept Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006 but remains blacklisted as a terrorist group by the European Union and the United States, has fought three wars with Israel since 2008.

LONDON — Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said on Tuesday it had charged Barclays, a former chief executive of the banking giant and three other ex-managers, with “conspiracy to commit fraud” linked to emergency fundraising from Qatar during the financial crisis.

The SFO added in a statement that former chief executive John Varley was one of those to face court following a five-year investigation.

“The Serious Fraud Office has today charged Barclays Plc. and four individuals with conspiracy to commit fraud and the provision of unlawful financial assistance” linked to capital raising from Qatar in 2008 worth billions of pounds (euros/dollars).

“The charges relate to Barclays Plc.’s capital raising arrangements with Qatar Holding LLC. and Challenger Universal Ltd., which took place in June and October 2008,” the SFO said.

It added that they relate also to a $3-billion loan facility made available to the State of Qatar acting through the country’s Ministry of Economy and Finance in November 2008.

The other three charged are Barclays’ former executive chairman of investment banking Roger Jenkins, the former chief executive of Barclays wealth and investment management Thomas Kalaris and former European head of financial institutions group Richard Boath.

The defendants will appear before London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court on July 3, the statement added.

In a separate statement, Barclays said it “is considering its position in relation to these developments” as it “awaits further details of the charges from the SFO”.

Bailout avoided 

UK watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) already fined Barclays £50 million in 2013 after the bank failed to disclose fees it paid to the Qatari investors. Barclays contested the fine however, which has been on hold awaiting the SFO outcome. In addition, US authorities are probing the payments.

In a statement on Tuesday, the FCA said: “We welcome a fair and transparent hearing on the basis of the charges set out today by the SFO.”

SFO Investigations had focused on advisory services worth £322 million, which Barclays agreed to pay the Qatar Investment Authority.

By raising money from Qatar, Barclays avoided a UK government bailout at a time when rivals Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds had no choice but to be pumped with billions of pounds of British taxpayers’ money.

Speaking to BBC radio on Tuesday, former treasury minister Paul Myners said Barclays bosses were “vehement” that they did not want a government bailout in 2008.

“I think firstly there was a real fear on their part that this was nationalisation, it was political, they didn’t want anything to do with a Labour government,” Myners said.

“Secondly, they realised that the terms we were imposing meant that pay for their senior bankers and bonuses and options were going to be substantially reduced. So they managed to find capital from elsewhere.

“That surprised a lot of people, and that is the background to the investigation that the SFO has now been conducting for the last five years,” he added.

Tuesday’s announcement meanwhile comes as current Barclays Chief Executive Jes Staley is facing a probe by regulators after he tried to uncover the identity of a whistleblower.

Around 1000 GMT, shares in Barclays were down 0.3 per cent at 206 pence on London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index, which was flat overall.

“The muted reaction in the share price highlights the fact that the SFO action was largely priced in,” said Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at stockbroker Hargreaves Lansdown.

“Litigation, fines and compensation payments have sadly become part and parcel of the banking world.”

DOHA — The political crisis in the Gulf is putting at risk business deals worth $2 billion in Arab countries that have cut ties with Qatar, an economic official in the emirate said on Monday.

Yousuf Mohamed Al Jaida, chief executive of the Qatar Financial Centre, said the majority of the contracts at risk — some $1.5 billion (1.3 billion euros) — were in the area of construction.

The level of exposure for businesses from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain has been negatively impacted alongside that of Qatari businesses in the current crisis.

“We sincerely believe that the impact is regional, not only local,” Jaida told reporters at a briefing in Doha.

“Qatar’s exposure to the blockade countries — the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain — is limited. This is a fact,” he said in English.

There are very few Qatari companies doing business in Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Bahrain, he said.

“There is on the other hand a couple of billion dollars of contracts of these blockade countries impacted in Qatar due to restrictions in their own countries,” he added.

Some $18-billion in short-term deposits held by Saudi, UAE and Bahraini banks would mature in the next two months, but if the funds were withdrawn they could be “easily” covered by the Qatari government, said Jaida.

The economist said Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, worth some $335 billion, was largely unaffected as it was mostly invested outside the Gulf.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain are among a string of countries which this month cut ties with Qatar over accusations the emirate supports extremism.

Doha denies the accusations.

Gas-rich Qatar is currently in the middle of a massive $200-plus billion infrastructure programme to help the country prepare for the 2022 Football World Cup.

Imports from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain, including construction materials and food, represent about 14 per cent of Qatar’s total imports, said Jaida.

The crisis has forced Qatar to turn elsewhere for long-term trade partners, especially those in Asia.

“We will continue to expand our global outreach, especially with Asia, which happens to be our largest export market,” said Jaida.

Imports from Asia account for 32 per cent of Qatar’s total imports.

Qatar has also shipped in food from Turkey and Iran since Saudi Arabia and its allies on June 5 suspended ties with the emirate.

LE BOURGET, France — Boeing announced on Monday what it claims will be the most efficient jet yet in the highly competitive civil aviation market as it tries to claw back market share from rival Airbus.

“Today, it is our pleasure to officially announce the newest member of our 737 family, the 737 MAX 10,” Kevin McAllister, head of the company’s commercial aviation division, told journalists as the Paris Air Show got under way.

It quickly announced more than 100 orders worth some $13.5 billion (12.1 billion euros), although some were customers changing their selection of models from previous orders. 

The MAX 10 will be the largest of the updated 737 series, which competes head on with Airbus’s A320 neo family. With the latest advances in engines and aerodynamics, they promise significant fuel savings to airlines, which have responded with hundreds of orders for single-aisle airlines that are the workhorses of their fleets. 

Airbus, which moved first to update its aircraft used in most midrange flights, now has a 60 per cent market share.

The 737 MAX 10, which can carry up to 230 passengers, is the largest in the class, and Boeing said it would be 5 per cent cheaper to operate than the Airbus A321neo. As these planes can carry more passengers, they have attracted interest from low-cost airlines as well as carriers looking to exploit their range that allows them to make flights across the Atlantic.

McAllister said the 737 MAX 10 will be “the most efficient single-aisle airplane in the skies”.

Boeing has a test version of the 737 MAX 9 on display at Le Bourget airport north of Paris, which hosts the air show. 

For its part, Airbus announced orders for over 100 planes in its A320neo family, including at least a dozen of the latest A321neo model, worth over $11.5 billion.

While Airbus and Boeing dominate the world’s civil aviation industry, the duopoly is not without challengers: Competition is looming, notably from Russia and China, which have been test-flying their own mid-range models.

The airshow comes a little too early for either Russia’s Irkut, with its MC-21, or China’s Comac, with the much-flagged C919, to be able to showcase their aircraft there, but both will leave little doubt that they expect to win a big slice of the aviation pie in the future.

Airbus will also showcase its new long-haul model A350-1000 and Boeing its 787-10 Dreamliner, while Ukraine’s Antonov will present its 132 D.

Airbus will also have on hand a new “plus” size version of its A380 as it tries to revive interest among airlines in the superjumbo double-decker aircraft. 

Changes to the cabin will allow airlines to add another 80 seats to the planes which carry around 500 passengers on average without reducing comfort. Together with aerodynamic improvements, Airbus said the planes will be 13 per cent cheaper to operate on a per seat basis from current models.

It is the first major update to the plane since it entered service in 2007. Airbus, which has been talking with airlines for years about improvements to the aircraft to take advantage of the latest cost-saving technologies, slowed down production of the aircraft last year as orders dried up.

While new civilian aircraft orders will probably fall short of the $130 billion the Paris show clocked up last time — mostly thanks to airlines ordering the latest fuel-efficient Boeing and Airbus aircraft — the industry is still optimistic about sustained growth. Airbus said this month that it expected the market for large passenger planes to more than double in the next 20 years, driven by growth from Asian markets.

It predicts the need for 35,000 new planes worth $5.3 trillion over the next two decades, an increase from last year’s estimates.

French President Emmanuel Macron officially opened the biennial Paris Air Show, arriving on an Airbus A400M military transport plane.

Military aircraft are also a key part of the air show, and the spectacular displays of supersonic combat planes are a key draw for the crowds.

One star performer will be Lockheed Martin’s F-35A next-generation fighter jet, scheduled to make demonstration flights during the air show.

Some 200,000 member of the public are expected to visit the air show, which runs to June 25. That is in addition to the 150,000 industry professionals from 2,370 companies.

SYDNEY — Australia's first recycled supermarket is giving food destined for landfills a second chance, as the government embarks on a major push to cut down on waste costing the economy Aus$20 billion ($15 billion) a year.

The outlet run by food rescue organisation OzHarvest in Sydney takes surplus products normally thrown out by major supermarkets, airlines and other suppliers, and gives them away for free.

It is an attempt to tackle the mounting waste problem in Australia, home to 24 million people, where consumers toss out some 20 per cent of food they buy with more than 4 million tonnes ending up as rubbish each year. 

"It is simply remarkable that in prosperous, modern-day Australia we produce enough food to feed 60 million people a year but every month more than 600,000 people — one-third of them children — seek food relief from relevant charities," Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg said in April.

The government is drawing up an ambitious plan to halve food waste by 2030 and is convening a national summit later this year involving the private sector and non-profit organisations. 

Globally, one-third of food produced for humans — about 1.3 billion tonnes costing around US$1 trillion — is lost or wasted annually, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Such wastage is particularly conspicuous in retail, where "large quantities" of food are thrown away "due to quality standards that over-emphasise appearance", the UN body added.

That's where supermarkets like OzHarvest come in, said founder Ronni Kahn, a leading voice in Australia's food rescue community, who hopes the pop-up store will raise awareness about sustainable living.

Besides the needy, "there are people [at the supermarket] who want to take part in this sharing economy... taking produce and understanding why this produce was rejected, why is this here, why is this surplus", she told AFP as she pointed to bread donated by a bakery.

Long queues have formed outside the shop since it opened in late April, with the unemployed, single mothers, and students among those who leave with bulging bags of groceries.

Tip of the waste iceberg

What we eat or throw away is just the tip of the iceberg in the production process, conservation experts say, with huge amounts of resources such as fertilisers, fuel, land and water used to grow and package food.

"When food's wasted, and all of those resources are wasted as well, what's incumbent upon us is to make the most of the food that we produce in those instances, rather than producing more and more," said Marcus Godinho of charity FareShare.

FareShare tackles waste by cooking large quantities of food that farmers and manufacturers struggle to offload, or which is due to expire, in a 500-square-metre  kitchen in Melbourne before freezing and storing it for distribution to the disadvantaged at a later date.

Also, reducing waste at a wholesale level is Yume, an online platform connecting suppliers and buyers for hard-to-sell surplus produce at significantly discounted prices, chief Katy Barfield said.

"It [the unwanted food] can be cancelled orders, it can be mislabelled, it can be brand refresh, it can be export orders that get cancelled, it can be specifications... that are not what the retailers want," Melbourne-based Barfield told AFP.

Barfield, who previously headed up food rescue charity SecondBite, wants to take the platform global as she develops it to handle millions of transactions.

"Because it's a piece of technology, there are no barriers to scaling it," she said.

With Canberra stepping into the fray, waste warriors are optimistic that incentives including tax breaks could reduce excess in supply chains and encourage businesses to keep surplus food still fit for consumption away from landfills.

Even public institutions such as schools, hospitals and prisons could make their procurement of food more sustainable by buying surplus products through platforms like Yume, Barfield added.

"It would save food going to waste, it would be good for the environment, it would be very good for the taxpayers' pockets because we would be paying less for the food, and I think it's a win, win, win," she said.