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ISTANBUL — As Istanbul builds a massive new airport and Turkish Airlines pursues aggressive route expansion, some in Turkey see the ban on large carry-on electronics on US and Britain-bound flights as a ploy to undermine their aviation industry.

The US and British decisions to forbid devices bigger than a cellphone in the cabin on flights from several Middle East and North African states could hit Istanbul particularly hard, after years building up its position as an international hub.

More than half of international passengers at Turkish Airlines, which is 49 per cent state-owned and serves 247 destinations outside Turkey, are transit customers who could instead travel through Europe or other hubs.

Fast-growing Gulf airlines such as Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways, which similarly depend on business-class flyers stopping over in places like Dubai or Doha for far-flung destinations, could also be hit. 

For Turkey’s national carrier, the setback comes as it prepares to relocate to a 10 billion euro ($10.8 billion) third airport in Istanbul, billed by the developer as the world’s largest and championed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a megaproject that will cement Turkey’s global standing.

“The biggest aim of the third airport was to use Istanbul as a hub. But if such security measures become permanent, this could reduce Istanbul’s appeal,” said Esra Sirinel, a deputy research director at Is Investment and an airline specialist.

Istanbul’s existing main Ataturk airport is struggling to cope with millions of transit passengers a month. The new airport will initially have the capacity for 90 million passengers when it opens in 2018, but ultimately aims to serve double that and to offer flights to more than 350 destinations. 

Turkey’s pro-government media, which, like Erdogan, often casts the country as a victim of foreign conspiracies, was quick to lambaste the new regulations.

“They’re afraid of THY [Turkish Airlines],” the Yeni Safak newspaper said in a front-page headline on Thursday, over a simulated image of the new airport glistening in the sun. It cast the move as a plot against Turkey’s national carrier.

“We need to stop THY,” read the headline on fellow pro-government daily Aksam, which claimed US carriers, facing stiff competition from Turkish Airlines and Gulf carriers, had lobbied for the move. 

Gulf airlines have been battling against a campaign in Washington by US carriers, which accuse them of receiving unfair subsidies, charges they deny.

The administration of US President Donald Trump has so far placed more emphasis on the job benefits of building jets for foreign carriers. Gulf carriers and Turkish Airlines are major customers of Boeing and between them have more than 440 Boeing jets on order, worth tens of billions of dollars.

‘Purely commercial decision’

The US restrictions apply to flights originating from 10 airports in countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Turkey. The British restrictions do not include the UAE or Qatar but will affect Turkish Airlines and UK-based carriers including British Airways, easyJet and Monarch.

A senior Turkish government official questioned the basis for the restrictions, saying airport security in Turkey was no worse than in Europe and that laptops or tablets could still be used to carry explosives even if they are put in the hold.

“It appears this decision was made purely on commercial grounds, and it seems it was done to limit the advancements made by Turkish Airlines and by Turkey,” the official told Reuters.

Security experts say Washington and London may believe a laptop could disguise a bomb big enough to bring down a plane, warranting extra explosives checks which can be performed on luggage in the hold. Confining any device to checked baggage would also make it harder for a would-be attacker to trigger it, or to position it to bring the plane down.

Turkey’s foreign ministry said talks were underway to try to persuade the United States and Britain to exclude Turkish Airlines and Istanbul airport from the ban.

Istanbul-based brokerage Unlu&Co said Turkish Airlines and Gulf operators would be hit hardest by the regulations.

“[They] have the most to lose from the US ban since they rely on transfer passengers who may need access to laptops and other devices for business reasons and could easily travel via European hubs, like Frankfurt,” it said in a report.

Emirates said it would introduce a service letting customers use laptops and tablets until just before they board direct flights to the US from Dubai, and made clear on Thursday that the ban did not apply to its US-bound flights via Europe.

The Americas account for 14 per cent of Turkish Airlines revenue, according to the airline’s website, which does not break out figures separately for the United States or Britain.

PHNOM PENH — UNICEF on Wednesday condemned a company selling breast milk from “vulnerable and poor” Cambodian mothers to Americans, hitting out at the commercialisation of nutrients needed by babies inside the kingdom.

The issue emerged this week after Cambodia said it had halted exports from Utah-based company Ambrosia Labs, which claims to be the first of its kind to bank human breast milk sourced overseas and export it into the United States.

The firm’s customers are American mothers who want to supplement their babies’ diets or cannot supply enough of their own milk.

The milk is pumped in Cambodia, frozen and shipped to the US where it is pasteurised and sold by the company for $20 each 5 oz pack — roughly the volume of half a can of Coke.

Those donating their breast milk hailed from poor communities in Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh, where the scheme helped families top up meagre incomes.

On Monday Cambodia’s customs department said it had stopped exports temporarily “because the product comes from a human organ” adding the government planned to hold talks on whether to let the trade continue. 

UNICEF — the arm of the UN protecting children — said excess breast milk should remain in Cambodia, one of Southeast Asia’s poorest countries, where many babies lack good nutrients. “Breast milk banks should never be operated by exploiting vulnerable and poor women for profit and commercial purposes,” Iman Morooka, the agency spokeswoman in Cambodia, told AFP.

“Breast milk could be considered as human tissue, the same as blood, and as such its commercialisation should be banned,” she said.

Malnutrition “remains a threat to children’s well-being in Cambodia, and proper breastfeeding is one of the key factors contributing to a child’s good health and nutrition”, she added.

Cambodian Health Minister Mam Bunheng declined to comment on the issue when contacted by AFP on Wednesday.

Ambrosia Labs did not respond to repeated requests for comment. 

In previous press interviews the firm said its model encouraged Cambodian women to continue breast feeding, earned them much needed extra income and helped plug milk bank shortages in the US.

AFP visited the offices of Ambrosia Labs last week in Stung Meanchey, a poor suburb of Phnom Penh.

The office, which is labelled Khun Meada (mother’s gratitude), was closed and women who sold their milk said they had been told operations were suspended.

Chea Sam, a 30-year-old mother, told AFP during an interview last week that she had been selling her breast milk for the last three months following the birth of her son.

She said she earned $7.5-$10 a day and she knew at least 20 other mothers doing the same.

In videos posted on the Facebook page of Khun Meada, several mothers appealed to the government to let them sell their milk to the company.

AMMAN — Representatives of Jordan Chamber of Industry discussed ways to increase industrial exports to Iraq as they participated in the meetings of the Jordanian-Iraqi joint committee, which commenced in Baghdad on Monday, according to a statement of the chamber.  

According to the chamber’s President Adnan Abul Ragheb, the chamber’s delegation worked to eliminate export-related obstacles facing economic sectors, mainly the industrial sector, highlighting the importance of the Iraqi market.  

Since its closure in 2014, Jordanian exports to the Iraqi market fell from around JD1.1 billion to around JD400 million by the end of 2016, he said.

Jordanian exports to the neighbouring country used to represent 20 per cent of the Kingdom’s total exports, he indicated.

The closure brought up transport costs, through other neighbouring countries, adversely affecting the competitiveness of local industrial products, Abul Ragheb added.

However, the Iraqi government promised to nullify in the near future a decision it took last year to levy 30 per cent in export fees.  

Moreover, representatives of both countries private sectors discussed the various constraints facing investors so as to deal with them. 

Abul Ragheb also lauded the efforts of the government’s team, led by Minister of Industry, Trade and Supply Yarub Qudah in drawing the viewpoints of the two sides closer. 

LONDON — Google, which has seen a slew of companies withdraw ads after they appeared alongside extremist content, said on Tuesday it was introducing new tools to give firms greater control.

"We know advertisers don't want their ads next to content that doesn't align with their values," Google's Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler said in a post on the internet giant's blog.

"So starting today, we're taking a tougher stance on hateful, offensive and derogatory content." 

The move came a day after an apology by a senior Google executive soon after the British government and a handful of top firms, including Marks and Spencer and HSBC bank pulled their advertisements after they appeared alongside extremist content on its internet platforms.

Schindler said Google will tighten safeguards to ensure that ads show up only against legitimate creators on its video-sharing site YouTube, and "is taking a hard look at our existing community guidelines to determine what content is allowed on the platform".

A boycott by firms worried about damaging their image could cause incredible damage to Google as advertising makes up the overwhelming majority of the internet giant's revenue.

Schindler said Google acknowledged that companies have brand guidelines, which dictate where and when they want their ads to appear, and that it wants to give them more control to do that.

"In the coming days and months, we're introducing new tools for advertisers to more easily and consistently manage where their ads appear across YouTube and the web," said Schindler.

The British government put its YouTube advertising on hold on Monday, saying "It is totally unacceptable that taxpayer-funded advertising has appeared next to inappropriate internet content — and that message was conveyed very clearly to Google."

A Marks and Spencer spokesman said: "In order to ensure brand safety, we are pausing activity across Google platforms whilst the matter is worked through."

CAIRO — The World Bank (WB) has disbursed another $1 billion in financial assistance to Egypt out of its $3 billion loan programme with the country, the bank said in a statement on Monday.

Egypt has been negotiating billions of dollars in aid from various lenders to help revive an economy hit by political upheaval since a 2011 revolt, and to ease a dollar shortage that has crippled imports and hampered its recovery.

"The government has taken important steps in implementing key policy and institutional reforms that are laying down the foundations for accelerated job creation and inclusive growth," said Asad Alam, World Bank country director for Egypt, Yemen and Djibouti in the statement.

The World Bank issued the first $1 billion tranche of the loan in 2015, with two more instalments of the same size to follow, linked to additional reforms that the government planned.

Faced with a gaping budget deficit, Egypt began a series of painful economic reforms and has taken steps to lower fuel subsidies, introduced a new value-added tax and let its currency float freely in the foreign exchange market in November to attract foreign inflows.

Hafez Ghanem, the World Bank's vice president for the Middle East and North Africa, told Reuters this month that Cairo's next set of economic reforms should focus on making its bureaucracy more transparent for investors.

Egypt expects to receive the second tranche of a $12 billion International Monetary Fund loan in May or June, Finance Minister Amr El Garhy told Reuters last week.

NEW DELHI — Mansions owned by maids, gardeners and drivers until now have aroused little suspicion in India, where the wealthy have long hidden fortunes in the names of lowly-paid staff to avoid paying tax.

But as the government broadens its crackdown on corruption, a new law promises to end the widespread practise and hundreds of suspicious bank accounts are under investigation. 

“There’s been an overnight change in the system,” real estate lawyer Naresh Gupta told AFP, describing the new rules as “very draconian”.

“Investigators can question anyone and ask any government department for information about suspects.”

The law banning so-called “benami” transactions, making it illegal for assets to be hidden in another’s name, came into effect in November as part a twin strike by the government to flush out undeclared “black money” hoarded by tax evaders. 

It followed a shock decision by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to withdraw high-value bank notes from circulation, compelling millions to join the formal banking sector for the first time. Previously, around 90 per cent of everyday transactions in India were in cash.

Holding real estate in someone else’s name has been a particularly popular avenue for those seeking to legitimise black money and dodge their tax dues.

Those caught out could have their wealth seized, face a seven-year jail term and pay hefty fines equivalent to 25 per cent of the asset’s value.

Government officials say 235 suspicious accounts were under investigation for alleged benami activity in mid February, with more than half frozen and properties seized.

But Modi, who was elected in 2014 on a pledge to wipe out corruption and kickstart the economy, has promised more scalps as the dragnet widens.

“It has some very tough provisions. Those holding such property should start consulting their [accountants],” he said in a February speech.

‘They will go after everything’ 

The law was in step with November’s controversial “demonetisation”, which forced Indians to turn in their old, devalued banknotes in exchange for new ones.

Those declaring suspiciously-large sums were red flagged for audit by the tax department, which often uncovered complex and implausible webs of benami holdings.

In one case, the department said 33 million rupees ($500,000) were hidden in the name of a woman who wasn’t even aware the account existed.

In another instance, $9 million was spread across 20 fictitious accounts.

A network of jewellers, meanwhile, was busted spiriting black money into shell companies ostensibly owned by a day labourer, local media reported.

“Even within families, people want to hide their assets from others so will purchase it in someone else’s name,” said Abhishek Goenka from tax and audit firm PwC India.

One businessman bought a sprawling mansion in a swish Delhi postcode and registered the deed under a company whose CEO also happened to be his maid.

A young couple meanwhile purchased a $1.2 million house under someone else’s name to avoid explaining how two civil servants could afford such a place, a person close to the transactions told AFP.

“By registering the property in someone else’s name, unaccounted income gets accounted for,” said Goenka.

“If at a later date it’s then sold on to a benami buyer, the cycle perpetuates.”

There is no hard data on what percentage of transactions in India are benami and could fall foul of this law. But experts agree the practice is rife and long overdue for scrutiny.

“After the note ban, this was the natural next step,” said Uday Ved, a Mumbai-based tax adviser and former KMPG head of tax, in reference to the Modi government’s anti-benami blitz.

“Now the law is in effect they will go after cash, real estate, gold, everything.”

BADEN-BADEN, Germany — Finance ministers from the world's biggest economies on Saturday failed to get the US to renew an anti-protectionist pledge and a vow to fight climate change, in the face of Donald Trump's "America First" push.

After a two-day meeting, ministers from G-20 developed and emerging nations said they were "working to strengthen the contribution of trade to our economies", but failed to spell out a pledge to reject protectionism in a closing statement.

An entire section on action against climate change was dropped from the final document, sparking dismay among America's partners as well as environmental activists.

"I regret that our discussions today were unable to reach a satisfying conclusion on two absolutely essential priorities, and which France would have liked to see the G-20 continue to take firm and concerted action on," said French Finance Minister Michel Sapin.

Host German Finance Minister Wolfgang 

Schaeuble, however, struck a conciliatory tone, noting that in the US the matters of finance and trade were divided in two portfolios.

"Trade questions are not the responsibility of the finance minister... that's why it was a bit complicated, that's true," he said, as the American delegation was led by US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

The conspicuous omissions come as Trump champions a "Buy American" strategy that includes threats to penalise companies that manufacture abroad by heavily taxing their products.

Carried to power on the back of a political storm over de-industrialisation in vast areas of the US, Trump vowed in his inauguration speech to "follow two simple rules: buy American and hire American".

Since taking office, he has withdrawn the US from a trans-Pacific free trade pact and attacked export giants China and Germany over their massive trade surplus.

His stance has been condemned by Washington's trading partners, and led Beijing to issue a stern warning against sparking a trade war.

Trump himself insisted at a tense Washington press conference Friday, following his first meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, that "I'm a free trader but also a fair trader".

He also rejected a description of his policies as "isolationist".

 'Can't happen again'

References to action against climate change under the Paris Accord were absent from the G-20 statement, unlike at a China-led summit last year. 

Delegates said the US team was unable to commit as they had not been given instructions from Washington to do so at the meeting in the western German spa town of Baden-Baden.

The exclusion of climate marked a new setback for environmental action, activists say, after Trump proposed to take the axe to environmental financing.

Under his first national budget proposal, he suggested cutting financial resources for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by a third, as well as eliminating contributions linked to UN climate change programmes.

On the campaign trail, Trump had threatened to pull the US out of the Paris Accord on combating climate change.

"The lack of attention to climate in the G-20 finance statement is no doubt due to the Trump administration's irresponsible and isolated approach to climate change," said Li Shuo, senior climate policy adviser at Greenpeace East Asia.

"Other countries should not allow this to happen again," added Li.

But Schaeuble sounded a more optimistic tone, saying that "I'm not pessimistic, but rather I think the process works and we have made progress on a series of important questions."

AMMAN — In coincidence with the upcoming visit of Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz to the country, Jordan Chamber of Commerce will inaugurate a permanent office of the Saudi-Jordanian business coordination council at the chamber’s headquarters to further strengthen business relations between the two countries. 

In April 2016, in the Saudi capital city of Riyadh, His Majesty King Abdullah and the King of Saudi Arabia witnessed the signing of the minutes, stipulating the establishment of the council; a step deemed necessary to pave the way for further business cooperation.  

The council to be set up, in cooperation with the Saudi chambers of commerce, will work to increase commercial exchange, facilitate the flow of goods and the movement of people between both countries, the chamber’s President Nael Kabariti said on Saturday.

The office will extend services and information to Jordanian and Saudi businesspeople and offer recommendations on the best ways to deal with any obstacles that may hinder the joint flow of trade, according to the Jordan News agency, Petra.  

It will also facilitate procedures for Jordanian exporters and truck drivers, the chamber’s president indicated.

Kabariti expressed hope that the upcoming visit will lead to the signing of several fruitful agreements and partnerships between the private sectors of the two countries. 

The opening of the council’s office is one of several economic activities that the chamber will hold on March 27, during the visit of the Saudi Monarch to the Kingdom.  

Saudi investments in the Kingdom exceed $10 billion, and Saudi Arabia is one of the country’s most important commercial partners.

LONDON — Britain's unemployment rate has struck the lowest level for more than 41 years, official data showed on Wednesday as the country prepares to trigger its exit from the EU.

However a drop in the jobless rate comes alongside news of slowing wages growth.

Unemployment for the quarter ending January 31 fell to 4.7 per cent from a rate of 4.8 per cent in the final three months of 2016, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.

"The unemployment rate dropped to 4.7 per cent in the three months to January 2017... It has not been lower since June to August 1975," the ONS said.

Analysts' consensus forecast had been for an unchanged rate of 4.8 per cent, which would have kept unemployment at an 11-year low point.

"The labour market is currently seeing decent improvement, reflecting the economy's resilience through the second half of 2016," Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS Markit, said in reaction to Wednesday's data.

"However, markedly slowing earnings growth reinforces the squeeze on consumers coming from rising inflation — and this is likely to increasingly weigh down increasingly on economic activity."

It comes as British Prime Minister Theresa May intends on starting the EU withdrawal process by the end of March.

Parliament this week approved a bill empowering the government to trigger Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty, starting a two-year countdown to Brexit.

"The labour market has been helped by the economy's extended resilience since June's Brexit vote, but mounting signs that consumers are starting to limit their spending fuels belief that 2017 will become increasingly difficult for the economy and for the jobs market," said Archer. 

"The imminent triggering of Article 50 will bring likely difficult negotiations with the EU... Consequently, we see unemployment starting to edge up before too long and we suspect that the unemployment could reach 5.1 per cent by the end of 2017," he added.

The Bank of England (BoE) will be mindful of the mixed unemployment data ahead of its latest monetary policy announcements due Thursday.

Analysts widely expect the BoE to keep its main interest rate at a record-low 0.25 per cent and make no changes to its cash-stimulus programme aimed at supporting the UK economy during the Brexit process.

"The wage growth element is key for the Bank of England as weaker wage growth, which increased by only 2.2 per cent year-on-year in January, could reduce pressures on the BoE to raise interest rates," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at City Index.

Across the Atlantic, the Federal Reserve is all but certain to announce a US interest rate hike Wednesday.

WASHINGTON — IMF chief Christine Lagarde on Tuesday warned the world’s largest economies to avoid damaging the incipient global recovery with policies that would derail trade and immigration.

In a message to the Group of 20 finance ministers ahead of their meeting this week, Lagarde said the world economy is on the road to recovery, “But it would be a mistake to assume that it will automatically return” to good health.

“Above all, we should collectively avoid self-inflicted injuries,” Lagarde said in a blog post. “This requires steering clear of policies that would seriously undermine trade, migration, capital flows, and the sharing of technologies across borders.”

The message seemed targeted primarily at US President Donald Trump, who in his first days in office has imposed controversial immigration restrictions, and threatened unilateral trade sanctions against the closest US trading partners, as well as slamming multilateral trade deals and organisations.

“Such measures would hurt the productivity, incomes, and living standards of all citizens,” Lagarde said.

The IMF in January forecast a pickup in global growth to 3.4 per cent this year and 3.6 per cent in 2018, compared to 3.1 per cent last year. This is partly due to expectations of more growth-friendly policies in the United States, as well as better outlook for the euro area, the United Kingdom and Japan.

Lagarde said “the recent strengthening of activity suggests that the world economy may finally snap out of its multi-year convalescence”.

However, she cautioned, “maintaining the positive growth momentum continues to require supportive macroeconomic policies”, since demand is still weak and inflation not reliably back to the desired target in many advanced economies.

The United States has fewer problems with demand, and Lagarde repeated that plans for increased infrastructure investment could help boost US growth, along with “efficiency-enhancing corporate tax reform, and improvements in education”, and that in turn would be good for the global economy.

G-20 finance ministers and central bankers meet in Baden-Baden, Germany on Friday and Saturday. It will be the first time US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin participates in the gathering.