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Tag: Government policy

  • UK’s self-billed ‘Scrooge’ promises tax rises, spending cuts

    UK’s self-billed ‘Scrooge’ promises tax rises, spending cuts

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    Britain’s Treasury chief, Jeremy Hunt, has warned a spending crunch and tax increases are on their way as he bids to fill the “black hole” in the country’s finances

    LONDON — Britain’s Treasury chief warned Sunday of a coming spending crunch and tax increases for cash-strapped Britons as he bids to fill the “black hole” in the country’s finances.

    Billing himself as a Scrooge figure ahead of Thursday’s Autumn Statement, when he will update Parliament on the government’s budget measures, Jeremy Hunt said he was forced to make “very difficult decisions” in his attempt to curb inflation and put the economy back on an even keel.

    He told British broadcasters that he was determined to make an expected recession as shallow as possible, and warned that everyone could expect to pay more tax.

    “I’m a Conservative chancellor and I think I’ve been completely explicit that taxes are going to go up, and that’s a very difficult thing for me to do because I came into politics to do the exact opposite,” he told the BBC, using his official title, Chancellor of the Exchequer.

    Hunt is seeking to make up to 60 billion pounds ($71 billion) in savings and extra revenue in a bid to tighten up public finances and undo some of the damage economists say was done by his predecessor, Kwasi Kwarteng, and former prime minister Liz Truss.

    According to the Resolution Foundation, a think tank, Truss and Kwarteng blew 20 billion pounds on unfunded cuts to national insurance and stamp duty, with a further 10 billion lost to higher interest rates and Government borrowing costs.

    Hunt said he would continue his predecessor’s pledge to help Britons with soaring energy bills, but added government departments could expect to see cuts.

    Earlier he told The Sunday Times in an interview “I’m Scrooge who’s going to do things that make sure Christmas is never canceled.”

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  • Australian PM wants to ask China’s Xi to lift trade barriers

    Australian PM wants to ask China’s Xi to lift trade barriers

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    CANBERRA, Australia — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Friday he would ask Chinese President Xi Jinping to lift billions of dollars in trade barriers in the event that the two leaders hold their first bilateral meeting.

    Both leaders will attend a Group of 20 meeting in Indonesia and then an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum meeting in Thailand next week.

    Albanese was speaking in Sydney before departing Australia on Friday for an East Asia Summit in Cambodia, which Xi is not expected to attend.

    A face-to-face meeting between the Chinese and Australian leaders would mark a major reset in a bilateral relationship that plumbed new depths under the nine-year rule of Australia’s previous conservative government.

    Beijing had banned minister-to-minister contacts and imposed a series of official and unofficial trade barriers on products including wine, coal, beef, seafood and barley in recent years that cost Australian exporters 20 billion Australian dollars ($13 billion) a year.

    Albanese said a meeting with Xi was “not locked in at this point in time.”

    “We obviously will be attending the same conferences, or at least two of them (G-20 and APEC) over the next nine days. And I would welcome a meeting if it occurs over that time,” Albanese said.

    China lifting economic sanctions was the first priority in returning to normal relations, he said.

    “We have some AU$20 billion of economic sanctions against Australia. That is not in Australia’s interest in terms of our jobs and the economy, but it’s also not in China’s interest,” Albanese said.

    “Australia has world class products — in seafood, in meat, in wine, in other products that we export to China. It’s in China’s interest to receive those products, it’s in Australia’s interest to export them. So I’m very hopeful — we’ll continue to put our case that these sanctions are not justified, that they need to be removed,” Albanese added.

    Asked what China wanted from Australia to improve relations, Albanese replied: “It’s not up to me to put forward their case.”

    “What I want to see with the relationship with China is cooperation where we … maintain our Australian values where we must,” Albanese said.

    Bilateral relations soured over issues including Australian demands for an independent inquiry into the COVID-19 pandemic, a ban on Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei’s involvement in the Australian 5G networks on security grounds and recent laws that ban covert foreign interference in domestic politics.

    China’s Ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian said in August that Beijing would discuss with Australia whether conditions were right in November for Albanese to meet Xi during the G-20 summit.

    China’s People’s Daily English-language newspaper reported this week that “signs of resetting bilateral ties have emerged” since Albanese’s center-left Labor Party came to power in May.

    The White House has confirmed President Joe Biden will hold talks with Xi on Monday on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Indonesia, their first face-to-face meeting since Biden became president in January 2021.

    The meeting would come as competition for influence among South Pacific island nations heightens between China and the United States, with its allies including Australia, since Beijing struck a security pact with the Solomon Islands early this year that has raised fears of a Chinese naval base being established in the region.

    Albanese said Australia has “strategic competition in the region” with China.

    “China, of course, has changed its position. And it is much more forward-leaning than it was in the past,” Albanese said.

    “That has caused tensions in the relationship, and we need to acknowledge that that’s the context in which the relationship exists,” he added.

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  • Federal judge strikes down Biden administration’s student-debt forgiveness plan

    Federal judge strikes down Biden administration’s student-debt forgiveness plan

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    A federal judge in Texas on Thursday struck down the Biden administration’s student-debt forgiveness plan, imperiling a key administration priority that would have canceled up to $20,000 in student loans for tens of millions of borrowers.

    The Biden administration’s plan is an “unconstitutional exercise of Congress’s legislative power” that also failed to go through normal regulatory processes, Judge Mark Pittman of the Northern District of Texas wrote in a 26-page opinion.

    “No one can plausibly deny that it is either one of the largest delegations of legislative power to the executive branch, or one of the largest exercises of legislative power without congressional authority in the history of the United States,” Pittman, an appointee of former President Donald Trump wrote.

    The Biden administration can appeal the verdict. The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

    Two borrowers—supported by the Job Creators Network, a conservative group—were granted standing in the case because they didn’t qualify for the program. One plaintiff had private student loans that weren’t eligible for forgiveness, while the other wasn’t the recipient of a Pell Grant, meaning he didn’t qualify for an extra $10,000 in forgiveness for which only Pell Grant recipients are eligible. The court ruled that they had been deprived of their right to voice their disagreement with the contours of the program through the usual regulatory process.

    An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.

    Also popular on WSJ.com:

    FTX tapped into customer accounts to fund risky bets, setting up its downfall.

    Frustrated Republicans try to explain lack of midterm ‘red wave.’

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  • Watches, daggers and cricket ice cream: Asian summit treats

    Watches, daggers and cricket ice cream: Asian summit treats

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    BANGKOK — A custom wristwatch from Cambodian leader Hun Sen at the ASEAN summit in Phnom Penh, a foot-long dagger at the G-20 meetings in Bali, and cricket ice cream and Thai noodles with worm sauce at the APEC talks in Bangkok.

    World leaders have a surfeit of swag and surprises awaiting them as they attend back-to-back-to-back summits in Asia starting this week.

    Hun Sen raised eyebrows a few weeks ago when he announced that he would be having special-edition watches made for U.S. President Joe Biden and other leaders attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit, which runs through the weekend. Many speculated the former mid-level Khmer Rouge commander would feature his own mug on the timepiece in the narcissistic vein of autocratic leaders in the past, like Iraq’s Saddam Hussein or Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi.

    But the final product, which Hun Sen said was designed and made in Cambodia, is a sleek silver timepiece with coppery-gold hands and a leather strap, with “ASEAN Cambodia 2022” imprinted on its face.

    Hun Sen did not say what the gift was worth as he unveiled it this week on his Facebook page, but did say he’d be wearing it himself at all three summits — foregoing one of the rare, designer wristwatches in his collection whose $1 million-plus price tags have been a source of grumbling in impoverished Cambodia.

    In addition to Biden, many other world leaders who will be receiving the Cambodian watch, including Australia’s Anthony Albanese, Canada’s Justin Trudeau and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, will travel from Phnom Penh next to the Indonesian island of Bali where there are some traditional trinkets in store for them at the Group of 20 summit.

    G-20 organizers this year say the leaders, also expected to include China’s Xi Jinping, will be asked to wear colorful shirts made of the traditional Balinese woven fabric endek, similar to those that Indonesia gave out at the 2013 APEC meetings they hosted in which the country revived the on-again, off-again summit tradition of a group photo in what some have dubbed “silly shirts.”

    The tradition was started in 1993 by then-President Bill Clinton, who gave out leather bomber jackets as a memento to leaders in attendance as a way to lighten the mood of the serious economic talks.

    In Indonesia, all 120 member and non-member states’ representatives attending will also be given shawls made from another Balinese fabric known as gringsing, typically red, off-white and black woven in a geometric pattern.

    Leaders will also receive a traditional kris dagger, a distinctive asymmetrical knife usually between 11 and 14 inches long with a wavy blade.

    According to organizers, each dagger takes between one and six months to make, and while used as combat weapons in the past they are today typically worn at special ceremonies.

    There were no “silly shirts” last year at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings, held virtually due to the pandemic, with host New Zealand instead providing merino wool scarves for the men and capes for the women.

    It looks like Thailand doesn’t plan on reviving the shirts this year at the upcoming APEC summit in Bangkok. Instead, organizers say they will be giving leaders silk neckties and shawls, as well as handkerchiefs and face masks.

    There is culinary excitement, however, as the country, renowned for its cuisine, brings in Thai food startups selected from a competition to highlight sustainability under a concept dubbed “plate to planet.”

    Biden isn’t expected to be on hand for the APEC meetings, but Vice President Kamala Harris, Xi and others will be given the opportunity to try out dishes like carb-free ramen noodles made from egg white protein, milk-free ice cream with kale and passion fruit, low-sodium Thai noodles with a sauce made from sandworms, and ice cream made from the protein from crickets, government spokesman Anucha Buraphachaisri said.

    Celebrity chef Chumpol Chaengprai is preparing the gala dinner to cap the event, under the concept of “sustainable Thai gastronomy.” Its menu has not yet been announced.

    —————

    Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul in Bangkok, Niniek Karmini in Jakarta and Sopheng Cheang in Phnom Penh contributed to this story.

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  • The $26 billion rise and fall of FTX crypto king Sam Bankman-Fried

    The $26 billion rise and fall of FTX crypto king Sam Bankman-Fried

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    Just six months ago, CEOs, celebs and world leaders like Bill Clinton and Tony Blair flocked to him, gathering at a Davos-like conference he hosted in the Bahamas where he lives as one of the most outspoken evangelists for the power of the blockchain.  

    Fast forward to Sunday and Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire came crashing down, the victim of an old-fashioned bank run that quickly exposed the weaknesses of the new finance system he had championed. 

    Almost overnight, Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, had gone from being valued at $32 billion to worthless, leaving scores of investors scrambling to get their deposits back and triggering probes in the U.S. by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission and the Department of Justice, according to reports.

    On Thursday, the 30-year-old Bankman-Fried took to Twitter to level with his clients.

    “I fucked up, and should have done better,” he wrote.

    A very rapid rise

    It took less than five years for Bankman-Fried to build a personal fortune that was estimated at its highest point to be more than $26 billion, making him among the richest people in the world.

    His schlubby, boyish appearance — ill-fitting t-shirts, gym shorts and a mop of curly hair — made him look more like a college student ripping bong hits in the basement of a frat house than a finance guru, but fit nicely with the anti-establishment ethos that appealed to crypto enthusiasts.

    The son of law professors at Stanford University, Bankman-Fried was a wunderkind from an early age. He studied physics and mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

    After a stint as an ETF trader for Jane Street Capital, a highly respected Wall Street firm that is known for attracting genius quantitative traders, Bankman-Fried became interested in the concept of effective altruism, a philosophy that focuses on using reason and evidence to find solutions that benefit the most people possible. In 2017, he launched Alameda Research, a quantitative trading firm focused on digital currencies.

    Over the next year, he began building his fortune through arbitrage trading of Bitcoin
    BTCUSD,
    +11.10%
    between exchanges in the U.S. and Japan, where prices were often slightly higher. In 2019, Bankman-Fried launched the crypto exchange FTX.

    The timing was fortuitous: as the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the globe the following year, interest in cryptocurrencies among people exploded. FTX took off and brought in the big-name celebrity endorsers and partners, like professional athletes Tom Brady and Steph Curry. 

    Bankman-Fried soon found himself feted by some of the biggest institutions in finance, attracting investment from the biggest names on Wall Street and beyond like Softbank
    9984,
    -2.65%
    Group, Sequoia Capital, Blackrock
    BLK,
    +13.26%    .
    Tiger Global Management and Thoma Bravo. He even raised money from billionaire hedge fund legends Paul Tudor Jones and Israel Englander.

    Soon, FTX was among the biggest players in the industry.

    The face of crypto

    Despite his ballooning wealth, Bankman-Fried maintained the appearance and lifestyle of a teenage gamer. He moved to the Bahamas, where he reportedly lived in a penthouse apartment with 10 roommates.

    On Zoom calls, he would often play video games while talking — his favorite game being League of Legends. Profiles of him often noted that he kept a bean bag just feet from his desk to sleep on.

    What set Bankman-Fried apart from other crypto tycoons, was his professed interest in working with regulators to create a more robust framework around the nascent industry and treat it more like a traditional finance network. 

    To that end, Bankman-Fried appeared before Congress to try to explain to skeptical U.S. lawmakers how the crypto industry worked. He also said he welcomed regulation, not always a popular position in the crypto world.

    “FTX believes [government agencies] could play an even more prominent role in the digital-asset ecosystem and bring greater investor protections by closing some regulatory gaps,” he said before a senate panel in February. “FTX believes that such efforts would combine the best aspects of traditional finance and digital-asset innovations.”

    Bankman-Fried even put his great wealth to play in politics, becoming a major campaign donor for the Democratic party. In 2020, he was one of President Joe Biden’s largest single donors and spent nearly $40 million on political campaigns this year for the midterm elections, according to campaign filings.

    As cryptocurrencies have experienced significant declines in prices this year, triggering the collapse of several operations, Bankman-Fried arose as a savior, buying up several failing partners as positioning himself as a kind of Robin Hood for the industry.

    A swift collapse

    For as fast a rise to the top of the world that Bankman-Fried enjoyed, the fall was just as rapid.

    On Sunday, Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of FTX’s competitor, Binance, and an archrival of Bankman-Fried’s, announced on Twitter that his firm, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, was liquidating its sizable holdings of FTT, the coin issued by FTX, “due to recent revelations that have come to light.”

    Bankman-Fried accused Zhao of spreading false rumors. But the damage was done.

    Binance’s move triggered a massive selloff with customers seeking to redeem some $5 billion in deposits. FTX didn’t have it and redemptions froze up.  

    On Tuesday, Bankman-Fried announced that FTX had reached a tentative agreement to be acquired by Binance, due to a “significant liquidity crunch.” The turmoil set off broad declines among several of the most popular cryptocurrencies and even spilled into the world of traditional finance, sending markets tumbling.

    The next day, the chaos increased, with reports that FTX and Bankman-Fried were under investigation by several U.S. agencies. By the end of the day, Binance said it was walking away from the deal because due diligence had revealed that “the issues are beyond our control or ability to help.” 

    Binance’s deal seemed like the only thing preventing FTX from potentially collapsing. “At some point I might have more to say about a particular sparring partner,” Bankman-Fried tweeted on Thursday. “For now, all I’ll say is: well played; you won.”

    Also on Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Bankman-Fried had been using some customer deposits to fund risky bets by his Alameda Research firm, setting FTX up for collapse.

    With the Binance lifeline gone and with few options available, Bankman-Fried told investors he needed $8 billion or more to plug the hole in FTX’s books, according to reports. 

    On Twitter, Bankman-Fried said he would focus all his efforts on making sure depositors got their money back. He also tried to explain FTX’s collapse, saying “a poor internal labeling of bank-related accounts meant that I was substantially off on my sense of users’ margin. I thought it was way lower.”

    Said Bankman-Fried: “My #1 priority–by far–is doing right by users,” he wrote. “Right now, we’re spending the week doing everything we can to raise liquidity. I can’t make any promises about that.”

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  • WHO says 90% decline in COVID deaths since Feb. is ’cause for optimism,’ while urging vigilance against new variants

    WHO says 90% decline in COVID deaths since Feb. is ’cause for optimism,’ while urging vigilance against new variants

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    The head of the World Health Organization said a close to 90% decline in COVID deaths globally compared to nine months ago is “cause for optimism,” but urged leaders to remain vigilant as new variants continue to emerge.

    Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters on Wednesday that there were just 9,400 COVID deaths last week, compared with more than 75,000 in February, the Associated Press reported. 

    “Almost 10,000 deaths a week is 10,000 too many for a disease that can be prevented and treated,” he said.

    Testing and sequencing rates remain low globally, vaccination gaps between rich and poor countries are still wide, and new variants continue to proliferate.

    In its weekly epidemiological update, the agency said the global tally of cases fell 15% in the week through Nov. 6 from the previous week with over 2.1 million new cases counted.

    The highest number of new cases was reported from Japan, at 401,693, followed by Korea at 299,440 and the U.S. at 266,104. The agency again cautioned that the numbers may be undercounted, given the changes in testing strategies and overall surveillance in many countries, including the U.S.

    As for new variants, the update found BA.5, an omicron subvariant, remained dominant globally, accounting for 74.5% of sequences submitted to a central database. But newer ones, including BQ.1 and XBB, are on the rise.

    BQ.1 sequences rose to 13.4% of the total from 9.4% a week ago. XBB rose to 2.0% from 1.1%. The WHO is still closely monitoring newer sublineages but called on countries to also track them closely.

    In the U.S., known cases of COVID are climbing again for the first time in a few months. The daily average for new cases stood at 40,189 on Wednesday, according to a New York Times tracker, up 7% versus two weeks ago.

    Cases are rising extremely sharply in some states, led by Nevada, where they are up 96% from two weeks ago. New Mexico’s case tally has climbed 64% from two weeks ago and Utah is up 61%. Overall, cases are rising in 32 states and are flat in Delaware. They are also rising in Washington, D.C., Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

    The daily average for hospitalizations was up 3% at 28,003, while the daily average for deaths is down 13% to 316.

    Coronavirus Update: MarketWatch’s daily roundup has been curating and reporting all the latest developments every weekday since the coronavirus pandemic began

    Other COVID-19 news you should know about:

    • China’s new top leadership body reaffirmed Beijing’s “dynamic-zero” COVID-19 policy on Thursday, as case numbers rose and authorities in the city of Guangzhou urged residents to work from home but stopped short of a citywide lockdown, Reuters reported. In its first meeting since being formed last month after the ruling Communist Party’s twice-a-decade congress, the Politburo Standing Committee said China’s epidemic prevention measures must not be relaxed, according to state media.

    • AstraZeneca PLC on Thursday lifted its guidance for the full year after reporting a swing to net profit and higher sales for the third quarter of the year, which both beat consensus expectations, Dow Jones Newswires reported. The Anglo-Swedish drug company dropped its submission for U.S. regulatory approval for its COVID vaccine, saying it has decided to focus instead on areas with greater unmet medical needs. The vaccine was initially approved in the U.K. and Europe about two years ago. CEO Pascal Soriot said the submission in the U.S. was becoming “very complicated and very large,” as it had to gather data from around the world.

    • Pfizer
    PFE,
    +1.41%
    and German partner BioNTech
    BNTX,
    -1.67%
    said Thursday that their booster dose of the omicron BA.4/BA.5-adapted bivalent COVID vaccine for 5-to-11 year olds was recommended for marketing authorization in the European Union. The EU will review the recommendation from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP), and is expected to make a decision “soon.” The companies’ bivalent booster is already authorized in the EU for people at least 12 years old.

    Here’s what the numbers say:

    The global tally of confirmed cases of COVID-19 topped 633.9 million on Monday, while the death toll rose above 6.60 million, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University.

    The U.S. leads the world with 97.9 million cases and 1,073,934 fatalities.

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s tracker shows that 227.3 million people living in the U.S., equal to 68.5% of the total population, are fully vaccinated, meaning they have had their primary shots.

    So far, just 26.3 million Americans have had the updated COVID booster that targets the original virus and the omicron variants, equal to 8.4% of the overall population.

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  • Manufacturing hub Guangzhou is latest Chinese city to face lockdowns as COVID cases rise

    Manufacturing hub Guangzhou is latest Chinese city to face lockdowns as COVID cases rise

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    The southern Chinese manufacturing hub of Guangzhou is the latest to see lockdowns amid a surge in COVID-19 cases, as the government presses ahead with the strict zero-COVID policy that has frustrated citizens.

    The latest lockdowns have further disrupted global supply chains and sharply slowed growth in the world’s second-largest economy, as the Associated Press reported.

    Residents in districts encompassing almost 5 million people have been ordered to stay home at least through Sunday, with one member of each family allowed out once a day to purchase necessities, local authorities said Wednesday.

    The order came after the densely populated city of 13 million reported more than 2,500 new cases over the previous 24 hours.

    China has retained its strict zero-COVID policy despite relatively low case numbers and no new deaths. The country’s borders remain largely closed, and internal travel and trade is complicated by ever-changing quarantine regulations.

    Apple
    AAPL,
    -3.32%
    and iPhone manufacturer Foxconn
    2317,
    -1.95%
    said over the weekend that restrictions are crimping production and will delay shipments of the high-end iPhone 14.

    For more, read: All eyes on China as Apple and Foxconn outline zero-COVID issues. Meanwhile, cases are rising again in the U.S.

    In the U.S., known cases of COVID are climbing again for the first time in a few months. The daily average for new cases stood at 39,578 on Tuesday, according to a New York Times tracker, up 5% versus two weeks ago.

    As always, the increase in cases is not uniform across the nation. Some states are seeing sharp spikes, led by Nevada, where cases are up 96% from two weeks ago. Tennessee is second with cases up 69%, followed by Louisiana with cases up 68%, New Mexico, where they are up 62%, and Utah, where they have climbed 61%.

    Cases are up by a double-digit percentage in 22 states.

    The daily average for hospitalizations was up 3% to 27,713, while the daily average for deaths was down 14% to 308.

    Coronavirus Update: MarketWatch’s daily roundup has been curating and reporting all the latest developments every weekday since the coronavirus pandemic began

    Other COVID-19 news you should know about:

    • Novavax Inc.
    NVAX,
    -5.19%
    on Tuesday tweaked its full-year sales outlook to the low end of its expected range and reported a surprise quarterly loss, but sales for the COVID-19 vaccine maker were far better than expected. The company reported a net loss of $168.6 million, or $2.15 a share, compared with a loss of $322.4 million, or $4.31 a share, in the same quarter a year ago. Sales were $735 million, compared with $178.8 million in the prior-year quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet expected Novavax to earn $1.57 a share on revenue of $586 million.

    • A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee said this week that Veru Inc.’s
    VERU,
    +3.95%
    COVID treatment Sabizabulin demonstrated a clear clinical benefit with a favorable benefit-to-risk profile. Veru is seeking emergency-use authorization for treatment of hospitalized COVID-19 patients at high risk for acute respiratory distress syndrome.

    • A Massachusetts man who admitted to lying on his application for federal coronavirus business stimulus funds and using some of the $400,000 he received to pay his mortgage has been sentenced to 15 months in prison, federal prosecutors said, as the AP reported. In addition to the time behind bars, Adley Bernadin, 44, of Stoughton, was sentenced last week to three years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit more than $280,000, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office.

    Here’s what the numbers say:

    The global tally of confirmed cases of COVID-19 topped 633.5 million on Monday, while the death toll rose above 6.60 million, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University.

    The U.S. leads the world with 97.8 million cases and 1,072,943 fatalities.

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s tracker shows that 227.3 million people living in the U.S., equal to 68.5% of the total population, are fully vaccinated, meaning they have had their primary shots.

    So far, just 26.3 million Americans have had the updated COVID booster that targets the original virus and the omicron variants, equal to 8.4% of the overall population.

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  • UN experts urge stringent rules to stop net zero greenwash

    UN experts urge stringent rules to stop net zero greenwash

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    SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt — Companies pledging to get their emissions down to net zero better make sure they’ve got a credible plan and aren’t just making false promises, U.N. experts said in a report Tuesday urging tough standards on emissions cutting vows.

    Released at the the U.N.’s flagship climate conference in the Egyptian seaside resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, the group of experts set out a number of strict recommendations for businesses, banks, and local governments making net zero pledges to ensure that their promises amount to meaningful action instead of “bogus” assurances. Countries are not included in the group’s scope as their emissions-cutting commitments are set out in the 2015 Paris deal.

    The group called the report a roadmap to prevent net zero from being “undermined by false claims, ambiguity and “greenwash.”

    United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres appointed the group exactly a year ago at last year’s U.N. climate summit to draw up principles and recommendations aimed at clarifying the confusion around the growing number of net zero claims made by businesses and organizations. There’s been little transparency or uniform standards when it comes to net zero pledges, resulting in a boom in the number of hard to verify claims, the U.N. experts and environmental groups say.

    “Using bogus ‘net zero’ pledges to cover up massive fossil fuel expansion is reprehensible. It is rank deception,” Guterres said at the COP27 summit. “This toxic cover-up could push our world over the climate cliff. The sham must end.”

    Since the Paris Agreement in 2015 set a global target of limiting temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 F) there’s been a groundswell of support for the concept of “net zero” — drastically cutting greenhouse gas emissions and canceling out the rest — as the main way to meet that goal.

    So-called non-state actors include corporations, investors, and local and regional governments, which aren’t covered by the Paris Agreement’s requirements. Their voluntary carbon cutting pledges must be “ambitious, have integrity and transparency, be credible and fair,” the experts said.

    Among its 10 specific recommendations, businesses can’t claim to be net zero if they continue to invest or build new fossil fuel supplies, deforestation or other environmentally destructive projects. They can’t buy cheap carbon offset credits “that often lack integrity instead of immediately cutting their own emissions.”

    Guterres said he was deeply concerned about lack of “standards, regulations and rigor” in the market for voluntary carbon credits. Climate experts say offsets can be problematic because there’s no guarantee they’ll deliver on reducing emissions.

    Lobbying to undermine ambitious government climate policies is a no-no, the experts said. And companies can’t focus only on emissions they generate directly from, say, manufacturing but have to include all the carbon dioxide spewed along the way in their sourcing supply chains for parts and raw materials.

    “I think these are kind of no-nonsense, practical things that a regular person would expect,” Catherine McKenna, who heads up the group of 17 high-level experts that authored the report, told the Associated Press.

    The guidelines would help consumers who “want to choose products that are good for the environment and mean that the company is tackling climate action” and young people looking for jobs who “don’t want to work for climate laggards,” McKenna said.

    Business, environmental and corporate watchdog groups generally supported the proposals.

    “This surge of interest from the corporate sector to zero out emissions is truly inspiring,” said Ani Dasgupta, CEO of the World Resources Institute, an environmental think tank, cautioning that “any corporate net-zero targets with loopholes or weak guardrails would put our planet and billions of people in peril.”

    In order to keep the Earth from warming less than 1.5 degrees, the U.N. says carbon dioxide emissions must peak by 2025, fall by nearly half by 2030, and to reach net zero by the middle of the century.

    The only way to do that now is to reduce the amount of heat trapping greenhouse gases going into the atmosphere and balance out the remaining emissions by permanently removing them, through planting trees, or through technologies yet untested at scale such as capturing carbon emissions at sources such as factory smokestacks and storing them underground.

    Along the way, net zero has become a corporate buzzword for companies and groups seeking to burnish their green credentials, though environmental activists worry it’s becoming greenwash.

    McDonald’s has opened net zero restaurants in the United States and United Kingdom powered by solar panels and wind turbines. Airline group IATA set a long term goal for the aviation industry to reach net zero by 2050. Even oil companies have jumped on the bandwagon. Chevron touts its “net zero aspiration” and Shell flaunts its “drive for net zero emissions.”

    Private equity firm Carlyle Group was an early adopter of net zero commitment, but did not include its largest oil and gas investment in a recent financial risk report on greenhouse gas emissions.

    Organizers of this year’s soccer world cup hosted by Qatar say the massive building spree of stadiums, highways and subway system for the event was all carbon neutral — a claim experts have cast doubt on.

    ———

    Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Leaders push for climate action, fossil tax at UN talks

    Leaders push for climate action, fossil tax at UN talks

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    SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt — World leaders are making the case for tougher action to tackle global warming Tuesday, as this year’s international climate talks in Egypt heard growing calls for fossil fuel companies to help pay for the damage they have helped cause to the planet.

    United Nations chief Antonio Guterres warned Monday that humanity was on “a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator,” urging countries to “cooperate or perish.”

    He and leaders such as Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley said it was time to make fossil fuel companies contribute to funds which would provide vulnerable countries with financial aid for the climate-related losses they are suffering.

    The idea of a windfall tax on carbon profits has gained traction in recent months amid sky-high earnings for oil and gas majors even as consumers struggle to pay the cost of heating their homes and filling their cars. For the first time, delegates at this year’s U.N. climate conference are to discuss demands by developing nations that the richest, most polluting countries pay compensation for damage wreaked on them by climate change, which in climate negotiations is called “loss and damage.”

    The U.S. mid-term elections were hanging over the talks Tuesday, with many environmental campaigners worried that defeat for the Democrats could make it harder for President Joe Biden to pursue his ambitious climate agenda.

    Also hanging over the conference was the fate of one of Egypt’s most prominent jailed pro-democracy activists, Alaa Abdel-Fattah, who has been imprisoned for most of the past decade. His family stepped up pleas for world leaders to win his release after he stepped up a longtime hunger strike. Abdel-Fattah stopped even drinking water on Sunday, the first day of the conference, vowing he is willing to die if not released, his family says.

    Egypt’s longtime history of suppressing dissent has raised controversy over its hosting of the annual conference, known as COP 27, with many international climate activists complaining that restrictions by the host are quieting civil society.

    On Tuesday, more world leaders were to take the stage, including Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif of Pakistan, where summer floods caused at least $40 billion in damage and displaced millions of people. After the speeches, the conference delegates will delve into negotiations on a range of issues — including for the first time on compensation, known as loss and damage.

    Some of the strongest pleas for action came so far from leaders of poor nations that caused little of the pollution but often get a larger share of the weather-related damage.

    Nigeria’s Environment Minister Mohammed Abdullahi called for wealthy nations to show “positive and affirmative” commitments to help countries hardest hit by climate change. “Our priority is to be aggressive when it comes to climate funding to mitigate the challenges of loss and damage,” he said.

    Leaders of poorer nations, joined by French President Emmanuel Macron, talked about the issue as one of justice and fairness.

    “Our part of the world has to choose between life and death,’’ Tanzania President Samia Suluhu Hassan said.

    “Africa should not pay for crimes they have not committed,” Central African Republic President Faustin Archange Touadera said, adding that rich nations were to blame for the climate problem.

    “Climate change is directly threatening our people’s lives, health and future,” Kenyan President William K. Ruto said of the African continent, which he said is looking at $50 billion a year in climate change damage by 2050. Ruto said Kenya is choosing to not use many of its “dirty energy” resources even though it could help the poor nation financially, and has instead opted for cleaner fuels.

    Loss and damage “is our daily experience and the living nightmare of millions of Kenyans and hundreds of millions of Africans,” Ruto said.

    Seychelles President Wavel John Charles Ramkalawan said, “Like other islands, our contribution in the destruction of the planet is minimal. Yet we suffer the most.” He called on wealthier countries to assist in repairing the damage.

    Meanwhile, the mother of the Egyptian activist Abdel-Fattah, Laila Soueif, called for world leaders, including British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, to pressure the Egyptian government to free him.

    “The Egyptian authorities are your friends and proteges not your adversaries. If Alaa dies you too will have blood on your hands,” she said in a video message on Facebook.

    Soueif, a university professor, said she waited Monday outside the prison where Abdel-Fattah is held for a letter, but received nothing. She was planning to go to the prison Tuesday, hoping for proof her son is alive.

    Abdel-Fattah’s youngest siter, Sanaa Seif, is in the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh to raise the case of her brother and other jailed activists. She is scheduled to speak about Egypt’s human rights record in an event along with the Secretary General of Amnesty International Agnes Callamard.

    Sunak said he raised Abdel-Fattah’s case in his meeting Monday with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. Sunak said he would continue to “press for progress” in Abdel-Fattah’s case, according to Downing Street.

    ———

    Follow AP’s climate and environment coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment

    ———

    Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Asian benchmarks advance as markets watch China, inflation

    Asian benchmarks advance as markets watch China, inflation

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    TOKYO — Asian stocks advanced Monday as investors weighed uncertainties such as the U.S. mid-term elections and China‘s possible moves to ease coronavirus restrictions.

    Oil prices fell and U.S. futures edged lower.

    China reported its trade shrank in October as global demand weakened and anti-virus controls weighed on domestic consumer spending. Exports declined 0.3% from a year earlier, down from September’s 5.7% growth, the customs agency reported Monday. Imports fell 0.7%, compared with the previous month’s 0.3% expansion.

    Speculation about a possible relaxation of China’s zero-COVID strategy has had a huge impact on markets. On Monday, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gained 2.8% to 16,612.61 and the Shanghai Composite rose 0.2% to 3,077.85.

    There has been no official confirmation in China of a major change.

    “Over the weekend, Beijing has dashed hopes of China re-opening in the horizon, by reasserting of zero-COVID policies. And this could induce fresh caution,” Tan Boon Heng at Mizuho Bank in Singapore said in a report.

    In the U.S., Tuesday’s election will decide control of Congress and key governorships. History suggests the party in power may suffer significant losses in the midterms, and decades-high inflation has become a significant issue for the Democrats.

    Analysts say regional markets may take a wait-and-see approach ahead of the U.S. mid-term vote.

    Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped 1.2% to finish at 27,527.64. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.6% to 6,933.70. South Korea’s Kospi gained nearly 1.0% to 2,371.79.

    Shares rose in Taiwan and but edged lower in India.

    Wall Street stocks ended last week with a rally but only after yo-yoing several times. Market watchers had data on the U.S. jobs market to digest, considering what it might mean for interest rates and the odds of a recession.

    The S&P 500 recorded its first weekly loss in the last three, despite Friday’s gain 1.4% to 3,770.55. The Dow rose 1.3% to 32,403.22, and the Nasdaq climbed 1.3% to 10,475.25. Both also finished with losses for the week.

    The unemployment rate ticked higher in October, employers added fewer jobs than they had a month earlier and gains for workers’ wages slowed a touch. The slowdown was still more modest than economists expected. And so the Fed is expected to keep hiking rates.

    Fed Chair Jerome Powell has called out a still-hot jobs market as one of the reasons the central bank may ultimately have to raise rates higher than earlier thought. Such moves could cause a recession.

    The yield on the two-year Treasury fell to 4.68% from 4.72% late Thursday. The 10-year yield, which helps dictate rates for mortgages and other loans, edged higher to 4.16% from 4.15%.

    In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude fell $1.26 to $91.54 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, lost $1.18 cents in London to $97.39 a barrel.

    In currency trading, the U.S. dollar edged up to 147.29 Japanese yen from 146.92 yen. The euro rose to 99.43 cents from 99.15 cents.

    ———

    Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter https://twitter.com/yurikageyama

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  • China trade down on weak global demand, virus curbs

    China trade down on weak global demand, virus curbs

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    BEIJING — China’s trade shrank in October as global demand weakened and anti-virus controls weighed on domestic consumer spending.

    Exports declined 0.3% from a year earlier to $298.4 billion, down from September’s 5.7% growth, the customs agency reported Monday. Imports fell 0.7% to $213.4 billion, compared with the previous month’s 0.3% expansion.

    China’s global trade surplus edged up 0.9% from a year earlier to $85.2 billion.

    Forecasters expected Chinese trade to weaken as global demand cooled following interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve and other central banks to rein in surging inflation.

    At home, consumer demand has been hurt by a “Zero COVID” strategy that has repeatedly shut down large sections of cities to contain virus outbreaks. That has disrupted business and confined millions of people to their homes for weeks at a time.

    Economic growth picked up to 3.9% over a year earlier in the quarter ending in September from 2.2% in the first six months of 2022. But forecasters say activity is weakening as closures spread in response to a spike in infections.

    “The economy slowed again in October due to the tightened Covid controls as well as the slowing external demand,” said Larry Hu of Macquarie Group in a report.

    The downturn in Chinese demand hurts developing countries that supply oil, soybeans and other raw materials and the United States, Europe, Japan and other suppliers of consumer goods and microchips and other components and technology needed by manufacturers.

    Exports to the United States rose 35.3% over a year earlier to $47 billion despite lingering tariff hikes in a trade war over Beijing’s technology ambitions. Imports of U.S. goods rose $52.4% to $12.8 billion.

    China’s politically sensitive trade surplus with the United States swelled 29.9% to $34.2 billion.

    Imports from Russia, mostly oil and gas, more than doubled, rising 110.5% over a year ago to $10.2 billion.

    China can buy Russian energy exports without running afoul of sanctions imposed on President Vladimir Putin’s government by the United States, Europe and Japan. Beijing is stepping up purchases to take advantage of Russian discounts. That irks Washington and its allies by topping up the Kremlin’s cash flow and limiting the impact of sanctions.

    Exports to the 27-nation European Union edged up 5.5% to $44.1 billion while imports of European goods shrank 15.5% to $21.4 billion. China‘s surplus with the EU widened by 38.1% to $22.7 billion.

    For the first 10 months of the year, China’s exports rose 11.1% to $3 trillion while imports gained 3.5% to $2.3 trillion, the General Administration of Customs announced. The country’s trade surplus was $727.7 billion.

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  • Haiti gang leader to lift fuel blockade amid shortages

    Haiti gang leader to lift fuel blockade amid shortages

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    PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — A powerful gang leader announced Sunday that he was lifting a blockade at a key fuel terminal that has strangled Haiti’s capital for nearly two months.

    The announcement by Jimmy Cherizier, a former police officer nicknamed “Barbecue,” followed government claims of at least some success in efforts to reclaim the terminal, as well as a United Nations resolution targeting Cherizier with sanctions. But it remained unclear who actually controls the terminal and the surrounding area, and there had been no evidence that any fuel had been able to leave.

    In a speech posted on social media, Cherizier called on truck drivers to come and fill their tanks.

    “Drivers can come to the terminal without any fear,” he said.

    If fuel can leave, that would ease a crisis that began when Cherizier’s G9 gang federation seized control of the area surrounding a fuel depot in Port-au-Prince on Sept. 12 to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

    The gang’s blockade cut off access to about 10 millions gallons of diesel and gasoline and more than 800,000 gallons of kerosene, forcing gas stations to close, hospitals to cut back on critical services and banks and grocery stores to operate on a limited schedule.

    It also hindered efforts to cope with a cholera outbreak that has killed dozens and sickened thousands. Clinics have warned they were running out of fuel and had difficulty accessing potable water.

    Gunfire echoed from the area around the terminal on Thursday as Haiti’s National Police fought to reassert control. Police Chief Frantz Elbé said in a voicemail shared with The Associated Press on Friday: “We won a fight, but it is not over.”

    Official police social media accounts posted a video on Sunday with no sound stating officers were still “busy” at the terminal and saying “an important provision is taken to secure the perimeters.”

    Cherizier stressed that neither the gang nor anyone working on its behalf has negotiated anything with the prime minister, despite claims by some politicians to have done so.

    “This is a fight for a better life,” he said of the gang’s actions. “The situation has worsened. … We are not responsible for what happened to the country.”

    Cherizier then asked whether Haitians are happy with their living conditions, whether they feel safe, whether their children can go to school without being kidnapped and whether they have food and medical care.

    Many in the country of more than 11 million people are living in even deeper poverty at a time of double-digit inflation. Meanwhile, kidnappings and gang violence has increased following the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes.

    Spokespeople for Haiti’s National Police and the office of the prime minister could not be immediately reached for comment following Cherizier’s announcement.

    But some people on social media celebrated Cherizier’s announcement, referring to him as “Father” or “Mr. President.”

    In early September, Henry announced his administration could no longer afford to subsidize petroleum, leading to sharp increases in prices that unleashed large protests.

    On Oct. 7, almost a month after the blockade began, Henry requested the immediate deployment of foreign troops. The U.N. Security Council has yet to vote on the request, though it voted to impose sanctions on the gang leader himself.

    ———

    Associated Press writer Dánica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico contributed to this report.

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  • Macron welcomes French questions on climate ahead of COP27

    Macron welcomes French questions on climate ahead of COP27

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    PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron released a selfie video on social media platforms Saturday asking the public to send him questions about what France should do about climate change and biodiversity.

    Thousands of responses quickly poured in. Several were hostile or questioned his sincerity, but they also included rigorous questions about fossil fuel subsidies, sea pollution and nuclear energy.

    Macron, who will take part in the U.N. climate talks opening in Egypt on Sunday, promised to respond to the questions starting next week.

    In the video, he read from a letter from the public asking why he doesn’t declare an “environmental state of emergency.” He said the letter “prompted me to ask questions about what we are doing about this ecological challenge, the challenge of our generation.”

    Early in his presidency, Macron pledged to make tackling climate change issues a top priority, but he has come under widespread criticism for not instituting enough tangible change.

    At the COP27 talks in Egypt on Monday, Macron is expected to discuss climate-related financing, protecting forests, Africa’s Great Green Wall, and other climate adaptation measures, according to his office.

    He’s also expected to raise the importance — and challenge — of sticking to climate commitments as Europe faces an energy crisis stemming from Russia’s war in Ukraine.

    Those are all key issues at the climate talks at the Red Sea coastal resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, which are expected to include more than 120 world leaders and run from Nov. 6-18.

    Laurent Fabius, the French diplomat who presided over the U.N. talks in 2015 that produced the Paris climate agreement, made a plea Saturday to those gathering in Egypt: “Keep in mind that the most beautiful announcements mean nothing if they’re not backed up by precise and rapid policies and actions.”

    ———

    Follow AP’s climate and environment coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment

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  • Amid steep inflation, one thing is getting cheaper: cannabis

    Amid steep inflation, one thing is getting cheaper: cannabis

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    U.S. consumers continue to face the highest prices in decades for gasoline and other products, but if they’re in a state that allows sales of cannabis, at least they’re paying less for legal weed.

    Amid price rivalries — not only between legal cannabis companies but also against sales from the illicit market — the cost of wholesale pot has plunged and supply has climbed.

    The evidence is clear in the country’s largest legal cannabis market, California, which notched a whopping $1 billion in sales in the past year.

    California has seen cannabis prices as low as $100 a pound, a fraction of the average cost of $786 for an untrimmed, dried pound in the state, according to a report released Tuesday by Leafly.

    As farmers in California increased pot production by 63 metric tons, the value of the state’s weed harvest has dropped in the face of price competition.

    “Consumers are seeing unheard-of-bargains in 2022, with $20 retail eighths [of an ounce] now the norm,” Leafy said in its Cannabis Harvest Report.


    Leafly

    Currently 19 states and the District of Colombia allow sales of cannabis to adults, and initiatives are on the ballot in five more states.

    Also read: Cannabis legalization goes up for a vote Nov. 8 in five states with a combined adult population of 13 million

    While cheaper prices make cannabis more affordable for consumers, they’re not considered good news for cannabis operators.

    One of the largest U.S. cannabis companies, Green Thumb Industries Inc.
    GTBIF,
    +1.58%    ,
    earlier this week reported lower price compression its third-quarter results.

    Citing industry data from BDSA Analytics, Green Thumb CEO Ben Kovler said U.S. cannabis sales are up 3% while unit sales have risen 22%. That pricing dynamic “shows you the the price deflation” in cannabis, Kovler told MarketWatch.

    “Price deflation at a time with massive inflation it makes it hard to operate when costs go up,” Kovler said.

    Also read: Sean Combs seeks to boost minority representation in cannabis with $185 million deal

    To soften the impact of lower prices, Green Thumb focuses on the more lucrative premium end of the market. It has also worked to increase wholesale production efficiency and has taken an aggressive approach on procurement and goods purchases.

    The efforts helped the company generate gross margins slightly above its internal 50% target in its third-quarter results, even as it continues to face inflationary pressure on packaging and labor. 

    Fighting price competition

    As legal cannabis companies compete for market share while absorbing a range of costs including regulatory compliance efforts and taxes, sellers on the illicit market — who pay none of those costs — continue to undercut them.

    The U.S. Cannabis Council, an industry advocacy group, this week launched a Buy Legal campaign with backing from cannabis businesses — some of them minority-owned — to encourage adult cannabis consumers to purchase only from state-licensed businesses.

    The effort has drawn support from New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy as well as NBA veteran and cannabis entrepreneur Al Harrington, who is CEO of Viola.

    “Now more than ever it’s imperative to educate consumers on the importance of buying regulated, safe products,” Harrington said in a statement.

    The Buy Legal effort was unveiled just ahead of the Black CannaBiz Expo in New Orleans, which held a panel on the topic with Anacostia Organics Owner and CEO Linda Mercado Greene, as well as Josephine & Billies CEO Whitney Beatty and Keya Kellum, director of marketing and procurement at Harvest of Ohio.

    An industry with big numbers

    All told, legal U.S. cannabis farmers grew 2,834 metric tons of cannabis, according to the Leafly Cannabis Harvest Report 2022. The wholesale value of the market was about $5 billion.

    That figure makes cannabis the sixth-largest cash crop in the country after corn, soybeans, hay, wheat and cotton.

    After California, the states that generate the most dollars from legal wholesale cannabis are Colorado ($687 million), Michigan ($551 million) and Oregon ($500 million), according to the Leafly study.

    The 15 U.S. states that currently allow adult-use cannabis stores contain 13,297 active legal cannabis farms with tens of thousands of full-time workers, the study said.

    “The story in 2022 is all about rising production and falling prices,” the Leafly study said. “As the legal harvest continued to ramp up in legal states, the average price of cannabis fell over the past twelve months.”

    Jeremy Owens contributed to this article.

    Also read: Cannabis edibles company Wyld builds national footprint as it keeps hiring

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  • US sanctions Haitian politicians on drug trafficking claims

    US sanctions Haitian politicians on drug trafficking claims

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    WASHINGTON — Two Haitian politicians are facing U.S. sanctions over allegations they abused their positions to traffic drugs in collaboration with gang networks and directed others to engage in violence.

    The Treasury Department said Friday it was imposing sanctions on Haitian Senate President Joseph Lambert and former Sen. Youri Latortue. The two are accused of using their official roles to engage in the drug trade for decades. Lambert was also designated by the State Department for diplomatic sanctions and visa restrictions.

    Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that “there is credible information of Lambert’s involvement in a gross violation of human rights, namely an extrajudicial killing, during his government tenure.”

    He said the State Department is also designating Lambert’s spouse, Jesula Lambert Domond.

    The sanctions mean their U.S. property is blocked and American people and companies that do business with them could face penalties as well.

    Spokespeople for Lambert and Latortue did not immediately return WhatsApp messages seeking comment on Friday.

    The sanctions against Lambert and Latortue come as Haiti is embroiled in political violence and economic crisis.

    Last month, Eric Jean Baptiste, a former presidential candidate and leader of a political party in Haiti, was shot to death in the capital, Port-au-Prince, along with his bodyguard. Baptiste’s death stunned many in the destabilized island nation.

    Brian Nelson, Treasury’s under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said Lambert and Latortue “abused their official positions to traffic drugs and collaborated with criminal and gang networks to undermine the rule of law in Haiti.”

    “The United States and our international partners,” Nelson said, “will continue to take action against those who facilitate drug trafficking, enable corruption and seek to profit from instability in Haiti.”

    ———

    Associated Press writer Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed to this story.

    ———

    Follow the AP’s coverage of Haiti at https://apnews.com/hub/haiti.

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  • Pfizer-BioNTech bivalent booster shows higher immune response, but new COVID cases climb back above 40,000 a day

    Pfizer-BioNTech bivalent booster shows higher immune response, but new COVID cases climb back above 40,000 a day

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    First the good news: Pfizer Inc. and Germany-based partner BioNTech SE said updated trial data for their omicron BA.4/BA.5-adapted bivalent booster showed a “substantially higher” immune response in adults than the original COVID-19 vaccine.

    The companies said the Phase 2/3 clinical-trial data, collected one month after the boosters were given, also demonstrated that safety and tolerability profiles were similar to those of the original vaccine.

    The news sent Pfizer’s stock
    PFE,
    +0.51%
    rallying 1.7% and BioNTech’s U.S.-listed shares
    BNTX,
    +4.97%

    22UA,
    +4.11%
    surging 7.2% in morning trading.

    “As we head into the holiday season, we hope these updated data will encourage people to seek out a COVID-19 bivalent booster as soon as they are eligible in order to maintain high levels of protection against the widely circulating Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 sublineages,” said Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla.

    Only 8.4% of eligible Americans have received updated COVID booster shots, while 68.5% of the total population have completed the original primary series of vaccinations, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    The bivalent booster has been authorized for emergency use in the U.S. by the Food and Drug Administration for people age 5 and older and has also been granted marketing authorization in the European Union for those age 12 and older.

    In another piece of good news, Pfizer and BioNTech shares were also lifted by a report in The Wall Street Journal that the Chinese government has agreed to approve the companies’ COVID-19 vaccines for foreign residents in China and has also held talks to approve those vaccines for the broader population.

    Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that China was working on a plan to end the practice of penalizing airlines that bring COVID-infected people into the country.

    Both reports boost hopes that China is slowly moving toward ending its zero-COVID policy, which has crimped China’s economy and acted as a drag on global growth.

    Now for the bad news.

    The seven-day average of new COVID cases topped 40,000 for the first time in a month and hospitalizations have also ticked higher, with more than half of U.S. states showing increases over the past two weeks.

    According to a New York Times tracker, the daily average of new cases rose to 40,101 on Thursday from 38,208 on Wednesday, and was up 6% from 14 days ago.


    The New York Times

    Nevada has seen a 96% jump in daily cases, followed by Tennessee with a 69% increase and Louisiana with a 68% rise, leading the 28 states that saw cases increase over the past two weeks.

    Still, daily cases were less than one-third of the summer high of more than 130,000 reached during the surge of the BA.5 variant, the data show.

    Coronavirus Update: MarketWatch’s daily roundup has been curating and reporting all the latest developments every weekday since the coronavirus pandemic began

    The daily average of COVID-related hospitalizations rose 2% to 27,252, while the number of people with COVID in intensive-care units (ICUs) fell 2% to 3,110.

    The daily average of COVID-related deaths fell 6% to a four-month low of 339.

    On a global basis, the total number of COVID cases has increased to 631.91 million, while deaths have reached 6,598,197, according to data provided by Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. has seen a total of 97.69 million cases and 1,072,245 deaths.

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  • UN chief warns planet is heading toward `climate chaos’

    UN chief warns planet is heading toward `climate chaos’

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    UNITED NATIONS — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Thursday that the planet is heading toward irreversible “climate chaos” and urged global leaders at the upcoming climate summit in Egypt to put the world back on track to cut emissions, keep promises on climate financing and help developing countries speed their transition to renewable energy.

    The U.N. chief said the 27th annual Conference of the 198 Parties of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change — better known as COP27 — “must be the place to rebuild trust and re-establish the ambition needed to avoid driving our planet over the climate cliff.”

    He said the most important outcome of COP27, which begins Nov. 6 in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, is to have “a clear political will to reduce emissions faster.”

    That requires a historical pact between richer developed countries and emerging economies, Guterres said. “And if that pact doesn’t take place, we will be doomed.”

    In the pact, the secretary-general said, wealthier countries must provide financial and technical assistance – along with support from multilateral development banks and technology companies – to help emerging economies speed their renewable energy transition.

    Guterres said that in the last few weeks, reports have painted “a clear and bleak picture” of global-warming greenhouse gas emissions still growing at record levels instead of going down 45% by 2030 as scientists say must happen.

    The landmark Paris agreement adopted in 2015 to address climate change called for global temperatures to rise a maximum of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of the century compared to pre-industrial times, and as close as possible to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).

    Guterres said greenhouse gas emissions are now on course to rise by 10%, and temperatures are on course to rise by as much as 2.8 degrees Celsius under present policies by the end of the century.

    “And that means our planet is on course for reaching tipping points that will make climate chaos irreversible and forever bake in catastrophic temperature rise,” the secretary-general warned.

    He said the 1.5 degree goal “is in intensive care” and “in high danger,” but it’s still possible to meet it. “And my objective in Egypt is to make sure that we gather enough political will to make this possibility really moving forward,” the U.N. chief said.

    “COP27 must be the place to close the ambition gap, the credibility gap and the solidarity gap,” Guterres said. “It must put us back on track to cutting emissions, boosting climate resilience and adaptation, keeping the promise on climate finance and addressing loss and damage from climate change.”

    Rich countries, especially the United States, have emitted far more than their share of heat-trapping carbon dioxide from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas, data shows. Poor nations like Pakistan, where recent floods left a third of the country under water, have been hurt far more than their share of global carbon emissions.

    Loss and damage has been talked about for years, but richer nations have often balked at negotiating details about paying for past climate disasters, like Pakistan’s flooding this summer.

    “Loss and damage have been the always-postponed issue,” Guterres said. “There is no more time to postpone it. We must recognize loss and damage and we must create an institutional framework to deal with it.”

    The secretary-general said Thursday that “getting concrete results on loss and damage is the litmus test of the commitment of the governments to close all of these gaps.”

    “COP27 must lay the foundations for much faster, bolder climate action now and in this crucial decade, when the global climate fight will be won or lost,” Guterres said.

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  • Stocks end lower as the Fed continues to fight inflation

    Stocks end lower as the Fed continues to fight inflation

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    NEW YORK — Stocks racked up more losses on Wall Street and Treasury yields again rose to multiyear highs Thursday as investors looked ahead to a closely watched job market report from the government that could influence the Federal Reserve’s next move in its fight to bring down inflation.

    Technology stocks led the market pullback, which came a day after the central bank raised its benchmark rate for the sixth time this year and signaled that it may need to keep hiking rates for some time before its can successfully squash the highest inflation in decades.

    The S&P 500 fell 1.1%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.5%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite closed 1.7% lower. The declines extended the major indexes’ losing streak to a fourth day. They’re each on pace for a weekly loss.

    Expectations of higher rates helped push up Treasury yields, weighing on stocks. The two-year Treasury note, which tends to track expectations for future Fed moves, rose to 4.72% from 4.61% late Wednesday and is now at its highest level since 2007, according to Tradeweb.

    The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.15% from 4.09% late Wednesday. The rise in the 10-year Treasury yield has prompted mortgage rates to more than double this year and it continues putting pressure on stocks.

    The Fed on Wednesday added another jumbo rate increase and suggested that the pace of rate hikes may slow. The central bank also indicated that interest rates might need to ultimately go even higher than previously thought in order to tame the worst inflation in decades.

    The central bank’s latest three-quarters of a percentage point raise brings short-term interest rates to a range of 3.75% to 4%, its highest level in 15 years. Wall Street is evenly split on whether the central bank ultimately raises rates to a range of 5% to 5.25% or 5.25% to 5.50% next year.

    Higher rates not only slow the economy by discouraging borrowing, they also make stocks look less appealing compared to lower-risk assets like bonds and CDs.

    Stubbornly hot inflation has been prompting central banks around the world to also raise interest rates. On Thursday, the Bank of England announced its biggest interest rate increase in three decades. The increase is the Bank of England’s eighth in a row and the biggest since 1992.

    European and Asian markets closed mostly lower.

    In the U.S., the S&P 500 fell 39.80 points to 3,719.89. The Dow lost 146.51 points to close at 32,001.25. The Nasdaq slid 181.86 points to 10,342.94. Smaller company stocks also lost ground. The Russell 2000 fell 9.41 points, or 0.5%, to 1,779.73.

    Technology and communication services stocks were among the biggest weights on the market. Apple fell 4.2% and Warner Bros. Discovery slid 5.6%.

    Those losses kept gains in industrial, energy and other sectors in check. Boeing jumped 6.3% and Marathon Petroleum rose 3%.

    Investors had been hoping for economic data signaling that the Fed might ease up on rate increases. The fear is that the Fed will go too far in slowing the economy and bring on a recession.

    Hotter-than-expected data from the employment sector this week has so far signaled that the Fed has to remain aggressive. On Friday, Wall Street will get a broader update from the U.S. government’s October jobs report.

    So far, hiring and wage growth have not fallen fast enough for the Fed to slow its inflation-fighting efforts. If the October data shows a stronger-than-expected rise in hiring or wages, that could put pressure on the Fed to keep raising interest rates.

    The Labor Department is expected to report that nonfarm employers added 200,000 jobs last month. That would be the worst showing since December 2020, when the economy lost 115,000 jobs.

    Investors will also be looking ahead to the latest data on inflation at the consumer level. That report, the consumer price index, is due out next week.

    “The next two or three quarters are incredibly important in assessing how far the Federal Reserve will need to go to achieve their objective of bringing down inflation,” said Bill Northey, senior investment director at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. “Why the CPI data is so important, why the labor report is so important, is because they feed into that next six-month cycle.”

    Wall Street has also been closely watching the latest company earnings reports. The reports have been mixed and many companies have warned that inflation will likely continue pressuring operations.

    Booking Holdings rose 2.7% after reporting strong third-quarter financial results. Robinhood Markets climbed 8.2% after the investing app operator reported third-quarter earnings that topped Wall Street’s forecasts. Chipmaker Qualcomm fell 7.7% after giving investors a weak profit and revenue forecast.

    ——

    Joe McDonald and Matt Ott contributed to this report.

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  • Weekly tally of COVID cases and deaths continues to fall; Moderna lowers vaccine-sales outlook by as much as $3 billion

    Weekly tally of COVID cases and deaths continues to fall; Moderna lowers vaccine-sales outlook by as much as $3 billion

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    The global tally of COVID-19 cases fell 17% in the week through Oct. 30 from the previous week, while the death toll fell 5%, the World Health Organization said in its weekly update on the virus.

    The omicron variant BA.5 remained dominant globally, accounting for 74.9% of cases sent to a central database. WHO reiterated that newer sublineages of omicron, including BQ.1 and XBB, still appear no more lethal than earlier ones and do not warrant the designation of “variant of concern.”

    But BQ.1 rose in prevalence to 9.0% globally from 5.7% a week ago, while XBB rose to 1.5% from 1.0%.

    “WHO will continue to closely monitor the XBB and BQ.1 lineages as part of omicron and requests countries to continue to be vigilant, to monitor and report sequences, as well as to conduct independent and comparative
    analyses of the different omicron sublineages,” the agency wrote.

    WHO has cautioned that changes in testing and reduced surveillance of the virus are making some of the numbers unreliable and has urged leaders to renew efforts to monitor and track developments.

    In the U.S., known cases of COVID remain at their lowest level since mid-April, although the true tally is likely higher given how many people overall are testing at home, where data are not being collected.

    The daily average for new cases stood at 39,090 on Wednesday, according to a New York Times tracker, up 3% versus two weeks ago. The daily average for hospitalizations was up 2% to 27,161, while the daily average for deaths was down 6% to 345. 

    But cases are climbing in some states, raising concerns among health experts. In Nevada, cases are up 92% from two weeks ago, followed by Missouri, where they are up 75%, Tennessee, where they are up 69%, Louisiana, where they are up 68%, and New Mexico, where they have climbed 54%.

    Physicians are reporting high numbers of respiratory illnesses like RSV and the flu earlier than the typical winter peak. WSJ’s Brianna Abbott explains what the early surge means for the coming winter months. Photo illustration: Kaitlyn Wang

    Coronavirus Update: MarketWatch’s daily roundup has been curating and reporting all the latest developments every weekday since the coronavirus pandemic began

    Other COVID-19 news you should know about:

    • COVID vaccine maker Moderna
    MRNA,
    -2.21%
    posted far weaker-than-expected third-quarter earnings on Thursday and lowered full-year sales guidance by up to $3 billion. The Cambridge, Mass.-based biotech firm said advance purchase agreements, or APAs, for delivery this year are now expected to total $18 billion to $19 billion of product sales, down from guidance of $21 billion that it provided when it reported second-quarter earnings. The FactSet consensus is for full-year sales of $21.3 billion. For fiscal 2023, Moderna has APAs of $4.5 billion to $5.5 billion. The FactSet consensus for 2023 sales is for $9.4 billion.

    • Virax Biolabs Group Ltd.
    VRAX,
    +36.26%
    stock jumped after the biotechnology company said its triple-virus antigen rapid test kit, which tests for RSV, influenza and COVID, has been launched in the European Union, Dow Jones Newswires reported. The test kit, which can be used in both at-home and point-of-care settings, has also been launched in other markets that accept the CE mark, Virax Biolabs said.

    Testing sewage to track viruses has drawn renewed interest after recent outbreaks of diseases like monkeypox and polio. WSJ visited a wastewater facility to find out how the testing works and what it can tell us about public health. Photo illustration: Ryan Trefes

    • Royal Caribbean Group
    RCL,
    +4.11%
    posted its first quarterly profit since the start of the pandemic, but the cruise-line company said it expected a loss for the current quarter, sending its stock lower on Thursday. Load factors were 96% overall and booking volumes were “significantly higher” than in the same period of prepandemic 2019, as the easing of testing and vaccination protocols provided a boost. For the fourth quarter, the company expects adjusted per-share losses of $1.30 to $1.50, compared with the FactSet loss consensus of 71 cents, and projects revenue of “approximately” $2.6 billion, below the FactSet consensus of $2.7 billion. 

    • The death of a 3-year-old boy in northwestern China following a suspected gas leak at a locked-down residential compound has triggered a fresh wave of outrage at the country’s stringent zero-COVID policy, CNN reported. The boy’s father said in a social media post on Wednesday that COVID workers tried to prevent him from leaving their compound in Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province, to seek treatment for his child, resulting in what he believes was a fatal delay. The post was met with an outpouring of public anger and grief, with several related hashtags racking up hundreds of millions of views over the following day on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform.

    Here’s what the numbers say:

    The global tally of confirmed cases of COVID-19 topped 631.4 million on Thursday, while the death toll rose above 6.59 million, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University.

    The U.S. leads the world with 97.6 million cases and 1,071,582 fatalities.

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s tracker shows that 226.9 million people living in the U.S., equal to 68.4% of the total population, are fully vaccinated, meaning they have had their primary shots.

    So far, just 22.8 million Americans have had the updated COVID booster that targets the original virus and the omicron variants, equal to 7.3% of the overall population.

     

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  • Bank of England makes biggest interest rate hike in 30 years

    Bank of England makes biggest interest rate hike in 30 years

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    LONDON — The Bank of England made its biggest interest rate increase in three decades Thursday, joining the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks worldwide in rapid hikes as it tries to beat back stubbornly high inflation fueled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the disastrous economic policies of former Prime Minister Liz Truss.

    The central bank boosted its key rate by three-quarters of a percentage point, to 3%, after consumer price inflation returned to a 40-year high in September. The aggressive move comes even as the bank predicted a two-year economic contraction through June 2024, which would be the longest recession since at least 1955, according to the Office for National Statistics.

    “If we don’t take action to bring inflation down, it gets worse,” Bank of England Gov. Andrew Bailey told reporters. “There’s no easy outcome in this sense.”

    Even so, the central bank should not increase its key rate too far, he said, but with uncertainties ahead, policymakers will “respond forcefully” if needed.

    The interest rate decision is the first since Truss’ government announced 45 billion pounds ($52 billion) of unfunded tax cuts that sparked turmoil on financial markets, pushed up mortgage costs and forced Truss from office after just six weeks. Her successor, Rishi Sunak, has warned of spending cuts and tax increases as he seeks to undo the damage and show that Britain is committed to paying its bills.

    “High energy, food and other bills are hitting people hard. Households have less to spend on other things. This has meant that the size of the UK economy has started to fall,” the bank said in its November monetary policy report.

    The rate increase is the Bank of England’s eighth in a row and the biggest since 1992. It comes after the U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday announced a fourth consecutive three-quarter point jump as central banks worldwide combat inflation that is eroding living standards and slowing economic growth.

    Central banks have struggled to contain inflation after initially believing that price increases were being fueled by international factors beyond their control. Their response intensified in recent months as it became clear that inflation was becoming embedded in the economy, feeding through into higher borrowing costs and demands for higher wages.

    The war in Ukraine boosted food and energy prices worldwide as shipments of natural gas, grain and cooking oil were disrupted. That added to inflation that began to accelerate last year when the global economy began to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Europe has been particularly hard hit by a jump in natural gas prices as Russia responded to Western sanctions and support for Ukraine by curtailing shipments of the fuel used to heat homes, generate electricity and power industry and European nations competed for alternative supplies on global markets.

    The U.K. also has struggled as wholesale gas prices increased fivefold in the 12 months through August. While prices have dropped more than 50% since the August peak, they are likely to rise again during the winter heating season, worsening inflation.

    The British government sought to shield consumers with a cap on energy prices. But after the turmoil caused by Truss’ economic policies, Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt limited the price cap to six months instead of two years, ending on March 31.

    Meanwhile, food prices have jumped 14.6% in the year through September, led by the soaring cost of staples such as meat, bread, milk and eggs, the Office for National Statistics said. That pushed consumer price inflation back to 10.1%, the highest since early 1982 and equal to the level last reached in July.

    Increases in the cost of tea bags, milk and sugar mean that even the “humble” cup of tea, which people across the country turn to when they need a break from the pressures of daily life, is getting more expensive, the British Retail Consortium said Wednesday.

    “While some supply chain costs are beginning to fall, this is more than offset by the cost of energy, meaning a difficult time ahead for retailers and households alike,” said Helen Dickinson, the consortium’s chief executive.

    Truss’ failed economic plan made things worse, driving the pound to a record low against the dollar, threatening the stability of some pension funds and triggering predictions that the Bank of England would boost interest rates higher than expected. That increased mortgage costs as lenders repriced their products.

    The economic turmoil is putting homeownership further out of reach for many young people, according to research released this week by Hamptons, a U.K. real estate agency.

    Mortgage rates average around 6.5%, compared with 2% a year ago.

    That means the average first-time homebuyer would have to make a down payment equal to 41% of the purchase price to keep their monthly repayments at the same level as a similar buyer who made a 10% down payment last year, Hamptons said.

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