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SYDNEY — Australia's central bank raised interest rates more than expected on Tuesday and warned of more increases as officials try to rein in "significantly" high inflation.

Governor Philip Lowe said the Reserve Bank's main lending rate would go up half a percentage point to 0.85 per cent, surprising analysts who had tipped a quarter point lift.

He also said "extraordinary" support for the economy via low rates would continue to be unwound.

The move comes as inflation has seen the price of lettuce increase 300 per cent and sent already sky-high house prices in major cities soaring by a quarter since the start of the pandemic.

"While inflation is lower than in most other advanced economies, it is higher than earlier expected," Lowe said.

"Global factors, including COVID-related disruptions to supply chains and the war in Ukraine, account for much of this increase in inflation," he added, while warning that "domestic factors are playing a role, too".

The governor cited a tight labour market and widespread floods as local reasons helping inflation rise to 5.1 per cent.

The pandemic forced Australia's economy into its first recession in a generation, and the recovery has been patchy.

Rate rises hit hard in a country where debt levels from pricey mortgages are particularly high.

Lowe said the bank would be looking closely to see if that dual shock causes consumption to decrease more than expected.

He also warned that there were concerns about the global outlook, with Russia's war in Ukraine pushing energy and agricultural prices higher.

"There are also ongoing uncertainties related to COVID, especially in China," the bank said.

JUNÍN, Ecuador — On the banks of a crystalline waterfall, biologist Andrea Teran lets out a yelp.

She holds in the palm of her hand one of two frog species at the centre of a legal battle against Ecuador's mining industry.

Teran, 37, is a specialist in the fragile existence of a creature called the Resistance Rocket Frog, which does not yet have a scientific name, and the Longnose Harlequin (Atelopus longirostris), which was believed extinct for 30 years.

The discovery several years ago of these two tiny frogs measuring no more than four centimeters has become the central argument in opposition to a proposed nearly 5,000 hectare mining project in a native forest in Junin, Imbabura province, around three-and-a-half hours north of Quito.

The Longnose Harlequin reappeared in 2016.

"It was a frog that came back from the dead," said an emotional Teran, whom AFP accompanied on an expedition in this forest area following a two-hour walk.

"If the water is polluted [by mining] the last populations of this frog will be lost," said the biologist from the Jambatu Centre dedicated to the study and conservation of amphibians.

The Longnose Harlequin is extinct according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's red list.

But scientists rediscovered traces of life in this forest where the mineral exploitation license was granted to Ecuador's Enami and Chile's Codelco. They are due to begin in 2024 to extract 210,000 tonnes of copper a year.

In Ecuador, which launched a massive mining exploitation operation in 2019, there are at least 12 projects at advanced stages to mine reserves of 43.7 million ounces of gold, 46 billion pounds of copper and 183 million ounces of silver, according to the Spurrier Group consultancy.

But the 2019 discovery of a new species of rock frog has only intensified the desire to protect its forest habitat.

Last hope 

In 2020, Teran launched a legal battle to prevent the mining project from going ahead.

Although she succeeded in the first instance, she then lost on appeal.

But the mining concession has also been challenged by a collective of Junin residents pointing to errors in the environmental impact studies, such as the lack of a protection plan for the two frog species.

"There are so many mistakes. They are violating the rights of nature, and on top of that the documents were never correctly communicated to the community and there was no environmental consultation," the file's lawyer Mario Moncayo told AFP.

But a judge rejected the claim of oversights.

Defenders of these two frogs can still appeal, which is perhaps their last hope of halting the mining project.

Contacted by AFP, both the government and the mining companies refused to comment.

No solutions 

When the Jambatu Centre scientists came across the new rocket frog species they initially mistook it for one called the Confusing Rocket Frog (Ectopoglossus confusus).

However, an anatomical difference in its tongue was found, and genetic studies allowed experts to identify it as a completely new Ectopoglossus species that they named "resistance".

"It lives in unique conditions, with the sound of the waterfall we don't know how it communicates, we don't know anything about its reproductive biology," said Teran.

Their skin contains great medicinal potential, and renders them extremely sensitive to environmental changes.

They are thus considered bioindicators, meaning that if the ecosystem is affected, they could disappear.

Protection of nature is enshrined in the constitution of Ecuador, which has 650 known species of frogs, 60 per cent of which are in danger of extinction.

But the South American country derives 6 per cent of its GDP from its oil and mining industries, according to the Central Bank.

"We are in a mega-diverse region and the decisions taken have to be mega-responsible", said Teran.

It's an issue that divides opinion in Junin.

"If authorities value the species that live here then they need to halt" the mining project, said farmer Hugo Ramirez, 40.

But for carpenter Pedro Vallejos, 63, environmentalists are offering no solutions to end poverty.

"There's no employment in the countryside, there are no alternatives," he said.

SAN FRANCISCO — General Motor's autonomous vehicle unit Cruise says it will deploy driverless taxis in San Francisco in a first for a major US city.

Cruise announced the plans for a ride hailing service using self-driving electric cars after the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) issued it a permit to give rides without anyone in the driver's seat.

"This means that Cruise will be the first and only company to operate a commercial, driverless ride-hail service in a major US city," Chief Operating Officer Gil West said in a blog post late Thursday.

"We'll begin rolling out fared rides gradually."

The permit allows Cruise to use its fleet of 30 electric, autonomous cars in a taxi service in some parts of San Francisco.

The robotaxis are not to go faster than 48 kilometres per hour and have a green light to only operate between late morning and early evening, barring foul weather such as thick fog or heavy rain, the CPUC permit states.

"Crossing the threshold into commercial operations isn't just big news for Cruise alone," West said.

"It is a major milestone for the shared mission of the [autonomous vehicle] industry to improve life in our cities."

Self-driving, electric car services promise to reduce pollution, and save people time and money, West added.

San Francisco police earlier this year faced an unprecedented problem when an officer stopped a car that was driving at night with no headlights on, only to discover there was no one inside. 

The vehicle, it turned out, was a self-driving Cruise car, and the police officer's encounter was captured by a passerby, who posted video on social media.

Cruise took to Twitter to say that the self-driving car "yielded to the police vehicle, then pulled over to the nearest safe location for the traffic stop, as intended. An officer contacted Cruise personnel and no citation was issued".

Cruise explained that the headlights were turned off due to human error.

Founded in 2013, Cruise has developed software that allows cars to drive themselves completely autonomously. 

General Motors owns the majority of shares in the company, valued at more than $30 billion thanks to investments by companies such as Microsoft, Honda and Walmart. 

Cruise rival Waymo last year expanded its robotaxi service to riders in San Francisco, but has "specialists" at the steering wheels to take over driving if needed.

The move expanded a Waymo ride-hailing programme which has been operating in Phoenix, Arizona since 2017.

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia aims to triple foreign tourism this year as pandemic restrictions ease, hajj pilgrims return and the first elements of the crown prince's signature projects open, its tourism minister said on Sunday.

The kingdom inaugurated tourist visas in September 2019, just months before the coronavirus pandemic decimated the industry, globally. 

An uptick in domestic travel in 2020 and 2021 — authorities tallied a record 64 million "domestic visits" last year — helped save the nascent Saudi tourism sector from collapse, and now authorities want to seize more of the international market, Ahmed Al Khateeb said in an interview. 

"Now we are pushing and moving to attract more... international visitors," he said, specifying the goal for this year was 12 million, up from 4 million in 2021. 

"We are back and we are very optimistic. Countries started to open their borders, restrictions started to ease down and people started to travel," he said. 

Saudi Arabia has raised eyebrows with its goal of attracting 100 million visitors by 2030, an element of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman's Vision 2030 reform agenda intended to diversify the oil-dependent economy and open up to the world. 

While the kingdom has in recent years relaxed rules barring cinemas, gender-mixed concerts and sporting extravaganzas, other regulations including an alcohol ban remain in place. 

Khateeb specified during the interview that of the 100 million targeted visitors for 2030, 30 million are meant to come from abroad while the rest would be people travelling within Saudi Arabia. 

Some 30 million visits will be religious trips by both residents and foreigners, largely to Mecca and Medina, Islam's two holiest sites.

Next month authorities plan to allow one million pilgrims to perform the hajj, after two years in which the coronavirus pandemic forced drastic limits on numbers for the annual ritual. 

Another high-profile feature of the tourism push is so-called giga-projects spearheaded by Prince Mohammed, including the $500 billion futuristic megacity known as NEOM and Diriyah, the seat of the first Saudi state which is being redeveloped as a heritage and entertainment destination. 

A restaurant district in Diriyah is set to open in September, while other elements of such projects will come online "from 2025 onwards", Khateeb said. 

"This is a new level of tourism which does not exist today," said Khateeb who sits on the board of NEOM.

"Saudi Arabia will change the tourism landscape globally... the destinations that Saudi will offer by 2030, it's something completely different," he added.

NEW YORK — Tesla shares fell on Friday following a report that its chief executive Elon Musk wants to trim headcount due to the uncertain economic outlook.

Musk said in an email to executives that he has a "super bad feeling" about the economy, according to a report from Reuters, adding that the electric automaker should pause all hiring and cut about 10 per cent of jobs.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a query from AFP. 

The statement is the latest from a business leader warning about a slowdown as the Federal Reserve moves aggressively to tighten monetary policy in response to inflation, stoking recession fears.

Tesla had a little more than 100,000 employees at the end of 2021.

CFRA Research analyst Garrett Nelson called the timing of Musk's e-mail "somewhat odd" considering that Tesla is ramping up new factories in Austin, Texas and Germany.

"But we think Musk wants to get ahead of the curve in terms of a slowdown across the highly cyclical auto industry," said Nelson in a note, adding that most of the job cuts could come in Shanghai, where China's zero-tolerance COVID-19 policy has weighed on production.

Shares of Tesla fell 5.6 per cent to $730.49 in early trading on Friday.

WASHINGTON — US businesses slowed hiring in May, amid an ongoing struggle to find workers and high inflation, according to an industry survey on Thursday.

Payroll services firm ADP said private employment rose by 128,000 positions last month, far less than economists expected and well below from April's total.

The survey is considered a preview of the key government jobs report which is due to be out on Friday.

Although unemployment has fallen nearly to the level seen before COVID-19 caused mass layoffs two years ago, ADP's data could foreshadow weaker hiring last month in the US economy.

"Under a backdrop of a tight labor market and elevated inflation, monthly job gains are closer to prepandemic levels," ADP Chief Economist Nela Richardson said in a statement.

Hiring has started to level off across all industries, though she said small businesses "remain a source of concern as they struggle to keep up with larger firms that have been booming as of late".

Businesses with less than 50 employees actually shed workers for the fourth month in a row, with the smallest firms struggling most, and the losses have picked up speed, according to the report.

The US economy has seen consumer prices surge at the fastest pace in more than 40 years as supply chain snarls brought on by the pandemic were exacerbated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, while a scarcity of workers pushes up wages.

The Federal Reserve (Fed) has started aggressively raising interest rates to cool the economy, raising the benchmark lending rate three quarters of a percentage point since March and signalling more big increases are coming.

ADP said large businesses added the bulk of the new positions last month, with 122,000 new hires.

The dominant service sector was the biggest source of the job gains, with 104,000, as the smaller goods-producing sector gained just 24,000.

Most of those roles in services were in education and health, which added 46,000. Leisure and hospitality, which includes bars and restaurants that suffered greatly during the pandemic, saw significantly reduced growth from April, adding only 17,000.

Rubeela Farooqi of High Frequency Economics said despite the shortage of employees, job growth should "remain on an upward trajectory".

"But the pace is likely to slow as the Fed continues to raise rates over the coming months," she said in an analysis.

LONDON — Global stock markets wavered on Wednesday, as traders digested data showing that runaway inflation shows no sign of easing.

Oil rallied after a sharp fall following a report that the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was considering suspending Russia from an output deal, which observers said could allow producers to pump more.

Equities have enjoyed a largely healthy run of late on hopes that inflation could be nearing a peak and a sell-off across markets may have run its course.

The easing of some lockdown measures in China added to the optimism.

But investors were brought down to earth with a bump on Tuesday after data showed that eurozone inflation hit a record high in May on rocketing energy costs.

The news puts extra pressure on the European Central Bank to act faster to rein in prices by hiking interest rates, along with the Bank of England and the US Federal Reserve.

"Investors took a pause for breath after the recent rally as the spectre of inflation continues to loom large," said Richard Hunter, an analyst at investment platform interactive investor.

In mid-afternoon trading, shares in Frankfurt and Paris were slightly higher and London flatlined.

Wall Street stocks began June on a high note, rising early in the session.

Markets remain fearful as the Ukraine conflict fuels massive price gains for energy and food, translating into spiking inflation — and damaging the post-pandemic global economic recovery.

"There are heightened concerns around inflation and where central banks are likely to go trying to combat inflation," Kristina Hooper of Invesco Advisers told Bloomberg Radio.

"This has gone from just an inflation scare to a growth scare. Uncertainty has grown."

Oil rebounds 

Equities were mixed in Asia, with traders shrugging off a further easing of lockdown restrictions in China that many hope will give a much-needed boost to the world's number two economy.

Hong Kong and Shanghai slipped along with Taipei, Bangkok, Mumbai and Manila, though Tokyo, Sydney, Singapore and Wellington rose.

The oil market rebounded after tanking by more than 4 per cent late Tuesday in reaction to a Wall Street Journal report that OPEC was considering removing Russia from an agreement that has locked producers into limited output increases.

Moscow's removal would mean an early end to the pact and allow major crude nations such as Saudi Arabia to open the taps, analysts said.

"If there's any confirmation from OPEC+ members that the absence of Russia is being discussed, then prices can drop to as low as $100," said Will Sungchil Yun, at VI Investment Corp. 

On Thursday, the 13 members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their 10 partners — who make up OPEC+ — are due to hold their monthly talks on output increases.

SINGAPORE — Long queues at stalls selling a popular chicken dish, increasing prices and warnings about supply disruptions — Singaporeans are in a flap due to curbs on poultry exports from neighbouring Malaysia. 

Malaysia's move to halt exports of 3.6 million chickens a month is the latest protectionist move in Asia aimed at tackling domestic shortages and taming surging inflation.

But the surprise step has caused consternation in Singapore, a tiny city-state that relies on its larger neighbour for a good chunk of food imports, including around a third of its chicken. 

Of particular concern is the impact on chicken rice, a hugely popular dish of poached chicken, rice and chili dip, often sold at the city-state's ubiquitous open-air food courts. 

Chicken prices "will definitely go up", said Foo Kui Lian, founder of Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice, one of the best-known stalls selling the dish in Singapore. 

"If [suppliers] raise prices by a lot we would have to raise ours a bit, or it'll be difficult for us to survive."

A day before the export curbs kicked in, a long queue formed at the stall as diners sought to get a taste of the dish before a feared surge in prices. 

Office worker Meilan Lim was among those who bought the dish ahead of the restrictions.

"Even though I'm not really a chicken rice person, it's just that sometimes you do have the craving," she said.

"So if [the ban is] going to be lasting for a while, it's going to be a problem for me."

Some stall holders have already hiked their prices, and officials are warning about disruptions to chicken supplies. 

The city-state's food agency has advised consumers to buy only what they need, consider buying frozen instead of refrigerated chicken, or shift to different kinds of meat.

Most chickens from Malaysia are imported to Singapore alive, and then slaughtered and chilled there. Frozen chicken is often imported from other countries, including Brazil. 

Like many other countries, Malaysia is battling rising inflation, particularly when it comes to food, which prompted it to impose the curbs. 

But Singapore — which has had a fractious relationship with Kuala Lumpur for decades — is also facing rising prices, with inflation at a decade-high. 

Other countries that have taken protectionist measures include India, which banned wheat exports and Indonesia, which temporarily halted palm oil shipments. 

The moves come as concerns grow worldwide about food insecurity caused by supply chain snarls, climate change and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a major grain producer.