Business

WASHINGTON — Google said on Thursday it would expand its programme of verification of advertisers on its platform as part of an effort to weed out fraud and "bad actors."

      The internet giant and global leader in digital advertising said it would start by verifying advertisers in phases in the United States and expand the programme globally.

      The move builds on Google's efforts launched in 2018 to verify political advertisers with a requirement to indicate where they are located.

      Google's action comes amid growing concerns over ads promoting fraud or fake treatment for coronavirus, among other things.

      "As part of this initiative, advertisers will be required to complete a verification program in order to buy ads on our network," Google's ads integrity chief John Canfield said in a blog post.

      "Advertisers will need to submit personal identification, business incorporation documents or other information that proves who they are and the country in which they operate."

      With the change, which will take "a few years" to complete, according to Canfield, users will be able to click on a link to get information about specific advertisers.

      "This change will make it easier for people to understand who the advertiser is behind the ads they see from Google and help them make more informed decisions when using our advertising controls," he said.

      "It will also help support the health of the digital advertising ecosystem by detecting bad actors and limiting their attempts to misrepresent themselves."

DUBAI — Air traffic in the Middle East and North Africa is set to plummet by more than half this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, a global aviation body said on Thursday.

      "Airlines in the Middle East continue to be battered by the impact of COVID-19," said Muhammad Albakri of the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

      "Passenger traffic has all but ground to a halt and revenue streams have evaporated."

      Albakri, the IATA's vice-president for Africa and the Middle East said traffic would fall by at least 51 per cent compared to last year.

      MENA airlines' revenues slashed by $24.5 billion, he added.

      Almost all the MENA region's 19 state-owned airlines and a dozen private carriers have been grounded amid strict measures to combat the spread of the coronavirus, including halting air traffic.

      A few airlines have continued or resumed limited operations, including Qatar Airways, Emirates Airline and Etihad.

      The International Civil Aviation Organisation, a UN agency, said on Wednesday that the pandemic could mean 1.2 billion fewer air passengers worldwide by September.

      The IATA, an industry association, said the Middle East's aviation shutdown threatens some 1.2 million jobs -- 300,000 thousand more than a previous estimate three weeks ago and half the total jobs in the industry.

      The estimates are based on a scenario that severe travel restrictions will last three months, before being gradually lifted for domestic flights, followed by regional and intercontinental services.

      To minimise the damage to MENA economies, IATA urged governments to offer airlines direct financial support, loans and tax relief.

      The body said it is meeting virtually this week with governments and airlines to ensure that the sector is ready to resume operations when the pandemic is contained.

      "Starting up will be complicated. We need to make sure that the system is ready, have a clear vision of what is needed for a safe travel experience," Albakri said.

LONDON — Oil prices made a spectacular comeback on Thursday as fresh US-Iran tensions erupted while equities were slow to build on recent gains as data provided proof of a dire economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

      At one point the US crude oil benchmark WTI was up by 20 per cent on the day, having earlier this week plunged below zero.

      "Heightened risk in the Middle East" triggered the upturn, said Phillip Futures, after US President Donald Trump tweeted he had "instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea".

      Iran, meanwhile, said it put its first military satellite into orbit. Washington alleges the space programme is a cover to develop ballistic missiles.

      The tensions offset news of another surge in US crude stockpiles as the pandemic crushes demand for energy.

      "Oil prices are enjoying another little bounce on Thursday but don't be fooled, at these levels, the percentage change can be very misleading," cautioned Craig Erlam, an analyst at Oanda.

      Things were looking up "as the price doesn't start with a minus", he said, "but I wouldn't bet against visiting those depths again".

       'Unprecedented' collapse

      Equity markets posted slight gains on both sides of the Atlantic, but traders were nervous as bad economic news kept pouring in.

      The eurozone economy headed by Germany is suffering an "unprecedented" collapse according to a PMI index released Thursday by analysis firm IHS Markit.

      The company's purchasing manager's index (PMI) dived to a record low in April, confirming private sector gloom that is savaging the 19-nation eurozone.

      Markets were not too hopeful as they looked to a meeting of EU leaders who were expected to hammer out a plan to help their economies, but not without much bickering.

      In a further sign of the battle ahead for governments, a gauge of Japan's services sector on Thursday came in at a record low for April and pointed to a deep contraction, while a measure of factory activity dropped to its lowest since the financial crisis 11 years ago.

      Data showed South Korea's economy contracted 1.4 per cent in January-February, its worst number since 2008.

MUMBAI — Facebook has taken a $5.7 billion stake in the Jio digital platforms business of India's richest man Mukesh Ambani in one of the biggest foreign investments in the country, the companies said on Wednesday.

      The deal will give the US social media giant a 10 per cent stake in Jio Platforms, part of Ambani's oil-to-telecoms Reliance Industries empire.

      Announcing the deal, Facebook said it wanted to connect the "power of WhatsApp", its messaging subsidiary, with the Indian platform, which has sought to increase its digital business on the back of a massively successful telecom venture.

      India is Facebook's largest market with some 400 million users.

      In four years, Ambani has turned his Jio telecoms unit into the country's biggest mobile operator with 388 million subscribers, clobbering competitors with aggressive low pricing.

      Jio Platforms provides internet and e-commerce services that tap into the huge subscriber base.

      Reliance said it wanted to boost income for farmers, micro-traders and other small businesses that are the cornerstone of the economy in the country of 1.3 billion people.

      The company is expected to roll out an e-commerce initiative later this year and has been conducting trials with mom-and-pop stores to test its payment devices, with the aim of connecting small shops with consumers.

      "Jio digital new commerce platform and WhatsApp will empower nearly 30 million small Indian Kirana (grocery) shops to digitally transact with every customer in their neighbourhood," Ambani said in a video statement.

      The deal will boost "the ease of living for all Indians, especially common Indians and the ease of doing business for all entrepreneurs, especially for small ones", he added.

      It will also help Jio expand its reach, analysts said, paving the way for similar partnerships with companies working in sectors including entertainment, education and finance.

      The deal will be particularly closely watched by US rivals Amazon and Walmart, which are currently engaged in a fierce battle with Reliance for a share of India's e-commerce market.

      "This is an opportunity for Amazon and Walmart to go back to the drawing board and... perhaps consider joining hands with other Indian telecom firms," said Arvind Singhal, founder of management consultancy Technopak Advisors.

       'Muscle and money'

      Facebook has come under scrutiny over the spread of fake news in India, where the proliferation of unverified information via WhatsApp led to mob violence in 2018.

      "Given Facebook's credibility issues in India, it makes a lot of sense for them to get into a strategic alliance with Jio, which has muscle and money," said Faisal Kawoosa, founder of digital consultancy techARC.

      The Silicon Valley giant has faced regulatory hurdles in its push to pilot WhatsApp digital payments or launch its cryptocurrency Libra in India.

      "Facebook will certainly try to bring payment services to India but I am skeptical if this will work," Kawoosa told AFP.

      "It has no first-mover advantage compared to apps like Paytm... and the Indian digital space is not mature enough for cryptocurrencies."

      But he added that the company was poised to make gains in the Indian digital advertising market through Jio, which could sell "bundled offerings" to businesses, encouraging them to market products on Facebook.

      Ambani lost his crown as Asia's richest man last month after the coronavirus-fuelled rout across global markets wiped billions off his fortune, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

      This was only days after the company reported record net profits for the quarter ending December 2019.

      Ambani, whose fortune ballooned on the back of India's telecoms boom, lives with his family in a 27-storey luxury Mumbai skyscraper reputed to have cost more than $1 billion to build.

      Shares in Reliance jumped more than 7 per cent in Mumbai on the news of the deal, which came after markets closed in New York.

HONG KONG — Brent hit a two-decade low on Wednesday as oil resumed its painful retreat and extended a rout that has torn through energy markets, though stock exchanges in Asia and Europe were mixed following a two-day sell-off.

      With demand virtually non-existent owing to virus lockdowns, and production still high despite storage at bursting point, crude markets have been sent into freefall with WTI for May delivery diving to minus $40 on Monday.

      Focus has turned to the June contract, which started on Wednesday on fine form, following news that top producers had held talks -- but it plunged into the red in the afternoon, having lost almost half its value on Tuesday, when Brent collapsed by a fifth.

      WTI surged 20 per cent before changing course to sit more than four per cent down later, while Brent was off more than 11 per cent after earlier dropping 18 per cent to $15.98 -- its lowest since 1999.

      The crisis in the oil market caused by coronavirus was compounded by a price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia, but while they drew a line under the row and joined other key producers in slashing output by 10 million barrels a day, that has not been enough.

      Crude's rout "merely reflects the underlying theme that there is no demand for physical oil, and there is nowhere to store it", said AxiCorp's Stephen Innes.

      "Disappointment following the new (oil cut) agreement continues to resonate, and responding to that outcry could be the one thing that turns the oil price around in the near term, absent evidence of demand recovery."

      Analysts said the morning bounce was driven by news that members of OPEC, as well as some allies in the OPEC+ grouping, held a teleconference Tuesday -- but gloom soon returned.

      Equity markets, buoyed in recent weeks by trillions of dollars of stimulus and signs of a slowdown in the rate of virus infection and death in some countries -- and moves to slowly ease lockdown measures in a number of nations -- are beginning to feel the spillover from the crude collapse.

      Investors fear the rout could compound an expected deep global economic downturn.

      Innes added that the oil crisis "has negative connotations for other areas of the market, most notably banks, given their high exposure to US shale producers".

       'Reality check'

      Asian markets have struggled this week, though there were some recoveries Wednesday.

      Tokyo ended down 0.7 per cent while Singapore and Bangkok each shed 0.9 per cent and Wellington retreated more than one per cent. Manila also fell and Sydney was marginally lower.

      However, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Mumbai, Seoul and Taipei were all up along with Jakarta.

      In early trade, London, Paris and Frankfurt all rallied.

      There was little reaction to the US Senate approving a near-half-trillion-dollar coronavirus relief package, with funding earmarked for small businesses, hospitals, and a ramp-up of testing nationwide.

      Adding to the sense of unease on trading floors is uncertainty around earnings season, with many firms struggling to provide forecasts as they try to assess developments in the pandemic, which has shattered their bottom lines.

      "There's no way you can predict earnings right now," Michael Cuggino, at Pacific Heights Asset Management, told Bloomberg TV.

      "It's virtually impossible until we have more visibility with respect to how the world comes out of the coronavirus on the other side."

      In Hong Kong, the de facto central bank stepped in to sell the local dollar for a second successive day to defend its peg with the US dollar.

      The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) sold HK$2.79 billion ($360 million) of the unit, which has strengthened in recent weeks owing to near-zero US interest rates and higher borrowing costs in the city as investors look to buy into its stock market.

      The move came a day after it sold HK$1.55 billion, which marked the first intervention to offload the local unit since 2015. It last intervened to buy the currency in March last year.

      Under the city's Linked Exchange Rate System, the HKMA is required to buy the local currency at HK$7.85 to US$1 to ensure exchange rate stability.

      The financial hub has maintained a decades-old peg with the US dollar, which keeps Hong Kong at the mercy of Fed policymakers.

DUBAI — The Saudi stock market led Gulf bourses down on Tuesday, a day after US oil prices slumped to historic lows over sluggish demand, a supply glut and a lack of storage.

      The Saudi Tadawul stock market, the largest in the Arab world, dropped 2.1 per cent at the start of trading before recovering some of the losses. Less than an hour after opening it was trading down 0.9 per cent.

      Energy giant Saudi Aramco was 1.3 per cent lower, well below its listing price.

      The Dubai Financial Market dropped by 2.3 per cent, while its sister bourse in Abu Dhabi was down 2.1 per cent. Qatar bourse dropped 0.7 per cent.

      In Kuwait, the Premier index slumped 1.3 per cent while the All-Shares index was down 1.0 per cent.

      The small Muscat bourse dipped 0.9 per cent while Bahrain stocks were flat.

      US crude prices made a partial recovery on Tuesday after trading at historic lows, diving below zero the previous day for the first time due to paralysed demand and a glut that overwhelmed storage facilities.

      On Tuesday West Texas Intermediate for May delivery was trading at -$4.72 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, dropped 10 per cent to $22.90 a barrel.

      All the Gulf states depend on oil income for most of their public revenues.

      The International Monetary Fund last week projected the six Gulf countries along with oil exporters in the Middle East and North Africa will lose more around $230 billion in oil revenues after oil prices dropped by more than 60 per cent this year.

      The global lender also forecast that economies of the Gulf countries will shrink by 2.7 per cent, their worst performance in several decades.

LONDON — Oil-price turmoil gripped traders once more on Tuesday, a day after US crude futures crashed below zero for the first time.

      The commodity rout also sent world equity markets spiralling lower, as investors fretted that the news could compound a deep global economic downturn.

      In Tuesday trading, New York's light sweet crude West Texas Intermediate for May delivery clawed back to minus $3.91 per barrel.

      WTI had Monday collapsed to an unprecedented intra-day low of minus $40.32, with producers paying clients to take it off their hands.

      This week's massive sell-off came ahead of Tuesday's expiry of the May contract. Most trading has moved to the June contract, which was down about 20 per cent at $16.33 per barrel.

      "Ever thought that it could be imaginable to see the price of US oil valued at less than a pizza? Or even a slice of pizza? How about for it to actually cost to sell US crude?" said Jameel Ahmad, head of currency strategy and market research at FXTM.

      "All of this was previously thought to be unthinkable -- but it became very real for traders as the price of US oil turned negative for the first time in history."

      Negative prices mean traders must pay to find buyers to take physical possession of the oil -- a job made near-impossible with the world's storage capacity at bursting point.

      Elsewhere Tuesday, European benchmark Brent North Sea oil for June delivery tumbled to an 18-year low at $18.10 per barrel, before shooting back up to $21.08 in volatile deals.

      "The most simple explanation for negative oil prices is that... players are now paying buyers to take oil volumes away as the physical storage limit will be reached. And they are paying top dollar," said Rystad Energy analyst Louise Dickson.

      Oil markets have been ravaged this year after the coronavirus pandemic was compounded by a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia.

      While the two massive oil producing nations have drawn a line under the dispute and agreed with other countries to slash output by almost 10 million barrels a day, that is not enough to offset the lack of demand.

      Stock markets sink

      Equity markets were deep in the red on Tuesday, having enjoyed a healthy couple of weeks, thanks to massive stimulus measures and signs of an easing in the rate of new infections globally.

      The losses came despite signs that the virus is easing as global lockdowns begin to take effect, allowing some countries to slowly return to normality.

      Analysts warned the drop in stock markets could be an indication that the recent surge may have been too much too quick and another sell-off is possible.

      The flight to safety was reflected in currency markets, where the haven-investment dollar rallied against high-yielding, riskier units.

      Investors have also been spooked by US reports that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had undergone cardiovascular surgery earlier this month and was in "grave danger".

DUBAI —  Emirates NBD, Dubai's largest bank, on Monday reported a 24 per cent slide in first quarter net profit after making huge provisions for risks resulting from the impact of coronavirus.

      The bank posted $567 million (2.1 billion dirhams) in net profit for the three months to March compared to $747 million in the same period in 2019, the bank said in a statement.

      "Net profit declined 24 per cent year on year due to higher impairment charges," said Emirates NBD, the second-largest lender in the United Arab Emirates.

      The bank put aside $697 million for risks "in recognition of a potential deterioration in credit quality in subsequent quarters related to the coronavirus pandemic," it said.

      "During these uncertain times, we have aimed to ensure that we continue to provide customers with uninterrupted banking," CEO Shayne Nelson said.

      "Despite higher provisions in the first quarter of 2020, the Bank delivered a good set of results... whilst maintaining healthy capital, liquidity and credit quality ratios."

      The provisions made by the bank are 350 per cent more than the corresponding quarter last year.

      The bank's net interest and non-interest incomes increased in the first quarter by 45 per cent and 48 per cent respectively.

      The assets of Emirates NBD, which last year acquired Turkish lender DenizBank, rose a modest one per cent to $188.5 billion.

      UAE's central bank said on April 5 that it had doubled to $70 billion a stimulus package aimed at supporting the economy and domestic banks in the face of coronavirus.

      Most of the measures focused on easing financial and liquidity requirements for banks to free up cash for lending.

      The regulator's measures also allowed banks to defer clients' repayments of loans until the end of 2020.

      UAE has introduced strict measures to combat the disease including imposing a lockdown on Dubai, halting travel and closing shopping malls and entertainment venues.

LONDON — US oil prices dived to 22-year lows at just $11 on Monday after crashing almost 40 per cent in a market flooded with crude and slammed by evaporating demand.

      Just before 12:00 GMT, the US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for May delivery tanked to $11.04 -- the lowest level since 1998.

      Trade, however, was also technically driven as investors closed out their positions ahead of the May contract expiry on Monday. The June contract was down 11.9 per cent at $22.06.

      "The real problem of the global supply-demand imbalance has started to really manifest itself in prices," said Rystad Energy analyst Bjornar Tonhaugen.

      "As production continues relatively unscathed, storage is filling up by the day. The world is using less and less oil and producers now feel how this translates in prices."

      The European benchmark contract, London Brent North Sea oil for June delivery, was down 6.1 per cent at $26.38 per barrel.

      Signs that the coronavirus may have peaked in Europe and the United States failed to lift Asian and European financial markets generally.

      Traders are instead becoming more and more concerned that oil storage facilities are reaching their limits, as stockpiles continue to build owing to the crash in demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

      Analysts said this month's agreement between OPEC and its peers to slash output by 10 million barrels a day was having little impact because of the virus lockdowns and travel restrictions that are keeping billions of people at home.

      WTI was hit particularly hard as its main US storage facilities in Cushing, Oklahoma, were filling up, with Trifecta Consultants analyst Sukrit Vijayakar saying refineries were not processing crude fast enough.

      There are also plenty of supplies from the Middle East with no buyers as "freight costs are high", he told AFP.

      AxiCorp's Stephen Innes added: "It's a dump at all cost as no one... wants delivery of oil, with Cushing storage facilities filling by the minute.

      "It hasn't taken long for the market to recognise that the OPEC+ deal will not, in its present form, be enough to balance oil markets."

      Stock markets were mostly lower despite governments starting to consider how and when to ease the lockdowns that have crippled the global economy.

      Italy, Spain, France and Britain reported drops in daily death tolls and slowing infection rates, while Germany began allowing some shops to reopen and Norway restarted nurseries.

       'No time to get cocky'

      In the US, Andrew Cuomo, governor of badly hit New York state, said the disease was "on the descent", though he cautioned it was "no time to get cocky".

      Mounting evidence suggests that the lockdowns and social distancing are slowing the spread of the virus.

      That has intensified planning in many countries to begin loosening curbs on movement and easing the crushing pressure on national economies.

      Investors are keeping an eye on Washington, where Congress and the White House are working towards a $450 billion economic relief plan for small business to add to the trillions already pledged to support the economy.

BRISBANE, Australia — Australia will force Google and Facebook to pay media outlets for their content, the government announced on Monday, vowing to lead the world in making the tech giants share lucrative advertising revenues with traditional media.

      Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said a mandatory code of conduct -- to be fully unveiled by July and made law soon after -- will require the US-based firms to reimburse Australian media companies for using their news and other content.

      "It is about holding these tech titans to account, about ensuring genuine competition, (and) it is about delivering a level playing field," Frydenberg said.

      "It is about keeping jobs in journalism and it is about ensuring a fair outcome for all."

      Google and Facebook have had a huge impact on Australia's news industry, capturing two-thirds of online advertising spending.

      In response to falling revenues, Australian news outlets have slashed 20 per cent of jobs in the last six years.

      If Australia is successful in its efforts to ensure more advertising revenue flows to publishers, it would be the first country to do so.

      France last year became the first European state to implement an EU copyright directive that requires payment for reproduced news content, but Google has so far refused to pay and instead said it would no longer display French reports.

      The impasse has prompted the country's competition authority to order the firm negotiate with publishers.

      A similar battle has played out in Spain, where Google News has not reopened since the country passed legislation in 2014 requiring payment for articles.

      'Mountain to climb'

      The mandatory code in Australia follows an 18-month inquiry into the power of digital platforms by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which recommended an overhaul of existing regulations.

      Frydenberg said the government was imposing the measures after discussions on a voluntary code failed to make headway, with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on advertising revenues hastening the need for action.

      "We understand the challenge that we face," he said. "This is a big mountain to climb. These are big companies that we are dealing with, but there is also so much at stake, so we're prepared for this fight."

      ACCC chair Rod Sims said the consumer watchdog had advised the government it was "unlikely" the digital platforms would agree to pay for Australian news.

      Facebook Australia and New Zealand managing director Will Easton said the company was "disappointed" by the government's announcement, which came ahead of an agreed May deadline to produce the voluntary code.

      "We believe that strong innovation and more transparency around the distribution of news content is critical to building a sustainable news ecosystem," he said.

      Easton said Facebook had invested "millions of dollars" into partnerships, training and content arrangements to support Australian publishers.

      A Google spokesperson said the company had participated in the voluntary process and would continue to engage with both publishers and the ACCC.

      "We've worked for many years to be a collaborative partner to the news industry, helping them grow their businesses through ads and subscription services and increase audiences by driving valuable traffic," she said.

      The drive for the new Australian rules has been led by powerful media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who has accused Facebook and Google of having "popularised scurrilous news sources" over reputable outlets.

      Michael Miller, executive chairman of Murdoch's News Corp Australasia, welcomed Monday's announcement as a vital step.

      "For two decades, Google and Facebook have built trillion-dollar businesses by using other people's content and refusing to pay for it," he said.

      "The Australia media industry is at a tipping point and a mandatory code that leads to the platforms paying a fair -- and very significant price -- must be put in place urgently."

      Australia's new regulations will also cover the sharing of data, and the ranking and display of news content, to be enforced by binding dispute resolution mechanisms and penalties.

      An estimated 17 million Australians use Facebook each month and spend an average of 30 minutes on the platform a day, while 98 per cent of Australian mobile searches use Google.

By Holly Robertson