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LONDON — A growing number of internet companies are banning crypto-currency advertising, fearing reputational damage if their users are duped or left penniless, even as regulators struggle to get to grips with the fast-emerging industry.

Twitter on Tuesday began blocking crypto- ads, becoming the latest internet giant to crack down after moves by Alphabet's Google and Facebook earlier this year. 

Once restricted to small online chatrooms for early bitcoin backers, Crypto-currencies have since exploded in popularity and the industry has grown rapidly.

Huge billboards promoting the latest coin hang over Tokyo's streets, ads touting crypto-trading dot the London underground network and social media platforms are full of start-ups looking to raise capital through "initial coin offerings" (ICOs), as the selling of new virtual tokens is known.

While regulators have stepped up their warnings about the risks to consumers of investing in Crypto-currencies and the potential for scams, in most jurisdictions they are only beginning to discuss publicly how they might regulate the industry, let alone frame advertising rules.

Last week, the G-20 group of nations failed to agree on specific regulatory action.

So companies are taking matters into their own hands.

"If internet companies were not already under pressure from regulators for their loose control of data privacy, they probably would not ban advertising from cryptos, which are still a grey area for many regulators," said Arnaud Masset, a crypto-currency analyst at Swissquote Bank.

Snapchat in February started removing adverts for ICOs — which regulators say lack transparency and are susceptible to fraud — a spokesperson told Reuters. 

The company declined to comment on whether it would widen the ban to include individual crypto-currencies, crypto-wallets and unregistered exchanges, as other technology giants have done.

LinkedIn is blocking crypto-related ads, a spokesman said, although owner Microsoft does allow adverts on its other platforms.

Around the world 

Across Asia, where the crypto frenzy is at its most feverish, firms are also restricting advertising. 

China outlawed crypto-currency exchanges and ICOs last year. Chinese Internet titans Baidu, Tencent, and Weibo followed suit by curbing ads shortly after.

While Japan's government and regulators have embraced Crypto-currencies as a phenomenon that is here to stay, sentiment was hit by a $530 million cyber heist of an exchange in January. Prime time TV advertising subsequently fell, billboards on Tokyo's transport network were cut back and online companies are responding with changes to their advertising policies.

Line, Japan's most popular social media site and messaging app, does not allow crypto-related advertising. The policy is designed to protect customers and avoid legal risks, it says. 

The country's financial watchdog, meanwhile, has asked the crypto-industry's new self-regulatory body to draw up advertising rules. It has not stipulated what it wants to see but it is likely that Japanese exchanges will not be allowed to mention specific currencies when advertising, while TV promotions for ICOs could be banned altogether, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.

A spokesman for Yahoo Japan said the search engine was reviewing its policy in light of the changing environment. 

Russian search site Yandex said it had not carried crypto ads for "a long time".

While online companies are prohibiting ads, there is less evidence that traditional advertising routes are under threat. 

London's metro system is plastered with advertising promoting crypto-trading. Transport for London did not respond to requests for comment about its policy on advertising.

The slump in virtual currency prices this year has not rattled British punters lured in by adverts, however: A spokesman for Britain's Advertising Standards Authority said it had to date received fewer than 10 complaints about crypto ads.

Crypto-currencies, unlike most securities, do not confer ownership in the underlying business, which is partly why advertising is not currently governed in conjunction with financial authorities.

Also, regulators are reluctant to rush to impose rules on Crypto-currencies as they examine the possible benefits of the Blockchain technology underpinning them.

Many analysts expect the likes of Google and Facebook to loosen blanket bans once authorities provide guidance on how virtual currencies and the infrastructure around them will be treated.

Christie Dennehy-Neil at the Internet Advertising Bureau, a British trade body, said large online platforms often introduce policies that take "a judgment more broadly than advertising" to protect their reputation. 

She said that the ideal case "would be for a product to be regulated and for there to be sector-specific rules for advertising". But without regulation in place, companies were sensible to act on their own accord, she added.

Crypto-supporters argue the bans will have little impact.

CAIRO — Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi has revived economic growth and tackled pressing problems in power and gas supply. But as he heads for a second term, he must juggle austerity under an International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme with the need to tame inflation.

Sisi inherited an economy in tatters when he took over the presidency in 2014, requiring aggressive reforms that have largely stopped the rot while hurting most Egyptians through a currency devaluation and withdrawal of some price subsidies.

"He's now at the crossroads that every Egyptian president has found himself in," said Reham Eldesoki, an independent economist long focused on Egypt. 

"He needs to push forward on intensive reforms, to move forward in building services and non-oil industry and to make Egypt really investment-friendly." 

Sisi's performance in consolidating the gains over the next four years — he is set to cruise to victory in a presidential election which began on Monday — will be watched well beyond Egypt's borders.

European nations particularly worry that any faltering of reforms could worsen unemployment and encourage young Egyptians to cross the Mediterranean illegally, aggravating already sizeable flows of migrants from north Africa.

Also, successive governments' reluctance to devalue the overpriced currency had led to an acute foreign exchange shortage, dampening imports and pricing Egyptian exports out of foreign markets.

Sisi's signature economic achievement so far has been concluding a three-year deal with the IMF in 2016. Under this, the government has raised the price of subsidised fuel to ease the huge burden on the budget, increased value-added tax to 14 per cent and devalued the Egyptian pound against the dollar by more than half. 

Many say the reforms were needed to stablise Egypt as it recovers from the chaos and tackles Islamist insurgency. However, the currency reform hit the middle classes particularly hard, while inflation remains high, poverty has increased and unemployment is not going down as quickly as people had hoped.

Economists see some grounds for hope. GDP growth increased to 5.3 per cent year-on-year in the three months to December from a low of 2.1 per cent in 2012/13, according to the central bank.

"I think we should see growth continuing to escalate," said Mohamed Abu Basha, an economist with Egyptian investment bank EFG Hermes. "Tourism has space to recover, and consumption and investment should continue to recover over the next few years."

Energy fix 

Egypt, once a net energy exporter, had struggled to get enough fuel to run its antiquated power stations, with the country of 97 million people suffering regular blackouts. 

Under Sisi, the government signed construction contracts for new plants and arranged for floating gas terminals to allow more imports. The power shortages were soon brought to a near halt. 

Sisi has also acted to break a logjam in gas exploration and development. Likewise, he moved to reduce vast arrears in payments to international energy companies for oil and gas.

This has encouraged them to revive their activities in Egypt, leading to several gas discoveries, including the Zohr field, the largest in the Mediterranean region. 

Zohr, operated by Italy's ENI, shipped its first gas at the end of 2017. Other fields that were brought on stream included BP's Atoll and West Nile Delta. The government says the country will be self-sufficient in gas by the end of this year. 

Infrastructure expansion 

Sisi launched a series of large infrastructure projects designed partly to put Egyptians back to work. Many won praise, such as new roads and expanded electricity capacity. 

More controversially, Sisi has begun work on several megaprojects, some of which economists say will produce little immediate return. These include dredging a new branch of the Suez Canal.

Sisi insisted the project be completed within a year, adding to the cost, but because of a worldwide trade slowdown canal revenue was little changed. 

He has begun building several new desert cities, including a $45 billion new administrative capital east of Cairo. Egypt has also been negotiating with Russia for a new $20 billion nuclear power plant. 

Many investors and economists worry that the army is becoming too involved in these projects and in other ventures, threatening to crowd out private investors. 

Austerity measures imposed under the IMF deal pushed annual inflation to 33 per cent in August. By last month, the rate had dropped back to 14.4 per cent.

But more planned measures will make it difficult to bring it down further. The government is widely expected to raise fuel prices again at the start of the new fiscal year on July 1. 

"The challenge now will be to get inflation down to single digits," Abu Basha said. "We know that they will eliminate most of the fuel subsidies by the end of the IMF programme in 2019."

SAN FRANCISCO/LONDON — Opinion polls published on Sunday in the United States and Germany indicated that a majority of the public were losing trust in Facebook over privacy, as the firm ran advertisements in British and US newspapers apologising to users.

Fewer than half of Americans trust Facebook to obey US privacy laws, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Sunday, while a survey published by Bild am Sonntag, Germany's largest-selling Sunday paper, found 60 per cent of Germans fear that Facebook and other social networks are having a negative impact on democracy.

Facebook founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg apologised for "a breach of trust" in advertisements placed in papers including the Observer in Britain and The New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal. 

"We have a responsibility to protect your information. If we can't, we don't deserve it," said the advertisement, which appeared in plain text on a white background with a tiny Facebook logo.

The world's largest social media network is coming under growing government scrutiny in Europe and the United States, and is trying to repair its reputation among users, advertisers, lawmakers and investors.

This follows allegations that the British consultancy Cambridge Analytica improperly gained access to users' information to build profiles of American voters that were later used to help elect Us President Donald Trump in 2016.

US Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in an interview on NBC's “Meet the Press" on Sunday that Facebook had not been "fully forthcoming" over how Cambridge Analytica had used Facebook data.

Warner repeated calls for Zuckerberg to testify in person before US lawmakers, saying Facebook and other internet companies had been reluctant to confront "the dark underbelly of social media" and how it can be manipulated.

‘ Breach of trust’

Zuckerberg acknowledged that an app built by a university researcher had "leaked Facebook data of millions of people in 2014". 

"This was a breach of trust, and I'm sorry we didn't do more at the time," Zuckerberg said, reiterating an apology first made last week in US television interviews.

Facebook shares tumbled 14 per cent last week, while the hashtag #DeleteFacebook gained traction online.

The Reuters/Ipsos online poll found that 41 per cent of Americans trust Facebook to obey laws that protect their personal information, compared with 66 per cent who said they trust Amazon.com Inc., 62 per cent who trust Alphabet Inc.'s Google, 60 per cent for Microsoft Corp.

The poll was conducted from Wednesday through Friday and had 2,237 responses. (https://reut.rs/2G9hvrv)

The German poll published by Bild was conducted by Kantar EMNID, a unit of global advertising holding company WPP, using representative polling methods, the firm said. Overall, only 33 per cent found social media had a positive effect on democracy, against 60 per cent who believed the opposite.

It is too early to say if distrust will cause people to step back from Facebook, e-Marketer analyst Debra Williamson said in an interview. Customers of banks or other industries do not necessarily quit after losing faith, she said. 

"It's psychologically harder to let go of a platform like Facebook that's become pretty well ingrained into people's lives," she said. 

Data supplied to Reuters by SimilarWeb, an Israeli firm, which measures global online audiences, indicated that Facebook usage in major markets and worldwide remained steady over the past week.

"Desktop, mobile and app usage has remained steady and well within the expected range," said Gitit Greenberg, SimilarWeb's director of market insights. "It is important to separate frustration from actual tangible impacts to Facebook usage."

PERTH, Australia — The "Kangaroo Route" from Australia to Britain became a shorter hop on Saturday when the first direct passenger service left Perth for London, with the 17-hour flight set to break aviation records.

Qantas' 14,498 kilometre journey from the southwestern city to London is the world's third-longest passenger flight, the Australian carrier said, and the first ever regular service to connect the two continents directly.

Captained by Lisa Norman, it will also be the longest Boeing Dreamliner flight in the world.

The new link is part of Qantas' ambitious plans, unveiled over the past two years, to add ultra long-haul flights to its global schedules.

This will eventually include non-stop flights from Australia's eastern seaboard to Europe in an effort dubbed "Project Sunrise".

Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce last year said such flights were "the last frontier of global aviation ... the antidote to the tyranny of distance and a revolution for air travel in Australia".

The world's second-oldest airline operated its first "Kangaroo Route" service, from Sydney to London, in 1947, when it took four days and nine stops.

Joyce called the new Perth-London service a "game-changing route". Tourism officials hope the shortened travelling time will open up Australia's less-populated west coast to more domestic and international visitors.

A key concern for the Australian airliner has been beefing up comfort levels for the ultra-long journey, with passengers set to enjoy improved air quality, lower cabin noise and reduced turbulence.

Some passengers will also wear special monitors and devices so researchers from the University of Sydney can collect data on their sleeping and activity patterns, mental state, eating patterns and hydration before, during and after their long flight, Sydney's Daily Telegraph reported.

Some of the world's longest non-stop international flights include Qatar Airways' 14,535-kilometre Doha-Auckland service, Emirates' Dubai-Auckland 14,200-kilometre service, United Airlines' 14,000-kilometre Los Angeles-Singapore journey and Qantas' 13,800-kilometre Sydney-Dallas route.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will impose tariffs on about $50 billion in Chinese goods imports to retaliate against the alleged theft of American intellectual property, White House officials said on Thursday.

The new import duties will target industrial sectors where “China has sought to acquire an advantage through the unfair acquisition or forced technology transfer from US companies,” Senior White House Economic adviser Everett Eissenstat told reporters.

Trump was due to unveil the sanctions later Thursday.

The products subject to the new tariffs have not yet been officially identified and Thursday’s announcement did not immediately impose new import duties.

But the move sent stocks diving on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down about two per cent ahead of the announcement, and ratcheted up Trump’s campaign of confrontation with trading partners.

In a memorandum that was due to be signed on Thursday, Trump would direct US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to publish a proposed list of products that could be subject to tariffs.

He would also direct Lighthizer to take action against China at the World Trade Organisation, charging Beijing with preventing US companies from licensing their technology in China.

The measure also directs the US Treasury to develop new proposals to increase safeguards against investments that could compromise US national security.

White House officials on Thursday indicated that the actions capped years of efforts to encourage China to end the alleged unfair practices and respect market-oriented practices.

“Those dialogues failed under the Bush and Obama administrations,” White House Trade Adviser Peter Navarro told reporters. 

“The problem is that with the Chinese in this case talk is not cheap, it’s been very, very expensive and finally the president decided we needed to move forward.”

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve raised interest rates on Wednesday and forecast at least two more hikes for 2018, signaling growing confidence that US tax cuts and government spending will boost the economy and inflation and lead to more aggressive future tightening. 

In its first policy meeting under new Fed chief Jerome Powell, the US central bank indicated that inflation should finally move higher after years below its 2 per cent target and that the economy had recently gained momentum.

The Fed also raised the estimated longer-term "neutral" rate, the level at which monetary policy neither boosts nor slows the economy, a touch, in a sign the current gradual rate hike cycle could go on longer than previously thought. 

"The economic outlook has strengthened in recent months," the Fed said in a statement at the end of a two-day meeting in which it lifted its benchmark overnight lending rate by a quarter of a percentage point to a range of 1.5 per cent to 1.75 per cent.

Inflation "is expected to move up in coming months and stabilise" around the Fed's target, it said.

The rate hike was widely expected. All 104 economists polled by Reuters from March 5-13 said the Fed would increase borrowing costs this week.

The move was the latest step away from years of stimulating the world's largest economy in the wake of the 2007-2009 financial crisis and recession. The Fed tightened policy three times last year. 

The combination of $1.8 trillion in expected fiscal stimulus and recent hints of price and wage pressures had prompted some Fed officials to speculate more Americans could be drawn into an already tight labour market and that inflation could rise to the target, or even well above if the economy got too hot. 

Policymakers were largely split on Wednesday as to whether a total of three or four rate hikes would be needed this year. They predicted rates would rise three times next year and two times in 2020, a further indication of confidence in the economy.

The Fed's preferred measure of inflation was expected to end 2018 at 1.9 per cent, unchanged from the previous forecast, but it is seen rising a bit above the Fed's target next year.

The US unemployment rate by the end of 2018 is expected to edge down to 3.8 per cent, indicating the Fed sees more room for the labour market to run. Fed officials predicted the rate also would settle even lower at 4.5 per cent in the longer run.

US joblessness stood at 4.1 per cent last month.

While recent home sales and retail spending data have been on the weak side, the overall economic picture has brightened after growth accelerated to 2.3 per cent last year. 

Before the meeting, analysts were split over whether the Fed, which is wary of an early misstep under its new leadership, would raise policy tightening expectations until more price pressures are clearly evident. There are also looming outside risks to the economy such as a possible global trade war. 

JAKARTA - Indonesia has won an appeal against the European Union in a dispute over the bloc's anti-dumping duty on biodiesel, the Ministry of Trade said in a statement on Wednesday.

The European Court of Justice, the EU's highest court, ruled that the bloc must do away with anti-dumping duties of between 8.8 percent to 23.3 percent on imports of Indonesian biodiesel products.

Indonesia is one of the world's largest exporters of palm oil-based biodiesel.

"With the elimination of these duties, businesses can once again export biodiesel to the EU," said Oke Nurwan, director general of foreign trade at the Indonesian trade ministry.

He added that the elimination of duties was valid from March 16, 2018.

The Indonesia Biofuel Producers Association welcomed the ruling.

"We're asking producers to prepare exports soon," said Paulus Tjakrawan, vice chairman of the association.

He declined to give an estimate on expected export volumes.

The EU court ruling reinforces a decision made by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) earlier this year, which said the EU needed to bring its measures into conformity with WTO agreements.

Indonesia also plans to challenge anti-subsidy duties in the United States in a U.S. court and at the WTO.

Indonesia has also been pushing domestic biodiesel consumption as part of an ambitious plan to develop its biofuels industry. It plans to expand biodiesel subsidies to cover palm-oil blended fuels for use by its huge mining sector in addition to the power sector.

NEW DELHI — Nearly 50 countries expressed concern on Tuesday to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) about the "serious threat" posed by unilateral trade actions, a pointed reference to US import tariffs that have caused a global outcry.

Delivering concluding remarks after a two-day informal meeting of the WTO members in New Delhi, Indian Trade Minister Suresh Prabhu did not refer to the United States by name.

He said members expressed deep concern over the "serious threat" posed to the credibility of the WTO, particularly on its principle of "non-discrimination" following the cycle of recent unilateral trade measures.

"In some interventions, the need for WTO members taking urgent and coordinated action to address the underlying issues was highlighted," Prabhu said.

"It was recognised by almost all the participants that it is the collective responsibility of WTO members to address the challenges facing the system and putting it back on a steady and meaningful way forward so that it continues to serve the people of our countries."

Calling for a united front to respond to the US tariffs, WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo said the recent unilateral trade measures have the potential to escalate tensions.

"We heard today, many, many countries saying we have a concern over this. There is a potential of escalation. We should try to work in the framework of WTO," Azevedo said. 

Separately, Prabhu told reporters that the United States was committed to the World Trade Organisation, even though Washington has raised concerns about the functioning of the WTO and asked for reforms.

US President Donald Trump has pressed ahead with import tariffs of 25 per cent on steel and 10 per cent for aluminum, but exempted Canada and Mexico and offered the possibility of excluding other allies, backtracking from an earlier "no-exceptions" stance. 

Prabhu also said India will bilaterally discuss import curbs on steel with the United States.

LONDON — Sterling surged on Monday as Britain and the European Union agreed to a 21-month post-Brexit transition period and a potential solution to avoid a "hard border" for Northern Ireland. 

The pound, which had already been rallying on expectations for a transition deal, gained further after British Brexit Minister David Davis and EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier announced an agreement.

Investors had largely expected Britain to secure an agreement at Thursday's EU summit, but concern remained that a deadlock over the Irish border would derail a deal. 

Securing the terms of a transition phase — which will last to the end of 2020 — was vital, because it means London and Brussels can now focus on what sort of trading relationship the two sides will have after Britain leaves the EU next year.

Against the dollar the pound rose as much as 1 per cent to $1.4088, its strongest since February 16 and the biggest one-day rise since January, before falling back. It was up 0.6 per cent at $1.4031 at 16:00 GMT.

Versus the euro, sterling climbed as much as 0.8 per cent to 87.455 pence per euro, its best level since February 8.

The yield on two-year British government bonds — which is most sensitive to Bank of England (BoE) interest rate decisions — hit a new high since the June, 2016 Brexit referendum.

"We think sterling can go up to $1.44 which could mean that in terms of euro-pound you could get two big figures to the downside," Hans Redeker, global head of currency strategy at Morgan Stanley, told Reuters. 

"I think this week you will have the BoE preparing for a May rate hike, which is not a big surprise...But it's happening in a context when other factors are also playing in favour of sterling — the relationship with Europe and momentum coming into the negotiations on Brexit."

Sterling faces a crucial week, with the BoE announcing an interest rate decision on Thursday after inflation and wages data is published. It is expected to keep rates on hold but to prepare the market for a possible increase in May, a rise it had signalled as contingent on a transition agreement.

Business leaders echoed a warning from Barnier that the deal will only be legally binding if London ratifies the whole withdrawal treaty by March. 

Analysts do not expect the BoE to serve up any surprises on Thursday, but will be looking at both consumer inflation data, due on Tuesday, and wage data due on Wednesday for any sign of inflationary pressures building in the economy.

Viraj Patel at ING said the pound could rise as high as $1.43 this week if economic data also supported sterling and the BoE sounded more hawkish than expected.

Sterling has been among the best performing major currencies since it slumped after the Brexit vote in 2016. It hit a post-Brexit vote high of $1.4346 in January.

"Despite modest growth and moderating inflation, the BoE is likely to reiterate its intention to gradually raise rates as it sees limited slack in the economy," UBS analysts told clients. 

"Now that a transition deal has been tentatively agreed, it may motivate more hawkish language from the BoE." 

UBS said sterling could rally as far as 85 cents per euro. 

CAIRO — Egypt announced on Sunday the names of 23 state companies it will offer stakes at the beginning this year, part of a plan to raise about 80 billion Egyptian pounds ($4.6 billion) through minority share offerings on the Cairo bourse.

They included Banque Du Caire, one of the country's largest banks, major oil companies Middle East Oil Refining and Engineering for Petroleum and Process Industries (ENPPI), as well as Misr Insurance Company.

The government had said that it intended to sell shares in dozens of state companies to boost public finances and draw more investors to the Cairo exchange, but had previously only identified a handful of companies as candidates.

The 23 companies range from banking and petroleum to real estate and will look to sell stakes ranging from 15-30 per cent in the next two to two-and-a-half years, the finance ministry said in a statement announcing the list.

The list includes some companies already traded on the exchange and others that will hold an initial public offering.

Egypt's economy has been struggling to recover since a popular uprising in 2011 drove foreign investors and tourists away, but a $12 billion International Monetary Fund lending programme signed at the end of 2016 has helped to spur growth and lure back foreign investors.

The state owns vast swathes of Egypt's economy, including three of its largest banks — National Bank of Egypt, Banque Du Caire, the United Bank of Egypt — along with much of its oil industry and real estate sector.

ENPPI has been discussed previously as a candidate to be the first state company to offer shares this year, and others such as Banque Du Caire have been mentioned in recent years but their offerings have been delayed.

The last time state-owned companies were listed on the exchange was in 2005 when shares of Telecom Egypt, the state's landline monopoly, and oil companies Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals and AMOC were floated.

Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals will now sell another stake and was included in the list announced on Sunday.