US Business

The official streaming platform of the World Cup is inaccessible in much of Saudi Arabia, subscribers told AFP on Saturday, saying they had received no explanation for the outage.

The platform, Tod TV, is owned by the Qatari broadcaster beIN Media Group, which was banned in Saudi Arabia for several years during a row between the two countries but was restored in October 2021. 

“Due to matters beyond our control, we are experiencing an outage in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is currently impacting TOD.tv, the official streaming partner of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Additional information will be provided as soon as it is available,” beIN said in a message sent to partners and subscribers. 

The Saudi government did not respond to a request for comment about the disruption, while beIN declined to comment. 

Tod TV is the official World Cup streaming service in 24 countries in the Middle East and North Africa. 

Several subscribers in Saudi Arabia told AFP on Saturday they had been unable to access the service since the World Cup began on November 20. 

One said the service cut out fully about an hour before the broadcast of the opening ceremony. 

Another said the service still works briefly but for no more than 10 minutes before an error message appears. 

“Sorry, the requested page is violating the regulations of Ministry of Media,” the error message says. 

“I want my money,” one subscriber told AFP, saying efforts to get a refund on the service, which costs about 300 Saudi riyals (roughly $80) per month, had been unsuccessful. 

beIN is broadcasting 22 World Cup matches for free in Saudi Arabia, including those of the Saudi Green Falcons, who stunned the world on Tuesday with their 2-1 defeat of Argentina.

The Saudi side were set to face Poland on Saturday afternoon.

– Mending ties –

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s 37-year-old de facto ruler, orchestrated a regional boycott of Qatar beginning in June 2017, the same month he became first in line to the throne. 

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut ties with Doha over allegations it supported extremists and was too close to arch-rival Iran — allegations Doha denied.

During the boycott, beIN Media Group was banned in Saudi Arabia. 

But Riyadh announced in October last year it was lifting the ban, smoothing the way for the takeover of England’s Newcastle United football club by a Saudi-backed consortium.

The kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund paid $408 million for an 80 percent stake in the Premier League club.

The Saudi purchase of Newcastle proved deeply controversial, with critics quick to deride it as an example of “sportswashing”, or using athletics to distract from human rights abuses. 

The sovereign wealth fund, known as the Public Investment Fund, is now considering investing in beIN, Bloomberg reported last month.

Media Minister Majid al-Qasabi is a member of the fund’s board. 

Prince Mohammed attended the World Cup opening ceremony where he posed with its emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, while wearing a Qatar scarf. 

Prince Mohammed also ordered all government ministries and agencies “to provide any additional support or facilities required by Qatar” to host the event, according to a sports ministry statement.

Macau said Saturday it has renewed the licences of its six major casino operators, with the city aiming for terms that would help diversify its economy away from gambling.

The former Portuguese colony is the only territory in China where casinos are allowed, and it issues just six operating concessions for a multi-billion-dollar industry that, until the pandemic hit, was bigger than Las Vegas.

The six current operators — including the subsidiaries of Las Vegas giants MGM, Wynn and Sands — had submitted renewal applications but a firm linked with Malaysian gaming and resorts giant Genting challenged the long-running oligopoly with a surprise bid.

That attempt failed, however, as Macau’s leader Ho Iat-seng announced that the existing licence holders have been granted provisional concessions.

“Development of non-gaming businesses is the most important factor” in the government’s decision, Andre Cheong, Macau’s administration and justice minister, told reporters.

He did not provide details about what licence holders would be required to invest and where.

The government said it will negotiate details with the six operators and the new licences will take effect from the beginning of next year.

Macau has long been keen to diversify away from gambling into tourism and leisure.

The city’s casinos were battered by pandemic-era restrictions that drove away the mainland Chinese gamblers who made up the vast majority of customers.

“The source of our tourists is too concentrated,” Cheong said Saturday, describing the situation as “not healthy”.

Gross gaming revenue was down 98 percent from pre-pandemic levels and fell to a record low in July, officials earlier announced.

– Scrutiny and reform –

Even if pandemic measures are fully lifted, it is unlikely Macau’s casinos will see a return to their headiest, freewheeling days.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has spearheaded an anti-corruption campaign that has seen increased scrutiny of the high rollers and officials who travel to gamble in Macau, where cases of money laundering are common.

For decades, Macau’s gaming industry was run as a monopoly by casino magnate Stanley Ho, but in 2002 more operators were brought in and issued 20-year concessions as part of a liberalisation effort. 

In January, authorities slashed the concession period of gaming licences to 10 years and unveiled regulations seeking to increase local ownership and government supervision.

Those factors did not deter the bid from GMM, a company controlled by Malaysian tycoon and Genting chairman Lim Kok Thay.

Best known for its resort in the Malaysian highlands, Genting also operates in Las Vegas and Singapore. It backed a ski resort in China that hosted this year’s Winter Olympics.

South Korea’s capital launched its first self-driving bus route on Friday, part of an experiment that engineers said aims to make people feel more comfortable with driverless vehicles on the roads.

The new vehicle does not look like a regular bus and has rounded edges as well as large windows that make it appear more like a toy than a technological breakthrough.

This design is intentional, said Jeong Seong-gyun, head of autonomous driving at 42 Dot, the start-up responsible for the self-driving technology that is now owned by auto giant Hyundai.

“This is the future,” he told AFP, adding that the bus required “a considerable new type of design”.

The bus looks a bit “like Lego” and is made of composite parts to help keep costs down and make it easy to replicate, he said.

It uses cameras and radar to navigate the way instead of expensive sensors, Seong-gyun added.

The company’s goal was to make the technology low-cost, safe and easily transferable to many types of vehicles in the future, for example, delivery trucks.

For now — with a safety driver monitoring closely — the bus will drive itself around a small 3.4-kilometre (2.1-mile) circuit in downtown Seoul that takes around 20 minutes.

The public can board at two designated stops after booking a free seat through an app.

“I feel like I’ve just hopped into a time machine to visit the future,” said Kim Yi hae-ran, 68, after her 20-minute ride during the launch of the bus Friday.

“I thought it might make me dizzy from a sudden acceleration but I didn’t feel any of it.”

The ride felt “very smooth and safe”, which she said made her feel proud of the technological progress the South Korean company has made.

US retailers unveiled a trove of fresh promotions Friday, as they try to coax sales from reticent shoppers whose holiday cheer has been tempered by inflation and worries over a softening economy.

“Black Friday,” the unofficial start of the US holiday shopping season, announced itself with the annual day-after-Thanksgiving deluge of online deals and early store openings.

Traffic was steady at Macy’s flagship store in midtown Manhattan, where crowds braved drizzly, chilly weather to survey the mammoth department store and take in holiday windows that feature a Santa surrounded by disco balls and fox family of stuffed animals clad in plaid.

But industry experts have been cautious about this year’s prospects, in light of price pressures that have exacerbated concerns about an oversupply of goods.  

A year ago, retailers faced product shortfalls in the wake of shipping backlogs and factory closures related to Covid-19. To avert a repeat, the industry front-loaded holiday imports this year, leaving it vulnerable to oversupply at a time when consumers are cutting back.

“Today’s problem is having too much stuff,” said Neil Saunders, managing director for consultancy GlobalData Retail.

Saunders said retailers have made progress in reducing excess inventories, but oversupply will mean deep discounts in many categories, including electronics and apparel.

“This is a holiday season where retailers are going to have to work very hard for very small gains,” he said.

The dynamic has created opportunities for savvy shoppers like Carla Forbes, who began scouring for holiday discounts weeks ago. She nabbed a jacket Friday at Macy’s for $79, down from an original price of $225.

While promotions on watches and jewelry have got “better,” she noted that such deals are not available for staples like food, for which prices have soared.

“You just have to buy it if you want (it),” Forbes said.

– Diminishing savings –

Leading forecasts from Deloitte and the National Retail Federation project a single-digit percentage rise in sales, but this is unlikely to exceed the inflation rate.

Adobe expects an overall holiday sales increase of 2.5 percent, less than a third of last year’s level. Besides inflation, Adobe cited higher Federal Reserve interest rates and an uptick in brick-and-mortar shopping as factors.

Consumers spent  $7.28 billion up through 6:00 pm Eastern time (2300 GMT) for Black Friday, according to Adobe. The company anticipates that when the final tally is in, consumers will spend between $9 billion and $9.2 billion for the day, setting a new record for online sales on Black Friday.

Countries like Britain and France have been marking Black Friday too, but with soaring inflation, merchants there face a similar dilemma.

“The worry is that it could turn out to be more of a Bleak Friday,” said Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Susannah Streeter.

Anne Campbell, who was visiting New York from Scotland, said the mood felt very different from home, where worries about energy security and a weakening economy dominated.

“Things are very tight in the UK for a lot of people,” she said, contrasting this with spending in the US.

US shoppers have remained resilient throughout the pandemic, often spending more than expected even when consumer sentiment surveys suggested gloominess.

Part of the reason has been the unusually robust state of savings, with many households banking government pandemic aid payments at a time of reduced consumption due to virus restrictions.

But that cushion is starting to whittle away. After hitting $2.5 trillion in excess savings in mid-2021, the benchmark fell to $1.7 trillion in the second quarter, according to Moody’s.

Accompanying this drop has been a rise in credit card debt visible in Fed data and anecdotally described by chains that report more purchases made with food stamps.

– Mixed picture –

Recent earnings reports from retailers paint a mixed picture on consumer health.

Target stood on the downcast side, pointing to a sharp decline in shopping activity in late October, potentially portending a weak holiday season.

“We’ve had a consumer who has been dealing with very stubborn inflation for quarter after quarter now,” Chief Executive Brian Cornell told a conference call with analysts.

He added that customers are “shopping very carefully on a budget.”

But Lowe’s, another US chain specializing in home-improvement, described the same late-October period as “strong.”

Friday’s crowds in New York were more robust compared with a year ago, said shopper Marvin Thomas, who also ventured out for Black Friday in 2021.

Inflation is a “big problem,” he told AFP, catching his breath outdoors after finding a deal on a hat at Foot Locker.

“I’m not going to deny that it has affected me, but you gotta do what you gotta do.”

A global wildlife summit that ends Friday passed resolutions to protect hundreds of threatened species, including sharks, reptiles, turtles as well as trees.

Here are some highlights of the two-week meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Panama.

1) Sharks steal the show

No longer just the villains of the deep, these ancient predators were the stars of the summit.

Delegates from more than 180 countries agreed to regulate the trade in 54 species of the requiem shark and hammerhead shark families.

These species are the most hunted for their shark fins — seen as a delicacy in some Asian countries — and their numbers have been decimated, putting the entire marine ecosystem at risk.

Only Japan grumbled over the resolution, arguing restrictions on the trade of the blue shark would be a blow to the livelihoods of its fishermen.

CITES also voted to restrict the trade of guitarfish rays and several other freshwater ray species.

2) See-through glass frogs

The skin of these nocturnal amphibians can be lime green or so translucent their organs are visible through their skin.

This has made them sought-after pets, and intense trafficking has placed the species in critical danger.

CITES also placed more than 160 species of glass frog, found in several rainforests in Central and South America, on its Appendix II, which places trade restrictions on threatened species.

The European Union and Canada withdrew early reservations about the resolution, which was adopted unanimously.

3) Weird and wonderful turtles

CITES approved varying levels of protection for around 20 turtle species from America and Asia.

These include the striking matamata turtles, with their prehistoric, beetle-like appearance, which have also become sought-after pets and are hunted for their meat and eggs.

They live in the Amazon and Orinoco basins, but scientists do not know how many there are.

Freshwater turtles are among the most-trafficked species in the world.

The unusual-looking North American Alligator Snapping Turtle was also granted trade protection.

4) Crocodile bans lifted

Brazil and the Philippines now will be able to export farm-raised crocodiles, after a total trade ban was lifted.

Delegates also allowed the export of skin and meat of the broad-snouted caiman — found in the wild in the Brazilian Amazon and Pantanal as well as wetlands, rivers, and lakes of neighboring countries.

“The population of these animals is very big. There has been a great reproductive success,” said researcher Miryam Venegas-Anaya, a crocodile expert with the University of Panama.

In the Philippines, a trade restriction was lifted on the saltwater crocodile that lives mainly on the islands of Mindanao and Palawan.

However, Thailand’s efforts to lift a ban on its Siamese crocodile was rejected.

5) Ivory ban stays, no luck for hippos

Zimbabwe and its southern African neighbors have seen their elephant populations soar in recent years, and pushed a drive to re-open the ivory trade which has been banned since 1989.

One-off sales were allowed in 1999 and 2008 despite fierce opposition.

However, in the rest of the continent poaching for ivory is still decimating elephant populations and the request was rejected.

Delegates also rejected a request by Botswana, Namibia and Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), to allow the sale of southern white rhino horn.

Meanwhile, after a fierce debate, a request by ten west African nations to ban the trade in hippopotamus, was rejected by delegates.

Illegal trade in the surly semi-aquatic mammal — for its meat, ivory tusks, teeth, and skull — rose after elephant ivory was banned. 

French President Emmanuel Macron will raise concerns about the effects of American industrial subsidies and tax breaks during talks with US President Joe Biden in Washington next week, a top French official said Friday.

France and other EU countries are increasingly alarmed that the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which Biden signed in August, will distort transatlantic trade to give American companies an unfair advantage.

The act, designed to accelerate the US transition to a low-carbon economy, contains around $370 billion in subsidies for green energy as well as tax cuts for US-made electric cars and batteries. 

“We cannot risk more de-industrialisation in Europe at a time when we’re trying to re-industrialise,” a senior aide to Macron told reporters ahead of the French leader’s trip to Washington from Tuesday night.

The biggest concern is about “American investment in Europe being repatriated,” he said during a briefing ahead of what will be the first state visit by a foreign leader to Washington under Biden. 

Although Macron appreciates no major changes can be made to a law seen as one of Biden’s main legislative achievements, he is hoping to carve out “exemptions” to help European industries.

“We can imagine that the American adminstration agrees to exemptions for a certain number of European industrial sectors, perhaps in the same way as they’re doing for Canada and Mexico,” the aide added. 

Macron, 44, has long favoured a Buy Europe Act that would offer incentives and requirements for consumers and governments to buy EU-made equipment.

But the idea faces resistance from countries such as the Netherlands and Germany, which worry about the costs and the impact on trade.

“The message from the Americans is ‘Do your own IRA’,” the French aide said.

Macron “will draw the necessary conclusions for us as Europeans from the conversations”, he added.

– ‘Gap’ –

The tension over US industrial policy is one of several areas of friction between the European Union and Washington that Macron will raise next week during his state visit.

EU countries are also frustrated about the huge profits being made by US energy exporters as they supply LNG gas to Europe in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.

“Europe is giving and suffering the most in terms of sanctions against Russia,” the French official said, referring to the sanctions introduced on the Russian energy and industrial sectors.

“We see the risk of a gap developing between Europe and the United States,” he added, stressing the need for a new “synchronisation”. 

Macron is set to arrive on Tuesday evening in Washington before beginning a two-day official programme that will see him given the full honours of a state visit at the White House on Thursday.

He will be the first French president to have been offered two state visits, which have the highest level of diplomatic protocol, his office said.

His first came at the invitation of Donald Trump in April 2018 amid another transatlantic trade dispute over US tariffs on steel and aluminium introduced by the former Republican president.

That trip was memorable for Trump publicly flicking dandruff off Macron’s suit and the two men planting an oak tree in the White House garden that was later removed, then died.

Ties between Macron and Biden were severely strained by a row over supplying submarines to Australia in 2021, but have since recovered, with the two men speaking and meeting regularly.

“The relationship (with Biden) is very fluid, friendly and very open on all issues,” the French official said. 

“The presidents Trump and Biden are not at all the same personality and the dynamic is not the same,” he added. 

Macron will be accompanied by a large delegation of ministers and business leaders, with the visit set to feature talks about nuclear energy and space cooperation.

He will travel to New Orleans on Friday.