Shopping app Temu suspended in Vietnam: state media

Shopping app Temu has been forced to suspend its services in Vietnam after it failed to register with authorities, state media said on Thursday.Goods ordered on Temu were no longer being cleared through customs in Vietnam, state media reported, after the company missed an end-of-November deadline to register with the ministry of industry and trade.It was not clear when or if Temu, which is owned by Chinese e-commerce giant PDD Holdings, would be able to resume business.Separately, online fashion retailer Shein said that the Vietnamese version of its website was “temporarily unavailable”, adding that it was working with the ministry of industry and trade “to register our e-commerce services”.Shein, which was founded in China but is now headquartered in Singapore, had faced the same deadline as Temu to register, but there was no reference to the company in state media Thursday. Neither Shein nor Vietnamese authorities immediately responded to a request for comment from AFP.On Temu’s app, Vietnamese has been removed as an interface language. Users now have the option to select from English, Chinese and French.The announcement comes after the ministry raised concerns in October over the stunningly low prices on the online marketplace and their impact on Vietnamese producers.A spokesperson for Temu told AFP that they were working with Vietnamese authorities to register their business. “We have submitted all required documents for the registration,” the spokesperson said.Temu has sucked in consumers across the world with its low prices and all-powerful algorithms. Since it began operations in Vietnam in October, it has caught the eye of Vietnamese consumers with discounts of up to 90 percent and free shipping, according to state media. But the month of its launch, the ministry raised concerns about the “unusually low prices of its goods, which may impact domestically produced products”, according to the official Vietnam News Agency.”It is unclear whether they (the goods) are authentic,” VNA cited the ministry as saying.After launching in 2022, online shopping app Temu surged to become one of the most popular online shopping sites in the United States.It is also one of the fastest-growing apps in Europe, but the EU has hit the shopping platform with a probe over concerns the site is doing too little to stop the sale of illegal products.In April, regulators in South Korea opened an investigation into Temu on suspicion of unfair practices including false advertising and poor product quality.

Bitcoin breaks $100,000, Seoul retreats as traders eye S. Korea drama

Bitcoin burst past $100,000 for the first time Thursday, while Seoul stocks slipped as South Korea’s president faced impeachment after his brief imposition of martial law this week.After hovering around the mid-$90,000 mark in recent weeks, the popular cryptocurrency finally shattered the historic level in Asia after incoming US president Donald Trump picked crypto proponent Paul Atkins to take over as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).Atkins is founder of risk consultancy firm Patomak Global Partners, whose clients include companies in the banking, trading and cryptocurrency industries.And Trump’s transition team noted he had co-chaired the Digital Chamber of Commerce, which promotes the use of digital assets, since 2017.Atkins “recognises that digital assets and other innovations are crucial to Making America Greater than Ever Before”, Trump said.Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management said Atkins has “a track record of critiquing the SEC’s tough stance on cryptocurrency firms”.”This strategic move has electrified the crypto community, fuelling investor optimism about a potentially more accommodating regulatory landscape under Atkins’ watch,” said Innes.After breaking the key level, bitcoin continued to push higher and hit a peak of $103,800 on Thursday.It has jumped more than 50 percent since Trump’s victory — and around 140 percent since the turn of the year — on hopes the US president-elect will push through measures to deregulate cryptocurrencies.On the election campaign trail, he pledged to make the United States the “bitcoin and cryptocurrency capital of the world”.- Swift response -The rally in bitcoin came as traders keep track of events in South Korea, after President Yoon Suk Yeol’s dramatic declaration of martial law which was lifted within hours.The nation’s opposition has now pushed for his impeachment, while the defence minister has resigned over the crisis.The upheaval comes as Asia’s number-four economy struggles to gain traction, while worries build on the possible impact of Trump’s presidency as he prepares to reignite his hardball trade policy when he takes power next month.But analysts saw some optimism.”The silver lining we think is that the swift reversal of the martial law underscores the resilience of South Korea’s institutions,” said analysts at BMI, a unit of Fitch Solutions.”For now, we expect limited implications for the economy and financial markets as the Bank of Korea and the ministry of finance have responded swiftly by reassuring investors,” they said.Trinh Nguyen, senior economist for emerging Asia at Natixis CIB, said the turmoil represented “a growth shock rather than a sovereign risk”. Seoul’s Kospi fell 0.9 percent, having finished more than one percent down on Wednesday.And the won — which initially hit a two-year low when the crisis erupted — remained at around 1,415 per dollar, slightly up from its levels before the martial law declaration late Tuesday.Investors are also keeping tabs on France after the three-month-old government of Prime Minister Michel Barnier was brought down in a no-confidence vote linked to a controversial budget proposal.The news out of the eurozone’s second-largest economy had been expected and the euro saw no major impact, but the move injected fresh uncertainty into an already fraught political situation in France after divisive elections earlier this year.In early European exchanges, the euro was trading at $1.0544, a little stonger than recent days. Paris stocks opened marginally higher.Most other markets in Asia rose, tracking a record for all three main indexes on Wall Street, where soft data on jobs and services boosted hopes for a Federal Reserve interest rate cut this month.Tokyo, Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Wellington, Mumbai and Taipei advanced but Hong Kong, Jakarta and Manila slipped.London was flat at the open. Frankfurt was down.- Key figures around 0810 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.3 percent at 39,395.60 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.9 percent at 19,560.44 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 3,368.37 (close)London – FTSE 100: FLAT at 8,332.49Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0544 from $1.0510 on WednesdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.2740 from $1.2702Dollar/yen: DOWN at 149.67 yen from 150.56 yen Euro/pound: UP at 82.77 from 82.71 penceWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.1 percent at $68.47 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.1 percent at $72.23 per barrelNew York – Dow: UP 0.7 percent at 45,014.04 (close)

Yaël Braun-Pivet demande à Macron de nommer “rapidement” un Premier ministre pour ne pas laisser s’installer “le flottement”

La présidente de l’Assemblée nationale Yaël Braun-Pivet a demandé jeudi à Emmanuel Macron de nommer “rapidement” un Premier ministre en remplacement de Michel Barnier censuré la veille car “il ne faut pas laisser le flottement” s’installer.”Il faut qu’il y ait un nouveau gouvernement rapidement pour que celui-ci puisse reprendre les discussions budgétaires, puisque là aussi, il y a plusieurs options qui sont sur la table”, a expliqué la présidente macroniste de l’Assemblée sur France Inter. Parmi ces options, elle a défendu la poursuite de “la navette parlementaire sur le projet de loi de financement de la Sécurité sociale qui n’a pas été adopté avec l’adoption de la motion de censure”.  Avec l’accord des présidents de groupes, un “accord” pourrait être trouvé par ailleurs sur le budget de l’État “sur un socle minimum”. “On pourrait très bien imaginer qu’on prendrait l’engagement d’examiner un budget rectificatif au premier trimestre 2025”. Dans l’intervalle, “on pourrait doter la France d’un budget avant la fin de l’année, il est encore temps”, a insisté Yaël Braun-Pivet.Concernant le choix du nouveau Premier ministre alors qu’aucun groupe ne détient la majorité, même relative, à l’Assemblée, elle a estimé que le Président devait “recevoir tous les groupes politiques”. Rappelant qu’elle devait elle-même rencontrer Emmanuel Macron à la mi-journée, elle a suggéré “quelqu’un qui connaisse très bien l’Assemblée nationale, parce qu’on voit qu’elle est d’une complexité folle et qui ait cette capacité à (…) vouloir le dialogue et la concertation”. “Vous connaissez la sensibilité qui est la mienne et moi je préférerais qu’il y ait un élargissement de la majorité vers les sociaux-démocrates et vers la partie de la gauche de l’hémicycle qui partage les valeurs républicaines”, a-t-elle soutenu, disant avoir été “heurtée” par la manière dont Michel Barnier a été en dialogue direct avec Marine Le Pen. “Nous devons écouter ce que les électeurs du Front national nous disent et ce qu’ils expriment dans les urnes et le prendre en compte dans les politiques que nous menons mais ça ne veut pas dire travailler avec eux”, a-t-elle tranché.

Censure: Barnier présente sa démission, Macron s’adresse aux Français

Et maintenant ? Au lendemain d’une censure historique, Michel Barnier présente jeudi sa démission à Emmanuel Macron qui va s’exprimer à 20 heures à la télévision pour tenter de fixer un cap alors que s’ouvre une période d’une rare incertitude politique et budgétaire.Michel Barnier, renversé mercredi soir par 331 députés et qui détient désormais le peu enviable record de brièveté à Matignon sous la Ve République, présentera sa démission à 10 heures.Quand sera nommé le nouveau Premier ministre ? La présidente de l’Assemblée nationale Yaël Braun-Pivet a exhorté Emmanuel Macron à le faire “rapidement” pour “ne pas laisser s’installer le flottement”.L’entourage du chef de l’Etat ne fournit à ce stade aucun calendrier, mais plusieurs de ses familiers ont confié qu’il entendait cette fois agir vite. Dès jeudi soir ? “Il n’a pas le choix”, s’avance un de ses proches.La ministre de la Transition écologique et de l’Energie Agnès Pannier-Runacher plaide aussi pour une nomination rapide afin d’envoyer “un message fort à ceux qui prêtent de l’argent à la France”. La Bourse de Paris a ouvert en très légère baisse (-0,28%), mais l’agence Moody’s met déjà en garde sur le fait que la chute du gouvernement “réduit la probabilité d’une consolidation” des finances publiques. Il faut donc nommer un Premier ministre “au plus vite” pour Xavier Bertrand (LR), le patron des socialistes, Olivier Faure, demandant sur France Inter au président de la République de consulter dans la journée “l’ensemble des chefs de parti”.Avec la chute de Michel Barnier, la crise politique ouverte avec la dissolution de l’Assemblée nationale le 9 juin a franchi un cap inédit : pour la première fois depuis 1962, un Premier ministre a été renversé par l’Assemblée nationale après avoir engagé sa responsabilité.La situation laisse les Français partagés: 53% approuvent la décision des députés, mais 82% sont inquiets de ses conséquences, selon un sondage Toluna Harris Interactive pour RTL. 64% des sondés se disent favorables à la démission d’Emmanuel Macron, un souhait très prononcé chez les sympathisants de LFI et du RN.La France insoumise continue de réclamer des présidentielles anticipées.”Si on veut ramener une solution de stabilité, (cela) passe par le départ du président de la République”, a martelé sur RTL le coordinateur du mouvement Manuel Bompard.Marine Le Pen n’a pas formellement réclamé une démission du président, mais elle estime que “la pression” à son endroit “sera évidemment de plus en plus forte” si “on ne prend pas la voix du respect des électeurs”.Elle a aussi assuré mercredi qu’elle et les siens “laisseront travailler” le futur Premier ministre, afin de “co-construire” un budget “acceptable pour tous”.- Accord de non censure ? -Il s’agit désormais pour le chef de l’Etat de résoudre la quadrature du cercle, entre reconduite du “socle commun” entre macronistes et LR ou élargissement de ses contours afin de dégager une coalition gouvernementale davantage capée pour résister à une future tentative de censure.Les Républicains ne “feront pas tomber” le prochain gouvernement même s’ils décidaient de ne pas y participer, a assuré sur France 2 leur chef de file à l’Assemblée Laurent Wauquiez. “On ne sera pas dans le blocage, on ne sera pas dans la stratégie du pire”, a-t-il ajouté, conditionnant la participation de son parti à la nouvelle équipe en fonction des priorités qui seront mises sur la table.Le patron des députés macronistes, Gabriel Attal, qui va réunir les ténors de Renaissance dans la matinée, propose, lui, un accord de “non censure” avec le PS pour échapper à la tutelle du RN. L’équation est d’autant plus complexe qu’une nouvelle dissolution et de nouvelles élections législatives ne peuvent pas intervenir avant juillet.D’ici là, qui pour Matignon ? Les noms du président du MoDem François Bayrou, du ministre des Armées Sébastien Lecornu, de Xavier Bertrand, de l’ex-Premier ministre socialiste Bernard Cazeneuve ou du maire de Troyes François Baroin circulent.Le très droitier ministre de l’Intérieur Bruno Retailleau, jugé parfois proche des idées du RN, ou le macroniste historique Roland Lescure, associé à la branche sociale-démocrate de Renaissance, font également l’objet de supputations.La tâche du futur titulaire s’annonce quoi qu’il en soit immense.Dans son discours devant l’Assemblée qui s’apprêtait à le congédier, Michel Barnier a prévenu: la “réalité” budgétaire ne “disparaîtra pas par l’enchantement d’une motion de censure”.Attendu à 6,1% du PIB en 2024, bien plus que les 4,4% prévus à l’automne 2023, le déficit public raterait son objectif de 5% en l’absence de budget, et l’incertitude politique pèserait sur le coût de la dette et la croissance.Emmanuel Macron, qui avait appelé mardi à “ne pas faire peur”, devra jeudi se montrer convaincant pour rassurer. Une mission d’autant plus ardue que sa popularité est au plus bas depuis son arrivée au pouvoir en 2017, ou depuis la crise des gilets jaunes l’année suivante, selon les baromètres.

Bitcoin hits $100,000 for first time as traders cheer Trump pick

Bitcoin broke $100,000 for the first time Thursday as traders cheered Donald Trump’s decision to pick a crypto fan to head the US securities regulator, reinforcing optimism the new president will push through measures to deregulate the sector.The cryptocurrency soared through the mark, having enjoyed a blistering rally since the November 5 election of Trump, who pledged on the campaign trail to make the United States the “bitcoin and cryptocurrency capital of the world”.The digital unit has jumped more than 50 percent since the tycoon’s victory — and around 140 percent since the turn of the year. However, the unit’s advance — it hit a record of $103,800.44 before easing to just below $103,000 in the afternoon — had stalled in recent weeks, sitting just below $100,000 as traders awaited new catalysts to buy in.That came with news that Trump has fingered major crypto proponent Paul Atkins to take over as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission.Atkins, an SEC commissioner from 2002 to 2008, founded risk consultancy firm Patomak Global Partners in 2009, whose clients include companies in the banking, trading and cryptocurrency industries.An announcement from the Trump transition team noted that Atkins had been co-chairman of the Digital Chamber of Commerce, which promotes the use of digital assets, since 2017.”Paul is a proven leader for common sense regulations,” Trump said in a statement that emphasised Atkins’ commitment to “robust, innovative” capital markets.”He also recognises that digital assets and other innovations are crucial to Making America Greater than Ever Before,” Trump added.- Trump’s U-turn -He would replace Gary Gensler, who led a crackdown on the sector after a 2022 market rout. Even so, the SEC this year authorised the trading on the American market of two new financial products, allowing a wider public to buy cryptocurrencies, called ETFs.”Atkins, a conservative legal eagle with a track record of critiquing the SEC’s tough stance on cryptocurrency firms, is expected to steer a more crypto-friendly course,” said Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management.”This strategic move has electrified the crypto community, fueling investor optimism about a potentially more accommodating regulatory landscape under Atkins’ watch, aligning with broader Republican advocacy for a lenient approach to the flourishing digital asset market.”Despite having once branded cryptocurrencies a “scam”, Trump changed his stance and has been a major advocate of the unit during his election campaign.In September, he announced that he, along with his sons and entrepreneurs, would launch a digital currency platform named World Liberty Financial. He has also become a close friend of tycoon Elon Musk, who he said would lead a new US government-efficiency group tasked with cutting federal waste.Musk reportedly spent more than $100 million to help Trump regain the White House, repeatedly boosting his candidacy on his X social media platform.Reacting on X to the news of Bitcoin hitting the $100,000 mark, Musk wrote: “Wow”.”Layer on top expectations he will strip back regulations on the crypto industry and you begin to understand why investors have piled into the digital currency and related stock,” said Dan Coatsworth, an analyst at investment group AJ Bell.- Integration hopes -Among the measures expected from the sector is the creation of a strategic reserve of bitcoins in the United States, consisting mainly of tokens seized by the courts, which could push other countries to grant more legitimacy to the virtual currency.And Samer Hasn, of XS.com, added that the prospect of relaxed regulation was fuelling “the hope of seeing cryptocurrencies integrate more deeply into the economic life” of the country.Cryptocurrencies have made headlines since their creation, from their extreme volatility to the collapse of several industry giants, foremost among them the FTX exchange platform.Bitcoin was conceived in 2008 by a person or group writing under the name Satoshi Nakamoto.It was pitched as a way to break free of mainstream financial institutions by establishing a decentralised platform for transactions.The digital currency is created — or “mined” — as a reward when powerful computers solve complex problems to validate transactions made on a meddle-proof register known as the blockchain.Bitcoin has long been criticised for being the currency of choice for making untraceable payments on the dark web, the hidden part of the internet used for criminal activities.The asset has often come under attack for facilitating money laundering and allowing extortion through ransomware attacks.In September 2021, the unit was accepted by El Salvador as legal tender, though according to a study by Central America University, in 2023, 88 percent of Salvadorans never used it.

LR “ne fera pas tomber” le futur gouvernement même s’il n’y participe pas, assure Wauquiez

Les Républicains ne “feront pas tomber” le futur gouvernement même s’ils décidaient de ne pas y participer, a déclaré jeudi leur chef de file à l’Assemblée Laurent Wauquiez sur France 2 au lendemain de la censure du gouvernement de Michel Barnier.”On ne sera pas dans le blocage, on ne sera pas dans la stratégie du pire (…), on ne fera pas tomber le gouvernement, on ne fera pas ce qu’a fait Marine Le Pen”, a déclaré M. Wauquiez qui conditionne la participation de LR à un futur gouvernement en fonction des priorités qui seront mises sur la table.Pour LR, les trois points importants sont “moins de gaspillage de l’argent public”, ” revaloriser ceux qui travaillent” et “la sécurité”. M. Wauquiez a par ailleurs jugé que Marine Le Pen s’était “décrédibilisée” pour gouverner un jour en votant la censure.”Quand vous prétendez vouloir diriger un pays, vous ne pouvez pas faire le choix de l’instabilité”, a-t-il dit.”C’était juste destructeur”, a-t-il ajouté, accusant Marine Le Pen d’avoir voulu “faire un coup politique” pour “faire diversion” après son procès, “quitte à jouer avec l’intérêt du pays”. 

Chinese shopping app Temu suspended in Vietnam: state media

Chinese shopping app Temu has been forced to suspend its services in Vietnam after it failed to register with authorities, state media said on Thursday.Goods ordered on Temu were no longer being cleared through customs in Vietnam, state media reported, after the company missed an end-of-November deadline to register with the ministry of industry and trade.It was not clear when or if Temu would be able to resume business.On Temu’s app, Vietnamese has been removed as an interface language. Users now have the option to select from English, Chinese and French.The announcement comes after the ministry raised concerns in October over the stunningly low prices on the online marketplace and their impact on Vietnamese producers.A spokesperson for Temu told AFP that they were working with Vietnamese authorities to register their business. “We have submitted all required documents for the registration,” the spokesperson said.Temu has sucked in consumers across the world with its low prices and all-powerful algorithms. Since it began operations in Vietnam in October, it has caught the eye of Vietnamese consumers with discounts of up to 90 percent and free shipping, according to state media. But the month of its launch, the ministry raised concerns about the “unusually low prices of its goods, which may impact domestically produced products”, according to the official Vietnam News Agency.”It is unclear whether they (the goods) are authentic,” VNA cited the ministry as saying.Temu is also one of the fastest-growing apps in Europe, but the EU has hit the shopping platform with a probe over concerns the site is doing too little to stop the sale of illegal products.In April, regulators in South Korea opened an investigation into Temu on suspicion of unfair practices including false advertising and poor product quality.