German car giant Volkswagen said Wednesday it would sell its operations in China’s Xinjiang region, where Beijing has been accused of widespread human rights abuses including forced labour.The firm will sell its factory in Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi as well as a test track in Turpan to a Chinese company, a spokesperson said in a press release.”For economic reasons, the site has been sold by the joint venture as part of its strategic realignment,” the spokesperson said.VW has lost ground in China, its most important market, with sales in the country in 2023 growing modestly but at a slower rate than the previous year.It has fallen behind domestic competitors in China, losing its title as the best-selling auto brand to BYD.And rights campaigners have for years accused Beijing of a crackdown against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, including through forced labour and detention camps.The northwestern region is home to several factories that supply multinational companies, including big-name Western brands.VW has long come under scrutiny over its factory in the city of Urumqi, which opened in 2013 and in which it has a stake via its partner SAIC.And this year, Germany’s Handelsblatt financial daily reported that forced labour may have been used to build VW’s test track in Turpan in 2019.VW said it had seen no evidence of human rights violations in connection with the project but vowed to investigate any new information that came to light.Its operations will be sold to Chinese firm Shanghai Motor Vehicle Inspection Center (SMVIC), the car giant said Wednesday.- Forced labour allegations -Beijing stands accused of incarcerating over one million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in a network of detention facilities across Xinjiang.Campaigners and Uyghurs overseas have said an array of abuses take place inside the facilities, including torture, forced labour, forced sterilisation and political indoctrination.A UN report in 2022 detailed “credible” evidence of torture, forced medical treatment and sexual or gender-based violence — as well as forced labour — in the region.But it stopped short of labelling Beijing’s actions a “genocide”, as the United States and some Western lawmakers have done.Calls had grown louder for VW to reconsider its business activities in Xinjiang after German chemicals giant BASF announced this year that it would accelerate its exit from two joint ventures there.An external audit commissioned by VW last year found no evidence of forced labour among the plant’s 197 employees.But the consultancy that wrote the report acknowledged “the challenges in collecting data” for audits in China. The Turpan test track was not part of the audit.In response to the VW forced labour report, China urged companies not to be “blinded by lies” about its rights record in Xinjiang.Beijing denies allegations of abuse and insists its actions in Xinjiang have helped to combat extremism and enhance development.

A Malaysian court on Wednesday allowed corruption charges in one of several cases linked to the scandal-wracked 1MDB sovereign wealth fund against jailed ex-prime minister Najib Razak to be dropped, his lawyer said.Najib is currently in jail after being convicted in one of five cases related to 1MDB from which billions of dollars had been allegedly pilfered. He will face another trial from December 2.Charges dropped Wednesday relates to payments of 6.6 billion ringgit ($1.48 billion) allegedly made to Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Company.”The court correctly exercised its jurisdiction to discharge our client of the charges,” his lawyer Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee told AFP.”The decision today was based on the non-disclosure of critical documents, six years from the initial charges being read, that are relevant to our client’s preparation of his defence,” Farhan said.Similarly, Farhan said the Kuala Lumpur High Court also dropped charges against  Najib’s ally and former treasury secretary-general Irwan Serigar Abdullah.However, prosecutors can seek renewed charges if they were to disclose the crucial documents that had been withheld from Najib’s defence, as the court’s decision on Wednesday did not amount to a full acquittal.Najib, in October, issued an apology that the 1MDB scandal happened during his tenure, but maintained he had no knowledge of illegal transfers from the now-defunct state fund.Allegations that billions of dollars were stolen from investment vehicle 1MDB and used to buy everything from a super-yacht to artwork played a major role in prompting voters to oust Najib and the long-ruling United Malays National Organisation party in 2018 elections.The 1MDB scandal sparked investigations in the United States, Switzerland and Singapore, where the funds were allegedly laundered.– Litany of cases -Najib began serving a 12-year jail term in August 2022 for offences linked to the misuse of public money from former 1MDB unit SRC International. The sentence was later halved by Malaysia’s pardons board.  His 1MDB audit tampering trial ended with an acquittal at the High Court in 2023.In October, the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled that 71-year-old will have to defend himself against four counts of abuse of power linked to 2.27 billion ringgit in alleged bribes and 21 counts of money laundering, involving Tanore Finance Corp. The trial is slated to get underway on December 2.  Another money laundering trial over 27 million ringgit in funds is set to commence in April 2025.The US Justice Department has said more than $4.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB between 2009 and 2015 by high-level officials at the fund and their associates.    Najib, the UK-educated son of one of Malaysia’s founding fathers, had been groomed for the prime minister’s post from a young age.He set up 1MDB after coming to power in 2009 to bolster economic development, but the fund amassed billions of dollars in debt.But Najib’s reputation has been battered not just by 1MDB but other graft controversies.Najib was linked to allegations of huge kickbacks in a 2002 purchase of French submarines while defence minister, a case later connected to the 2006 murder of a Mongolian woman — Altantuya Shaariibuu — involved in the deal.He steadfastly denied wrongdoing.

Asian markets were mixed Wednesday as traders tried to gauge the economic outlook after Donald Trump picked a tough-negotiating hawk as his trade envoy the day after saying he would hit China, Canada and Mexico with hefty tariffs.The stuttering performance followed a broadly negative day on Tuesday and came despite another record-breaking lead from Wall Street.While he still has just under two months to go before taking office, Trump signalled Monday that he was ready to reopen his hardball playbook with America’s key trading partners if they do not stop illegal immigration and drug smuggling.The threat to impose the levies on his first day reignited trade war fears at a time when central bankers are fighting to bring inflation under control, with several observers warning prices could begin to spike again.Investors were also trying to ascertain the ramifications of the decision to name as trade envoy Jamieson Greer, who served as chief of staff to US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer during the first Trump administration.”Jamieson played a key role during my First Term in imposing Tariffs on China and others to combat unfair Trade practices,” the president-elect said, noting Greer’s experience pushing through a trade deal with Mexico and Canada.National Australia Bank’s Rodrigo Catril said: “President Trump is serious about using tariffs as a form of leverage.”Monday’s announcements “were linked to drugs and illegal immigration, but we must assume there is another layer of tariffs that should be coming on countries running trade surpluses with the US”, he said. He added that Trump was aiming for a “trade decoupling” and that “the question is whether he wants a mild decoupling or a severe one. Another observation is that we should expect retaliation, implying a negative impact on global trade”.All three main indexes on Wall Street ended on a positive note, with the S&P 500 and Dow hitting record highs.In Asia, Tokyo fell with Hello Kitty owner Sanrio tumbling more than 14 percent after major shareholders said they would reduce their stake in the firm. It had shed around 17 percent at one point.There were also losses in Singapore, Seoul, Taipei, Manila and Bangkok, but Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney and Wellington rose.Mumbai was also up, with Adani Enterprises soaring more than 10 percent after it said in statement Wednesday that tycoon founder Gautam Adani and other top officials are “only charged” with securities fraud, wire fraud conspiracy and securities fraud. It denies all the charges.It said it was “incorrect” to say that either Gautam or his nephew Sagar Adani had been charged with bribery or corruption.Its subsidiaries including Adani Green and Adani Power also rocketed.The gains came after the company said earlier in the day that it had lost almost $55 billion in a market rout since the accusations.London was flat at the open, while Paris and Frankfurt fell. Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s November policy meeting, where it cut interest rates, showed officials would take a gradual approach when considering future reductions as the job market remained solid.If data comes in about as expected, “it would likely be appropriate to move gradually toward a more neutral stance of policy over time”, the minutes said.While economists had been expecting another cut in December, bets on that have been scaled back in light of Trump’s election amid worries his pledges to cut tax and impose tariffs would lead to another spike in prices.Traders are keenly awaiting the release later Wednesday of the Fed’s preferred gauge of inflation as well as figures on jobless claims and economic growth.That comes as US markets wind down for Thursday’s Thanksgiving holiday.Oil prices edged up slightly. The commodity had fallen around three percent on news that Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon were close to a ceasefire, cooling geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. The agreement went into effect Wednesday.Crude was getting support from the prospect of key OPEC+ nations delaying a pick-up in production that was due to begin in January.Bitcoin was sitting around $93,500, having hit a record Friday and come within a whisker of the $100,000 mark on hopes that Trump will move to ease restrictions on the crypto market.- Key figures around 0810 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.8 percent at 38,134.97 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 2.3 percent at 19,603.13 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 1.5 percent at 3,309.78 (close)London – FTSE 100: FLAT at 8,261.87Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0500 from $1.0482 on TuesdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.2593 from $1.2567Dollar/yen: DOWN at 152.00 yen from 153.06 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 83.38 pence from 83.41 penceWest Texas Intermediate: UP 0.4 percent at $69.06 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.4 percent at $73.12 per barrelNew York – Dow: UP 0.3 percent at 44,860.31 (close)