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Vodafone and Three, the UK division of Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison, are set to create Britain’s biggest mobile phone operator after the country’s competition regulator backed the deal Thursday.The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said in a statement that the tie-up will proceed after the companies pledged to invest billions of pounds on rolling out a high-speed 5G network across the UK.The planned tie-up, first made public in June last year, is valued at around £16.5 billion ($21 billion) by Vodafone and Three, which have 27 million customers combined.The merger, set to complete during the first half of next year according to Vodafone, vaults the new group above the UK’s two current largest mobile operators BT EE and Virgin Media O2 in terms of customer numbers.”We believe the merger is likely to boost competition in the UK mobile sector and should be allowed to proceed — but only if Vodafone and Three agree to implement our proposed measures,” said Stuart McIntosh, who led the CMA inquiry on the merger.Vodafone said the enlarged group will create “a new force in UK mobile, unleashing more competition and investment to transform the UK telecoms landscape”.Vodafone and Three “have committed to invest £11 billion to create one of Europe’s most advanced 5G networks”, the pair said in a separate statement.The new network will reach 99 percent of the UK population and benefit more than 50 million customers as demand for data “is set to accelerate further with more widespread adoption of new technology, such as AI”, it added.Vodafone chief executive Margherita Della Valle said the “approval releases the handbrake on the UK’s telecoms industry, and the increased investment will power the UK to the forefront of European telecommunications”.Canning Fok, deputy chairman of CK Hutchison, said his group “will fully support the merged business in implementing its network investment plan”.- Transformation -Vodafone was already transforming under Della Valle amid the ongoing sale of its Italian unit to Swisscom for eight billion euros ($8.4 billion) and offloading of its Spanish division to investment fund Zegona for up to five billion euros.It comes after the British group last year axed 11,000 jobs, or more than 10 percent of its global workforce, to slash costs.Vodafone’s main market is Germany, where the group has been hit by legislation in the country that prevents housing associations from bundling TV contracts with rent.Mobile phone groups also provide television streaming services. Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, described the UK’s approval of the Vodafone-Three merger as “a significant regulatory shift after years of blocked telecom deals”. Following the CMA announcement, Vodafone’s share price rose 2.5 percent at the end of trading on London’s top-tier FTSE 100 index, which closed higher overall.

US President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday took credit for bitcoin’s historic surge past $100,000, telling his social media followers “you’re welcome” after the cryptocurrency jumped more than 50 percent since his election victory.”CONGRATULATIONS BITCOINERS!!! $100,000!!! YOU’RE WELCOME!!! Together, we will Make America Great Again!” Trump, who in September launched his own crypto platform, wrote on Truth Social.Bitcoin broke $100,000 for the first time Thursday after Trump nominated cryptocurrency backer Paul Atkins to head the US securities regulator, reinforcing optimism the incoming president will deregulate the sector.The digital unit has enjoyed a blistering rally since the November 5 election of Trump, who pledged to make the United States the “bitcoin and cryptocurrency capital of the world”.Bitcoin hit a record of $103,800.45 in Asian trading hours Thursday before dipping back to around $101,000.Following Trump’s remarks, it began climbing again, reaching $103,320.The volatile asset has soared by around 140 percent since the turn of the year. However, its advance had stalled in recent weeks, sitting just below $100,000 as traders awaited new catalysts before jumping in to buy.That came after Trump, who takes office in January, announced Wednesday that he would nominate 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 -Atkins replaces 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 (exchange-traded funds).”Institutional interest and regulatory shifts are adding legitimacy, turning what once seemed like a fringe asset into a force reshaping finance,” said Matt Britzman, a senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. “Love it or doubt it, bitcoin’s climb is rewriting the rule book for digital assets,” he added.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. Trump has also become close to tycoon Elon Musk, who he said would lead a new US government-efficiency group tasked with cutting federal waste.Musk, a cryptocurrency fan himself, 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”.- Integration hopes -Among measures expected with Trump at the helm 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.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.”It’s volatile, unpredictable and is driven by speculation, none of which makes for a sleep-at-night investment,” said Dan Coatsworth, an analyst at investment group AJ Bell.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 have never used it.Its carbon footprint has also come under scrutiny as mining cryptocurrencies requires huge amounts of energy.burs/bcp/ajb/

Several OPEC+ countries, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, agreed Thursday to extend oil supply cutsfor three months through March to avoid a sharp drop in prices in a global market awash in crude.The decision had been widely expected, though dissension that caused the meeting to be delayed by a few days had created some doubts that the oil cartel would maintain the cuts.Eight OPEC+ countries will extend their “voluntary adjustments” of 2.2 million barrels per day until the end of March, the Vienna-based group said in a statement following a virtual meeting.After that, those cuts “will be gradually phased out” on a monthly basis until the end of September 2026, the group said, adding this is “subject to market conditions”.Without a new agreement, the eight countries were set to begin increasing production beginning in January to gradually return it to 2023 levels.Algeria, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Oman, Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have already twice pushed back the production increases that were set to have begun in October and then in December.- ‘Buys some time’ -The supply cuts are only having a muted impact on the market, with US president-elect Donald Trump expected to adopt policies to boost US oil output while China’s demand outlook is lacklustre as its economy languishes.Thursday’s decision “buys the group some time”, said David Oxley, chief climate and commodities economist at research group Capital Economics.”The backdrop of weak global oil demand means that it could easily find itself back in a similar position in three months’ time,” Oxley said.”In our view, the fundamentals for oil prices remain weak.”Ole Hansen, a Saxo Bank analyst, also said OPEC+ could again extend the cuts in three months.The International Energy Agency said last month that even if the OPEC+ cuts remain place, global supply will exceed demand by more than one million barrels per day next year.OPEC+ nations are currently holding back six million barrels of oil a day, including the 2.2 million barrels a day of output that they had been discussing putting back on the market.On Thursday, the cartel decided to extend two other tranches of cuts by one year, until the end of 2026, the group said.Analysts at DNB bank said before the meeting that “there is no room for additional OPEC+ oil in 2025” on the market and a boost in output would push down crude prices.That would displease Saudi Arabia, which relies on high oil prices to fund efforts to diversify its economy.While Saudi Arabia and Russia hold sway in OPEC+, other countries would like to increase production, in particular Kazakhstan and the UAE, and “have a lot of spare capacity”, according to Rystad Energy analyst Jorge Leon. Production limits are only effective if they are respected, and earlier in the year the cartel called out Iraq and Kazakhstan for exceeding their quotas.In June the UAE won an additional quota of 300,000 barrels per day in 2025, raising tensions with other nations that want to expand output.

Bitcoin burst past $100,000 for the first time on Thursday, while global stock markets diverged as traders tracked political crises in France and South Korea.Oil prices rose slightly with the OPEC cartel and its allies on Thursday expected to extend their supply cuts to avoid a sharp drop in prices in a global market awash with crude.The dollar dropped against its main rivals.On the corporate front, UK regulators approved a deal between Vodafone and Three to create Britain’s biggest mobile phone operator. Vodafone shares rose around 1.0 percent in London, while Shell dropped 1.0 percent after the British energy giant and Norway’s Equinor announced plans to merge their UK offshore oil and gas assets.”Bitcoin smashed through $100,000 as the Trump Trade powered on with force,” noted Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell, adding that “the French political crisis failed to knock European indices off course”.Seoul stocks slipped as South Korea’s president faced impeachment after his brief imposition of martial law this week.Bitcoin shattered the historic level after incoming US president Donald Trump picked crypto proponent Paul Atkins to take over as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the country’s markets regulator.Atkins is founder of risk consultancy firm Patomak Global Partners, whose clients include companies in the banking, trading and cryptocurrency industries.Bitcoin reached a high of $103,800.45 before dipping to around $102,500.- Paris gains -The Paris stock market was higher in midday deals as President Emmanuel Macron sought a way out of France’s political crisis.French Prime Minister Michel Barnier was meeting Macron to submit his resignation after losing a vote of no confidence in parliament, with the president urgently seeking ways to halt growing political and financial chaos.Poised to be contemporary France’s shortest-serving premier, Barnier arrived at the Elysee Palace for the resignation formality.A majority of lawmakers on Wednesday supported the no-confidence vote proposed by the hard left and backed by the far right headed by Marine Le Pen.- South Korea -All eyes were also on South Korea after 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.Seoul’s Kospi ended with a loss of 0.9 percent, having finished more than one percent down on Wednesday.South Korea’s currency — which initially hit a two-year low when the crisis erupted — remained at around 1,415 won per dollar, slightly up from its levels before the martial law declaration late on Tuesday.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 added.- Key figures around 1045 GMT -London – FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 8,339.51 pointsParis – CAC 40: UP 0.3 percent at 7,324.69 Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.4 percent at 20,306.16Tokyo – 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)New York – Dow: UP 0.7 percent at 45,014.04 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0528 from $1.0510 on WednesdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.2718 from $1.2702Dollar/yen: DOWN at 150.28 yen from 150.56 yen Euro/pound: UP at 82.78 from 82.71 penceBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.4 percent at $72.62 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 0.4 percent at $68.81 per barrel

Bitcoin broke $100,000 for the first time Thursday after Donald Trump nominated cryptocurrency backer Paul Atkins to head the US securities regulator, reinforcing optimism the incoming president will deregulate the sector.The digital unit has enjoyed a blistering rally since the November 5 election of Trump, who pledged to make the United States the “bitcoin and cryptocurrency capital of the world”.Bitcoin eased to around $102,700 Thursday after hitting a record of $103,800.45.The volatile asset has jumped more than 50 percent since the tycoon’s victory — and around 140 percent since the turn of the year. However, its advance had stalled in recent weeks, sitting just below $100,000 as traders awaited new catalysts before jumping in to buy.That came after Trump, who takes office in January, announced Wednesday that he would nominate 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 -Atkins replaces 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 (exchange-traded funds).”Institutional interest and regulatory shifts are adding legitimacy, turning what once seemed like a fringe asset into a force reshaping finance,” said Matt Britzman, a senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. “Love it or doubt it, bitcoin’s climb is rewriting the rulebook for digital assets,” he added.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. Trump has also become close to tycoon Elon Musk, who he said would lead a new US government-efficiency group tasked with cutting federal waste.Musk, a cryptocurrency fan himself, 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”.- Integration hopes -Among measures expected with Trump at the helm 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.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.”It’s volatile, unpredictable and is driven by speculation, none of which makes for a sleep-at-night investment,” said Dan Coatsworth, an analyst at investment group AJ Bell.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.Its carbon footprint has also come under scrutiny as mining cryptocurrencies requires huge amounts of energy.

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 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)

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.

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.

Japanese tipples sake and shochu — and the knowledge and skills honed over centuries to make them — have been added to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list.AFP looks at how sake, a rice wine, is made, its myriad varieties, and its role in everyday life and traditions:- History -It’s believed people in the archipelago began brewing rice in a simple way some two millennia ago, with a third-century Chinese chronicle describing the Japanese as fond of alcohol.By around 1000 AD, the imperial palace had a department to supervise the manufacturing of sake and its use in rituals, according to the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association.The multi-staged brewing techniques still used today are thought to have been established around the 1700s.Nowadays there are around 1,400 sake breweries in Japan.Shochu, which was also added to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list on Wednesday, is a spirit distilled from different ingredients such as sweet potato, mainly in the country’s southwest.- The process -Sake is stronger than beer or wine made from grapes, but weaker than shochu. It is made by fermenting special rice with bigger and rounder grains than varieties eaten in meals.First, the grains are polished to remove the outer layers, revealing a water-absorbent white core rich in starch.Brewers wash, soak and steam the polished rice before growing a special mould on it called koji. They then mix it with water and yeast to create a starter.Adding more steamed rice and water several times sparks two types of chemical reactions in a single cask –- converting starch to sugar and sugar to alcohol — a more complex process than making wine from sugar-rich grapes.- What’s koji? -Koji is mould from bacteria found in humid Asian countries. It is an essential element of Japanese cuisine — used to make not just sake but also miso, soy sauce and other food.The genus designated as Japan’s national mould is called aspergillus oryzae, also known as “koji-kabi”.”Over more than a thousand years, brewers selected and cultivated the best type of mould from all the wild ones out there,” Taku Takahashi, from Tokyo’s Toshimaya Shuzo brewery, told AFP.The sake-making process as we know it now, where humans intervene to spark fermentation, was developed “after many, many failures”, he added.- Sake varieties -Generally speaking, there are two types of sake: one made purely from rice, and the other, mixed with distilled alcohol.The higher the grade of grain polishing, the fruitier and drier the sake.More polished varieties requiring more rice tend to be pricier, but some gastronomists appreciate less polished types for their rich and mellow flavour.Breweries adjust their flavours to suit local delicacies. For example, near the Pacific Ocean, dry sake is produced to pair with red-meat fish such as tuna and bonito.- How is it consumed? -Sake “has a very important role” in society and is drunk at weddings and funerals, Takahashi said.It is also drunk to mark store openings and election victories — or just to say “kampai” meaning “cheers” in Japanese pubs.Traditionally three ritual offerings are made to the many gods of Japan’s Shinto religion: rice, a rice cake and sake.And at Shinto weddings, the bride and groom drink sake from the same porcelain cup to symbolise their union.Breweries still hang a ball of cedar leaves outside, which change colour from green to brown — letting customers know when the “nouveau” sake is ready in early winter.- Going forward -Sake consumption has declined a lot in Japan over 50 years, as other drinks like beer and wine become more popular.The agriculture ministry says the country drank only 390 million litres of sake in 2023, down from 1.7 billion litres in 1973.However, exports of sake have more than doubled since 2011, and it is now brewed as far afield as New Zealand, France and the United States.