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Japanese tourism and retail shares dived on Monday after China warned its citizens to avoid the tourist hotspot in a spat over Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comments on Taiwan.A senior Japanese official meanwhile arrived in China seeking to defuse the row sparked by Takaichi’s suggestion that Tokyo could intervene militarily in any attack on the self-ruled island.Asia’s two top economies are closely entwined, with China the biggest source of tourists — almost 7.5 million visitors in the first nine months of 2025 — coming to Japan.Drawn by a weak yen making shopping cheaper, they collectively splurged more than a billion dollars a month in the third quarter, accounting for almost 30 percent of all tourist spending.Japan was also the fourth-most popular destination for Chinese tourists last year, helping the land of Mount Fuji, sushi and geishas set new records for foreign arrivals.But in fears that this may now stop, investors wiped nine percent off Japanese cosmetics firm Shiseido’s market value on Monday.Department store group Mitsukoshi fell 11.3 percent and Pan Pacific, behind discount retail chain and tourist magnet Don Quijote, slid 5.3 percent.Japan Airlines, whose shares nosedived 3.4 percent, has not seen any major cancellations on flights to and from China, a spokesperson told AFP.Before taking power last month, Takaichi was a vocal critic of China and its military build-up in the Asia-Pacific.If a Taiwan emergency entails “battleships and the use of force, then that could constitute a situation threatening the survival (of Japan)”, Takaichi, 64, told parliament on November 7.Under Japan’s self-imposed rules, an existential threat is one of the few cases where it can act militarily. Taiwan sits around 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the nearest Japanese island.- ‘Troublemaker’ -Japan said Monday it scrambled aircraft after detecting a suspected Chinese drone near its southern island of Yonaguni, which is close to Taiwan, on Saturday.Beijing insists Taiwan — which Japan occupied for decades until 1945 — is part of its territory, and the prime minister’s comments have sparked a furore.This has included a Chinese diplomat stationed in Japan threatening to “cut off that dirty neck”, apparently referring to Takaichi, and China and Japan have summoned each other’s ambassadors.Beijing also advised its citizens to avoid travelling to the country and warned the roughly 100,000 Chinese students in Japan that there were risks to their safety.Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told reporters on Monday that the announcements were “incompatible with the broader direction agreed upon by the leaders of the two nations”.On Sunday, Chinese coast guard vessels spent several hours in Japan’s territorial waters around the disputed Senkaku Islands, known as the Diaoyu in China and a frequent flashpoint, Kihara said.In Beijing, tech worker Daniel Feng called the Chinese government’s responses “very restrained” given Takaichi’s “extremely unreasonable” remarks.”If she spouts words, that’s not a problem… but if they take real action, our country’s military will definitely defeat them,” the 40-year-old told AFP.Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te called on Beijing on Monday to “show restraint, act like a major power, and not become the troublemaker” in the Asia-Pacific region, where peace and stability have been “severely impacted”.”China should return to the path of a rules-based international order, which would help maintain peace, stability and prosperity in the region,” Lai told reporters.- Economic hit -Beijing meanwhile said than Chinese premier Li Qiang has no plans to meet with Takaichi in a G20 summit in South Africa later this week which they are both set to attend.A Japanese government official told AFP that Masaaki Kanai, the top foreign ministry official for Asia-Pacific affairs, arrived in China on Monday.”We are trying not to escalate the situation,” the official told AFP.Kanai is expected to hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Liu Jinsong on Tuesday, according to media reports.The diplomatic spat could spell further bad news for Japan’s economy, which shrank by 0.4 percent in the third quarter, official data showed on Monday.Marcel Thieliant at Capital Economics warned that the tensions risked escalating “into a full-blown trade spat” similar to a previous episode in the early 2010s.This could include China restricting exports of rare earths or imposing restrictions on Japanese exports.”Carmakers look particularly vulnerable as they are already under enormous pressure from the ascent of Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers,” Thieliant added.hih-jug-stu-aph/nf/ami

Asian markets were mixed Monday amid simmering concerns that the Federal Reserve will not cut interest rates as hoped next month, while fears of a bubble continue to weigh on sentiment.The tepid mood on trading floors also dragged on the crypto sector, with bitcoin briefly erasing all its gains this year — just over a month after hitting a record high.Meanwhile, simmering tensions between China and Japan hit tourism and retail firms on Tokyo’s exchange.Stocks have enjoyed a healthy rally since their tariff-fuelled swoon in April, with tech firms leading the way as companies pumped eye-watering amounts of cash into all things linked to artificial intelligence.That has been compounded by a weakening US jobs market that has fanned expectations the Fed will cut rates.However, the gains have petered out in recent weeks as investors re-evaluate those two pillars.Fed boss Jerome Powell said a third-straight reduction in borrowing costs was not certain next month, while other officials have hinted they intend to stand pat.The decision makers said they were concerned that inflation remained stubbornly anchored above the bank’s two percent target, overshadowing labour market fears.Traders are keenly awaiting the release of several reports — including on jobs and inflation — that had been held up by the record government shutdown that ended last week.The winding back of rate cut bets comes amid growing unease about the sky-high valuations in the tech sector and warnings that a bubble has formed that could soon burst.All eyes are on this week’s release of earnings from chip titan Nvidia, which this month became the first $5 trillion company.”Nvidia has been partly responsible for powering the AI rally, but is now facing pressure amid concerns about stretched valuations in the sector,” wrote Fiona Cincotta, senior market analyst at City Index.”Worries about an AI bubble have weighed on the sector, and investors are questioning not only the amount of money companies are spending on the tech relative to the returns they’re seeing, but also the circular nature of the spending.”After a tepid lead from Wall Street, Asian markets fluctuated.Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore all dropped along with London and Paris.Seoul, Manila, Bangkok, Wellington and Taipei advanced. Sydney and Frankfurt were flat.Tokyo also sank as figures showed Japan’s economy shrank 0.4 percent in the three months to September.Tourism and retail firms were among the worst hit after China advised its citizens not to travel to Japan amid a diplomatic spat over comments by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi about Taiwan.Cosmetics firm Shiseido dived more than nine percent, department store group Takashimaya nearly six five percent and Fast Retailing — the owner of Uniqlo — shed 4.8 percent.Department store group Mitsukoshi fell 11.3 percent and Pan Pacific, behind discount retail chain and tourist magnet Don Quijote, slid 5.3 percent. Japan Airlines gave up 3.4 percent.China is the biggest source of tourists to Japan.Takaichi’s comments earlier this month were widely interpreted as implying an attack on Taiwan could warrant Tokyo’s military support.If a Taiwan emergency entails “battleships and the use of force, then that could constitute a situation threatening the survival (of Japan), any way you slice it”, she told parliament.The two sides last week summoned each other’s ambassadors, with China then telling its citizens to avoid travelling to Japan.Bitcoin was also suffering from the uncertain climate on trading floors, with the digital unit briefly dropping to $92,935.51 — below the $93,714 mark it finished at on December 31 — according to Bloomberg data. It bounced back slightly in the afternoon to sit above $95,000.The cryptocurrency hit a peak of $126,251 on October 6.Investors spend most of the year piling into bitcoin after Donald Trump returned to the White House pledging to deregulate the crypto sector.The president’s embrace of digital assets has reversed years of US government scepticism towards the industry, with the US House of Representatives passing three landmark cryptocurrency bills in July.- Key figures at around 0815 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.1 percent at 50,323.91 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.7 percent at 26,384.28 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.5 percent at 3,972.03 (close)London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.1 percent at 9,684.31Dollar/yen: UP at 154.72 yen from 154.55 yen on FridayEuro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1612 from $1.1621 Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3176 from $1.3171Euro/pound: DOWN at 88.14 pence from 88.22 penceWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.8 percent at $59.62 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.7 percent at $63.97 per barrelNew York – Dow: DOWN 0.7 percent at 47,147.48 (close)

Japanese tourism and retail shares fell sharply on Monday after China warned its citizens to avoid travelling to the East Asian country in a spat over comments by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi about Taiwan.China and Japan’s long-testy ties have spiralled further this month after Takaichi suggested that Tokyo could intervene militarily in any emergency in the self-ruled island.Asia’s two biggest economies are closely entwined, with China the biggest source of tourists to Japan, with almost 7.5 million in the first nine months of 2025, according to the Japan national tourism bureau.In the third quarter, they spent 590 billion yen ($3.8 billion), accounting for about 28 percent of all spending by international tourists, transport ministry data shows.Shares in cosmetics form Shiseido dived almost nine percent, department store group Takashimaya by over six percent, and Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing by close to six percent on Monday. Japan Airlines fell 3.9 percent. – Hawk -Before taking power last month, Takaichi, an acolyte of ex-premier Shinzo Abe, was a vocal critic of China and its military build-up in the Asia-Pacific.Her comments on November 7 were widely interpreted as implying that an attack on Taiwan, which is just some 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the nearest Japanese island, could warrant Tokyo’s military support.If a Taiwan emergency entails “battleships and the use of force, then that could constitute a situation threatening the survival (of Japan), any way you slice it,” Takaichi, 64, told parliament.Japan’s self-imposed rules say that it can only act militarily under certain conditions, including an existential threat.The comments came just days after Takaichi met Chinese President Xi Jinping for an apparently cordial first meeting on the sidelines of an APEC summit in South Korea.Takaichi, who has visited Taiwan in the past and called for closer cooperation, also met separately with Taipei’s representative at the summit.China and Japan last week summoned each other’s ambassadors, with Beijing then advising its citizens to avoid travelling to Japan.In a now-removed post on X, the Chinese consul general in Osaka Xue Jian threatened to “cut off that dirty neck”, apparently referring to Takaichi.Beijing insists Taiwan, which Japan occupied for decades until 1945, is part of its territory and has not ruled out the use of force to seize control.Japanese media reports said that the top official in the foreign ministry for Asia-Pacific affairs headed to China on Monday.Masaaki Kanai, director general of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau at the ministry, was due to hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Liu Jinsong, the reports said.Kanai was expected to reiterate Japan’s position that Takaichi’s remarks do not change Japan’s traditional position and also lodge a protest over the Chinese diplomat’s social media posts, they added.- Economic hit -The diplomatic spat was further bad news for Japan’s economy, which shrank by 0.4 percent in the third quarter, official data showed on Monday.Marcel Thieliant at Capital Economics warned that current tensions with China risked escalating “into a full-blown trade spat” similar to a previous spat in the early 2010s.”There are several avenues through which this could play out, but the biggest risk is that China restricts exports of rare earths or imposes restrictions on Japanese exports,” Thieliant said before the GDP release.”Carmakers look particularly vulnerable as they are already under enormous pressure from the ascent of Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers,” he added.

The globe’s biggest luxury brands have dreamt of India’s vast consumer base for decades, but navigating the market has proven to be a complex task.French retailer Galeries Lafayette is the latest to try its luck, opening its first Indian store on Sunday: a sprawling five-floor outlet in Mumbai, the country’s financial capital.Its splashy foray into the market is getting a local boost from the fashion arm of the Aditya Birla Group, a major Indian conglomerate.Luxury expert and Comite Colbert CEO Benedicte Epinay called the arrival of the French department store “an important step”.India, with 1.4 billion people, offers what Epinay called “a promising market, but still a complicated one”.Brands must not only overcome high customs duties, a cumbersome bureaucracy and infrastructure limitations, but must also compete with a robust domestic luxury market.Galeries Lafayette’s Mumbai store of 8,900 square metres (105,000 square feet) has some 280 luxury and designer brands spread across it, according to figures from the French retailer on Sunday.Almost all of the brands are foreign, which industry professionals warn is a bold gamble given the rich local clothing culture.Galeries Lafayette’s international development director, Philippe Pedone, said at Sunday’s launch more local brands would be added.Mumbai resident Sonal Ahuja, 39, told AFP: “I think a lot of brands like Louis Vuitton and Gucci and Dior have been doing a pretty good job at sort of weaving Indian design into their products.””But at the end of the day, if you want to buy something to wear to a wedding, you will buy (from Indian fashion designers) Sabyasachi or Tarun Tahiliani. Why would you want to buy something foreign that is trying to be Indian?” she said.- ‘Ticks all the boxes’ –India’s luxury market is still relatively small, but expanding rapidly. Valued at $11 billion in 2024, it is set to triple to $35 billion by 2030, said Estelle David, South  Asia  Director at Business France.India’s economy creates tens of thousands of new millionaire households each year.These consumers increasingly splurge on everything from Lamborghini cars to Louis Vuitton bags.”When a luxury house looks at a new country, it considers the number of wealthy people and the rise of a middle class,” Epinay said. “India ticks all the boxes.”The reality is more complex.French luxury giants contacted by AFP declined to comment. Their silence, analysts suggest, reflects a lack of positive things to say about a market widely considered difficult.”They have very little data to show they are making profits or generating a return on investment,” said Ashok Som, from France’s ESSEC Business School.In the early 2000s, the biggest fashion houses eyed India as their next growth engine after China. But the market remains tiny a quarter of a century later, Epinay said.According to Epinay, most brands have only one to three stores in India, compared with 100 to 400 in China.In her view, the only real similarity between the two giants is “the size of their populations”. India lacks China’s “social, linguistic and territorial homogeneity”, Epinay said.India still has limited numbers of premium malls, most of which do not match what customers find in the Middle East, Europe, the United States or China.”India is not at the same stage of development, so it’s very difficult to compare,” Business France’s David said.Galeries Lafayette executive chairman Nicolas Houze said the luxury giant plans to open a second store in Delhi by the end of the decade, with an initial revenue target of 20 million euros ($23 million).- ‘Adapt to the culture’ -High customs duties often push Indian consumers who can afford top end to take a $350 round trip to Dubai, where they can buy a French luxury handbag for up to 40 percent less than at home.Vishal Mathur, 46, an entrepreneur who works in his family’s business in Mumbai, told AFP “one is willing to pay for craftsmanship, for style, for the brand”.”But to say you should pay extra just to buy in India? No way.”India and the European Union have committed to finalising a free-trade agreement by the end of the year, which would bring “fresh air to the market”, Epinay said.And profiting in India will require creative thought.Although major foreign ready-to-wear brands have outlets in megacities such as New Delhi, Mumbai and tech-capital Bengaluru, Western fashion remains in the minority.Many men wear the traditional knee-length kurtas for special occasions, while flowing saris remain the most popular for women.Brands such as Louboutin, Dior, Chanel and Bulgari are already collaborating with designers, labels, Bollywood stars and local influencers to appeal to Indian consumers, market specialists say. “You have to adapt to the culture, to tastes and consumption habits,” David said.

South Korean conglomerate Samsung unveiled on Sunday a plan to invest $310 billion over the next five years mostly in technology powering artificial intelligence, aiming to meet growing demand driven by a global boom.The business group’s flagship Samsung Electronics is already one of the world’s top memory-chip makers, providing crucial components for the AI industry and the infrastructure it relies on.South Korea is also home to SK hynix, another key player in the global semiconductor market.The five-year investment package includes plans to build a new semiconductor facility, Pyeongtaek Plant 5, designed “to meet the needs of memory-chip demands”, Samsung said in a statement.Once in full operation, “the Pyeongtaek plant is expected to play an even greater strategic role in both the global semiconductor supply chain and South Korea’s domestic chip ecosystem,” it said.The new line is scheduled to begin operations in 2028.Samsung SDS, the group’s IT and logistics arm, will establish two AI data centres in South Jeolla and Gumi, the company said, without providing further details.Samsung Group is a network of affiliated companies with complex cross-shareholdings under the Samsung brand, rather than a single legal holding company.It is South Korea’s largest chaebol, the family-run conglomerates that dominate the country’s economy.The $310-billion plan also includes some projects unrelated to AI.Under the investment package, the company said that Samsung SDI, its electric-vehicle battery affiliate, was exploring the creation of a domestic production line “for next-generation batteries, including all-solid-state batteries”.The AI boom has delivered a major tailwind for Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, whose high-performance memory chips have become indispensable for AI computing.Samsung Electronics has reported that its profit increased more than 30 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, driven by AI-fuelled demand.AI-related spending is soaring worldwide and sky-high tech share valuations have fed concerns of an AI market bubble that could eventually burst, like the dot-com boom that imploded at the turn of the millennium.The investment package announced on Sunday comes after the South Korean government had pledged to triple spending on artificial intelligence next year.President Lee Jae Myung has vowed to “usher in the AI era” and make the country one of the world’s top three AI powers, behind the United States and China.

President Donald Trump signed an order Friday to lower US tariffs on agricultural imports such as beef, bananas, coffee and tomatoes, as his government comes under pressure from voters grappling with the escalating cost of living.These products are now exempted from his “reciprocal” tariffs, imposed this year to address behavior deemed unfair, after the administration considered issues like the US capacity — or lack thereof — to produce certain goods.But other duties in place will continue to apply.The new tariff exemptions are backdated, so they technically took effect on Thursday, according to the order published by the White House.The Trump administration has been stepping up efforts to convince Americans of the economy’s strength as affordability concerns emerged as a key issue in this month’s elections for New York City mayor, and the governors of New Jersey and Virginia.Democrats swept all three of those races, with an intense focus on cost of living issues.The list of tariff exemptions published Friday also covers other produce such as avocados, coconuts and pineapples.Among the products targeted are commodities that the United States imports in order to meet domestic demand.The majority of America’s coffee comes from abroad, and coffee prices have jumped by around 20 percent in August and September, respectively. Part of the reason involved climate shocks, but costs have also been disrupted by tariffs.National Coffee Association president Bill Murray said the White House move will help “ease cost-of-living pressures for the two-thirds of American adults who rely on coffee each day” and secure supplies for US companies.Beef prices have been rising this year as well, in part due to a tighter supply of cattle.On Friday, the White House said that “certain qualifying agricultural products will no longer be subject to those tariffs, such as certain food not grown in the United States.”- ‘We’re going to fix it’ -Washington’s latest announcement comes a day after it unveiled trade agreements with Argentina, Guatemala, Ecuador and El Salvador.Under the deals, Washington committed to removing “reciprocal” tariffs as well on certain goods that the United States cannot grow, mine or produce in sufficient quantities.Since returning to the presidency in January, Trump has imposed sweeping tariffs on US trading partners, sparking warnings from economists that these could fuel inflation and weigh on growth.While there has not been a sharp uptick in overall consumer inflation, policymakers have noted that tariffs pushed up prices of certain goods.They expect the effect of higher levies to continue filtering through the world’s biggest economy.The Trump administration has acknowledged affordability worries that Americans are facing, with Trump’s top economic advisor nodding to a loss of purchasing power in recent years.”That’s something that we’re going to fix, and we’re going to fix it right away,” Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, said this week.

Global stock markets struggled for momentum Friday as doubts built over whether the US Federal Reserve would cut interest rates next month and amid persistent fears of a tech bubble.Oil prices rallied meanwhile as analysts cited risks to Russian oil flows due to Ukrainian strikes and US sanctions.On Wall Street, major US indices mostly pulled back, although the tech-heavy Nasdaq edged up after heavy selling on Thursday.Major European and Asian indices finished in the red, with London losing 1.1 percent after UK government bonds and the pound slid following reports that finance minister Rachel Reeves had scrapped plans to raise income taxes in her budget speech this month. Analysts said the reports heightened concerns about UK public finances. Paris and Frankfurt also slipped in the wake of stock losses in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai. “After an extraordinary run that began in April, the tech sector has finally started to wobble, with valuations looking overstretched in recent weeks,” said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst for StoneX.”It wouldn’t be surprising if markets stayed a bit jumpy for a while yet, though it’s still premature to call the top of this cycle,” he added.- ‘Volatile week’ -“It’s certainly been a volatile week… with relief over the end of the (US government) shutdown vying with concerns over AI valuations and whether the Fed will cut rates again,” said Jim Reid, managing director at Deutsche Bank.Traders trimmed bets on a December rate cut after several Fed officials voiced concerns about cutting borrowing costs while inflation remained high.For much of the year, equities have been boosted by optimism that US rates would come down, and the Fed has delivered at its past two meetings.But comments from Fed chief Jerome Powell last month that a December repeat was not “a foregone conclusion” sowed the seeds of doubt.Investors also await the release of economic data that had been held up by the US government shutdown, with jobs and inflation numbers the main focus, even though some statistics are expected to be incomplete.The dimmer outlook for rates compounded worries that the tech sector might be overpriced after an AI-fueled surge that sent markets to record highs this year.”The tech-sector rout from Wall Street spilled across the globe,” on Friday, said Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Scope Markets.Oil prices rallied more than two percent, rebounding days after tumbling on a monthly OPEC report that forecast an oversupply in the third quarter.The International Energy Agency on Thursday flagged risks to Russian output caused by US sanctions imposed last month, including on the country’s two largest producers.- Key figures at around 2205 GMT -New York – Dow: DOWN 0.7 percent at 47,147.48 points (close)New York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.1 percent at 6,734.11 (close)New York – Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 22,900.59 (close)London – FTSE 100: DOWN 1.1 percent at 9,696.47 points (close)Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 0.8 percent at 8,170.09 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.7 percent at 23,876.55 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.8 percent at 50,376.53 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.9 percent at 26,572.46 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 1.0 percent at 3,990.49 (close)Dollar/yen: UP at 154.55 yen from 154.53 yen on ThursdayEuro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1621 from $1.1634 Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3171 from $1.3189Euro/pound: UP at 88.22 pence from 88.21 penceWest Texas Intermediate: UP 2.4 percent at $60.09 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: UP 2.2 percent at $64.39 per barrel

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, one of only a handful of senior US political leaders attending this year’s UN climate summit, told AFP Friday that President Donald Trump’s America is “deliberately losing” the clean tech race to China.The 70-year-old lawmaker said he had come to Belem, Brazil, to underline that Trump’s aggressively pro-fossil-fuel policies do “not represent the American people” — and that the United States is forfeiting a vast economic opportunity.”Right now, we are deliberately losing our competition on solar, on wind, on battery storage, on electric vehicles and all the support technologies that go into that,” he said in an interview.”It is a huge self-administered blow that Trump is doing, entirely to pay back his fossil fuel donors.”Whitehouse said that as he arrived in the Amazonian city in the early hours of the morning, he passed numerous Chinese electric vehicle dealerships — a sight that hammered home his message about America falling behind.The Trump administration declined to send an official delegation to the COP30 summit, leaving only a few prominent Democrats to attend in an unofficial capacity, including California Governor and presumed 2028 presidential-candidate Gavin Newsom.”The Trump administration does not represent the American people on climate,” said the Rhode Island senator, known for his long-running “Time to Wake Up” speeches on global warming in Congress.”They are doing political work for the fossil fuel industry and the public very much supports climate action,” he continued, citing a slew of polls to back his point.For Whitehouse, one of the few remaining pathways to climate safety lies in carbon pricing, which he argued is essential to spark the innovation needed to slash emissions.”If it’s free to pollute, there’s really no pathway to safety,” he said, reiterating his support for Europe’s carbon border tax — a key point of contention with developing countries at COP30.Trump, who received hundreds of millions of dollars from oil and gas giants during his presidential campaign, pulled the US out of the Paris climate agreement for a second time on the day he returned to office.Trump and Republican lawmakers have rolled back clean-energy tax credits and scrapped incentives for electric vehicles, prompting General Motors to scale back production. Whitehouse’s team said he will meet with “heads of state, lawmakers, private sector leaders, environmental champions, and civil society leaders” during his visit. But he cannot take part in negotiations on the COP’s outcome.Attending the conference itself was made more complicated by resistance from the State Department, he said, which forced him to get his badge through a nonprofit organization.”I’ve never seen the State Department be completely unwilling to support members of Congress traveling on an official Congressional Delegation, even to the point of refusing to help us get badges.”

Lobbyists tied to the fossil fuel industry have turned up in strength at the UN climate talks in the Brazilian Amazon, an NGO coalition said Friday, warning that their presence undermines the process.A total of 1,602 delegates with links to the oil, gas and coal sectors have headed to Belem, equivalent to around one in 25 participants, according to Kick Big Polluters Out (KBPO), which analyzed the list of attendees.By comparison, hosts Brazil have sent 3,805 delegates.KBPO’s list includes representatives of energy giants ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell and TotalEnergies, as well as state-owned oil firms from Africa, Brazil, China and the Gulf.It also includes personnel from a broad range of companies including German automaker Volkswagen or Danish shipping giant Maersk, or representatives of trade associations and other groups.The Venice Sustainability Foundation is on the list because its members include Italian oil firm Eni.KBPO also counted Danish wind energy giant Orsted, as it still has a gas trading business, and French energy firm EDF — most of its power comes from nuclear plants but it still uses some fossil fuels.The list includes state-owned Emirati renewable firm Masdar.One of the analysts, Patrick Galey, head of fossil fuel investigations at Global Witness, told AFP that some of the names might appear “surprising” at first sight, but KBPO analyzes data and open-source material to identify links to fossil fuels.Any renewable company that is a subsidiary of a fossil fuel firm made the list, for instance, because they are “at the beck and call” of their parent group, Galey said.KBPO considers a fossil fuel lobbyist any delegate who “represents an organization or is a member of a delegation that can be reasonably assumed to have the objective of influencing” policy or legislation in the interests of the oil, gas and coal industry.TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanne defended his presence in Belem when confronted by a Greenpeace activist about the attendance of fossil fuel lobbyists.”I am not a lobbyist at all… You are very wrong,” Pouyanne said.”I was invited. I came and I believe in dialogue,” he added. “I don’t think we will make progress on climate through exclusion because otherwise what will happen? We will stay in our corner, we’ll make our oil and that’s it?”- ‘Common sense’ -KBPO has analyzed COP participant lists since 2021. COP28 in oil-rich Dubai in 2023 had a record number of participants — over 80,000 — but also the most fossil fuel lobbyists ever counted by KBPO at 2,456, or three percent of the total.In Belem, 3.8 percent of attendees are tied to fossil fuel interests, the largest share ever documented by KBPO.”It’s common sense that you cannot solve a problem by giving power to those who caused it,” said KBPO member Jax Bonbon from IBON International in the Philippines, which was recently struck by a devastating typhoon.”Yet three decades and 30 COPs later, more than 1,500 fossil fuel lobbyists are roaming the climate talks as if they belong here,” Bonbon said in a statement.The numbers could be higher.According to Transparency International, 54 percent of participants in national delegations either withheld their affiliation or selected a vague category such as “guest” or “other.”

Global stock markets slumped further Friday as doubts built over whether the US Federal Reserve would cut interest rates next month and persistent fears of a tech bubble.Crude prices rallied as analysts cited risks to Russian oil flows due to Ukrainian strikes and US sanctions.On Wall Street, the Dow shed 1.1 percent to stand at 46,929.78 points some 25 minutes into the session, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq was off 1.9 percent at 22,436.79 points — having ended two percent down Thursday.The S&P 500 fell almost 1.5 percent — losses mirrored on major European and Asian indices.London struggled after UK government bonds and the pound slid following reports that finance minister Rachel Reeves has scrapped plans to hike income tax in her budget speech this month. Analysts said the reports heightened concerns about UK public finances. “After an extraordinary run that began in April, the tech sector has finally started to wobble, with valuations looking overstretched in recent weeks,” said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst for StoneX.”It wouldn’t be surprising if markets stayed a bit jumpy for a while yet, though it’s still premature to call the top of this cycle,” he added.- ‘volatile week’ -“It’s certainly been a volatile week… with relief over the end of the (US government) shutdown vying with concerns over AI valuations and whether the Fed will cut rates again,” said Jim Reid, managing director at Deutsche Bank.Traders trimmed bets on a December rate cut after several Fed officials voiced concerns about cutting borrowing costs while inflation remained stubbornly high.  For much of the year, equities have been boosted by optimism that rates would come down, and the Fed has delivered at its past two meetings.But comments from Fed boss Jerome Powell last month that a December repeat was not “a foregone conclusion” sowed the seeds of doubt.Investors also awaited the release of economic data that had been held up by the record US government shutdown, with jobs and inflation the main focus, even though some statistics are expected to be incomplete.The dimmer outlook for rates compounded worries that the tech sector may be overpriced after an AI-fuelled surge that sent markets to record highs this year.”The tech-sector rout from Wall Street spilled across the globe,” on Friday, noted Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Scope Markets.Oil prices rallied some two percent, rebounding days after the commodity tumbled on OPEC’s monthly report which forecast an oversupply in the third quarter.The International Energy Agency on Thursday flagged risks to Russian output caused by US sanctions imposed last month, including on the country’s top two producers.- Key figures at around 1445 GMT -New York – Dow: DOWN 1.1 percent at 46,929.78 pointsNew York – S&P 500: DOWN 1.3 percent at 6,646.91New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 1.9 percent at 22,436.79London – FTSE 100: DOWN 1.6 percent at 9,657.52 pointsParis – CAC 40: DOWN 1.4 percent at 8,120.54Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 1.3 percent at 23,676.79Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.8 percent at 50,376.53 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.9 percent at 26,572.46 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 1.0 percent at 3,990.49 (close)Dollar/yen: DOWN at 154.16 yen from 154.53 yen on ThursdayEuro/dollar: UNCHANGED at $1.1634 from $1.1634 Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3160 from $1.3189Euro/pound: UP at 88.41 pence from 88.21 penceWest Texas Intermediate: UP 2.2 percent at $59.96 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: UP 1.9 percent at $64.16 per barrel