European Commission reserves 200 million more coronavirus vaccines

Sudharma Times

{7 September 2020 ~ 13 September 2020}

Business News

                                            ~by JATIN

1.US says Libyan commander Khalifa Hifter agrees to lift oil blockade

-13 September 2020

The US Embassy in Libya said Libyan commander Khalifa Hifter agreed to reopen key oil fields and terminals no later than Saturday, a move that could advance talks between the country's warring sides closer to a political settlement to the yearslong conflict.

Powerful tribes in eastern Libya loyal to Hifter have kept export terminals closed and choked off major pipelines since the start of the year. That move aimed to put pressure on their rivals in the UN-supported government in the capital, Tripoli, in the country's west.

Oil-rich Libya was plunged into disorder when a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 toppled longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi, who was later killed.

The county has since split between rival east- and west-based administrations, each backed by armed groups and foreign governments.

The US Embassy statement said Hifter's self-styled Libyan Arab Armed Forces conveyed to the US government “the personal commitment of General Hifter to allow the full reopening of the energy sector no later than September 12."

By Saturday evening, it was not immediately clear whether the blockade had been lifted. There was no immediate comment from the LAAF, and Hifter's spokesman did not immediately answer phone calls seeking comment.

The US Embassy said it was encouraged by “an apparent sovereign Libyan agreement” to enable Libya's National Oil Corporation to resume its “vital and apolitical work.”

The US supports "a financial model that would constitute a credible guarantee that oil and gas revenues would be managed transparently and preserved for the benefit of the Libyan people,” the embassy said, adding: “Credible safeguards will enable all Libyans to have confidence that revenues are not misappropriated.” It did not elaborate.

Hifter in July called for oil revenues to flow into a bank account in a foreign country with a “clear mechanism” to distribute funds fairly among Libya's regions.

The embassy said it welcomed “what appears to be a Libyan consensus that it is time to reopen the energy sector."

 

2.Executives to step down after Rio Tinto destroys sacred Australian sites

-12 September 2020

The caves, set deep in a desert gorge, had yielded a treasure trove of artifacts tracing aboriginal people’s long history in Australia: a 28,000-year-old kangaroo bone sharpened into a blade; a 4,000-year-old plait of human hair believed to have been worn as a belt.

Underneath the caverns sat millions of dollars’ worth of high-grade iron ore, in a country where mining is king.

In May, the minerals giant Rio Tinto decided to blow up the caves to get at the riches below. But on Friday, it became clear that Australia’s most powerful export industry had met a force it could not bulldoze: the global movement for racial justice.

The company announced that its chief executive, Jean-Sébastien Jacques, would step down after a shareholder revolt over its destruction of the prehistoric rock shelters in the Juukan Gorge, which are sacred to two Australian aboriginal groups.

Two other top executives, Chris Salisbury and Simone Niven, will also leave the company, which is based in Britain and Australia. The three executives had part of their 2020 bonuses docked last month, but shareholders, arguing that the measure failed to hold the individuals responsible, called for harsher punishment.

It was a rare admission that the mining industry, which has long propped up the Australian economy — often at the expense of traditional landowners — had gone too far.

“What happened at Juukan was wrong,” Simon Thompson, chair of Rio Tinto, said in a statement Friday, adding that the company would never demolish important cultural sites again.

Rio Tinto destroyed the caves, in the Pilbara Desert in Western Australia, with government approval but against the objections of two peoples with deep connections to them, the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and the Pinikura

 

3.German truck maker MAN to cut up to 9,500 jobs to become profitable

-11 September 2020

German truck maker MAN , which is controlled by Volkswagen, said on Friday it could cut up to 9,500 jobs as part of a cost-cutting programme.

The programmer’s aim is to achieve an operating return on sales of 8% in 2023, the Munich-based group said.

MAN said it planned a partial relocation of some of the development and production processes to other sites, adding that sites at Steyr in Austria and Plauen and Wistrich in Germany are up for discussion.

"The Executive Boards are currently expecting the personnel measures planned to cause restructuring expenses within a medium to upper three-digit million Euro range," it added.

The company is targeting cost savings of 1.8 billion euros.

4.Singapore Airlines to cut 4,300 jobs due to pandemic, most in its history

-10 September 2020

Singapore Airlines Ltd said on Thursday it would cut 4,300 positions, or around 20% of its staff, due to the debilitating impact of the coronavirus pandemic on demand in the largest job losses in its history. The airline said after taking into account a recruitment freeze, natural attrition and voluntary departure schemes, the potential number of staff affected would be reduced to around 2,400 in Singapore and overseas.

The company reiterated its forecast that it expected to operate less than 50% of its normal capacity by its financial year end of March 31, 2021. It is currently at 8%. The airline has no domestic network and is wholly dependent on international demand at a time when many borders remain effectively closed. It said to remain viable in an uncertain landscape it would operate a smaller fleet and reduced network in coming years, having already announced a review of its Airbus SE A380 planes for a possible S$1 billion ($731.21 million) in impairments.

The job losses on Thursday were the first it had announced since the start of the pandemic, which has seen it raise S$11 billion of equity and debt to shore up its liquidity. "The next few weeks will be some of the toughest in the history of the SIA Group as some of our friends and colleagues leave the company," Singapore Airlines Chief Executive Goh Choon Phong said in a statement.

"This is not a reflection of the strengths and capabilities of those who will be affected, but the result of an unprecedented global crisis that has engulfed the airline industry," he said. State investor Temasek Holdings and others put together a $13.3 billion rescue package for Singapore Airlines in March, including a bridging loan it has repaid and S$9.7 billion of convertible notes it has yet to use.

The International Air Transport Association has forecast it will take until 2024 for global passenger traffic to return to pre-pandemic levels. Rival Qantas Airways Ltd has announced plans to cut nearly 30% of its pre-pandemic staffing, while Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd is reviewing its operations with an announcement expected in the fourth quarter.

5.European Commission reserves 200 million more coronavirus vaccines

-9 September 2020

The European Commission announced on Wednesday it has reached a deal with a sixth pharmaceutical firm, this time BioNtech-Pfizer, to reserve a further 200 million doses of a potential coronavirus vaccine. "Our chances to develop and deploy a safe and effective vaccine have never been higher, both for Europeans here at home, or for the rest of the world," European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said. "To defeat coronavirus anywhere, we need to defeat it everywhere."

Brussels has previously signed deals with Sanofi-GSK, Johnson & Johnson, CureVac, Moderna and with AstraZeneca NSE 1.04 % to be ready to procure doses quickly if and when any of the companies develop a safe and effective coronavirus vaccine. "We are optimistic that among these candidates there will be a safe and effective vaccine against Covid-19 to help us defeat this pandemic," the EU health commissioner, Stella Kyriakides, said.

6.Japan's economy shrank more than estimated in Q2

-8 September 2020

Japan's economy shrank slightly more than initially thought in the April-June quarter, official data released Tuesday showed, deepening a contraction that was already the worst in the nation's modern history.

The world's third-largest economy shrank 7.9 percent in the second quarter of this year from the previous quarter, more than the initial 7.8 percent in the preliminary data, the Cabinet Office said.

The downward revision comes with corporate investment weaker than in the preliminary data released last month, as the coronavirus deepens the country's economic woes.

The latest headline figure was modestly better than market consensus of an 8.0 percent contraction, but it is the worst figure for Japan since comparable data became available in 1980, beyond the brutal impact of the 2008 global financial crisis.

Separate data released by the internal affairs ministry Tuesday showed Japan's household spending in July dropped 7.6 percent on-year, also underlining the impact of the coronavirus on the economy.

The 7.6 percent drop was the 10th consecutive monthly decline and comes after a 1.2 percent slide in June and 16.2 percent dive in May.

The figure came in much worse than economist expectations of a 3.7 percent decline, Bloomberg said.

Japan's economy was in recession even before the coronavirus hit due to damage from a powerful typhoon last year, and a sale tax hike in October.

The country has seen a smaller coronavirus outbreak compared to some of the worst-hit places, with about 71,800 infections and fewer than 1,400 deaths.

A nationwide state of emergency was imposed as cases spiked in April, but the restrictions were significantly looser than in many countries, with no enforcement mechanism to shutter businesses or keep people at home.

The emergency was lifted in June, and the government has been reluctant to reintroduce measures, even as infections rise again.

 

 

7.French telecom giant Orange launches 5G network in five Spanish cities

-7 September 2020

French telecom giant Orange started on Monday offering 5G service in five of the largest Spanish cities, less than a week after rival Telefonica rolled out its own service in the whole country.

Orange now provides all its customers in the central areas of Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville and Malaga with 5G service at no additional cost on their telecom bill, the company said in a statement.

European telecoms operators are starting to roll out 5G to consumers and businesses, offering super-fast download speeds for smartphone users and supporting so-called smart devices and factories.

Orange plans to expand the 5G coverage to other Spanish cities later on, the statement said.

Orange is responding to its rival Telefonica, which launched a nationwide 5G service last Tuesday, with the goal of bringing the next-generation mobile internet to 75% of the Spanish population this year.

 

 

Technology News

                                               ~by GAURAV

1.Confused digital firms breach payment deadline as no clarity on Google Tax

-12 September 2020

India's Google Tax, the recently introduced 2 per cent equalization levy on all online/digital sale of goods or services by a non-resident to an Indian customer through digital medium, has become a compliance nightmare for companies in absence of any clarity and FAQs from the tax department.

Although the last date for submitting the taxes for the first quarter was July 7, many companies have not paid the taxes as they are waiting for the clarifications. Any delay in payment of taxes invites an interest of 1 per cent every month.

There is no clarity on the number of issues and are ambiguities in terms of interpretation of the law. It is not clear on which transaction they should be paying the equalization levy and to what amount.

The scope of the term 'online sale of goods' itself is so wide that online operators are seeking clarity if it means just digital goods or any kind of goods. There are confusions with regards to the definition of digital and electronic facility or platform. Some experts are saying that a sale through a digital platform can also mean sales concluded through e-mails.

"Right now, the e-commerce platforms charge some kind of fee or commission for assisting a merchant on sale of goods over its network. The question is whether the e-commerce platform should be paying 2 per cent on the commission amount or the entire transaction amount," says Dhaval Jariwala, partner in chartered accountancy firm PNDJ & Associates LLP.

Then there are questions whether a foreign e-commerce or digital platform which pay the equalization levy here will get a credit in their home countries or not.

The law on equalization levy says that an Indian consumer will be identified based on the IP address located in India. But experts ask what if someone uses a virtual private network (VPN).

Sunil Arora, tax partner at chartered accountancy firm ASA & Associates, finds another anomaly. He says that Section 10 (50) of the Income Tax Act, which says no income tax would be levied on the income that has been subjected to Equalization Levy, will come into force from April 1, 2021 but the levy itself comes into force from April 1, 2020. "So what happens to the taxes paid during the current financial year? Will these be taxed twice," he questions.

2. Now speak to Flipkart voice assistant to buy grocery

-11 September 2020

A common practice it has been to call the nearby Kira Nawala to list out the grocery items you need to purchase. To replicate this natural behaviour for users in the online world, e-commerce marketplace Flipkart has launched voice assistant on its platform to allow users to discover and buy the products they like.

 

The difference, however, is now instead of the shopkeeper, consumers will list the grocery items to the Voice assistant. The feature aims to ease the transition of several hundreds of first-time internet users into their digital journeys.

 

The consumers can speak to the voice assistant in English and Hindi to purchase the products. Currently, the service is available only for Flipkart's grocery store, Supermart.

The company spokesperson said that it will be eventually introduced for other categories as well. Also, more languages for voice commands are also on the cards.

 

The voice-first conversational AI platform has been built by Flipkart's in-house technology team with focus on solutions that understand vernacular languages such as Hindi, e-commerce categories and tasks such as searching for a product, understanding product details and placing an order, etc. It can automatically detect the language spoken by the user and respond to mixed language commands.

 

The AI platform was built after research for over five months across multiple towns and cities.

"While we have seen great adoption for our video and vernacular offerings, the next step in that direction is to solve for the voice capability for e-commerce," said Jeyandran Venugopal, Chief Product and Technology Officer, Flipkart.  He further added, "The launch of Voice Assistant also aligns well with the growing adoption and comfort of consumers towards voice-based online commerce."

3.China opposes forced TikTok sale, would rather see its US operations shut

-10 September 2020

 

Beijing opposes a forced sale of Tiktok’s US operations by its Chinese owner Byte Dance, and would prefer to see the short video app shut down in the United States, three people with direct knowledge of the matter said on Friday.

 

Byte Dance has been in talks to sell Tiktok’s US business to potential buyers including Microsoft and Oracle since US President Donald Trump threatened last month to ban the service if it was not sold. Trump has given Byte Dance a deadline of mid-September to finalize a deal.

 

However, Chinese officials believe a forced sale would make both Byte Dance and China appear weak in the face of pressure from Washington, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the situation.

 

Byte Dance said in a statement to Reuters that the Chinese government had never suggested to it that it should shut down TikTok in the United States or in any other markets. Two of the sources said China was willing to use revisions it made to a technology exports list on August 28 to delay any deal reached by Byte Dance, if it had to.

 

China's State Council Information Office and its foreign and commerce ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent after working hours. Asked on Friday about Trump and TikTok, Chinese foreign ministry Spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a regular press briefing that the United States was abusing the concept of national security, and urged it to stop oppressing foreign companies.

 

CLASH BETWEEN POWERS

Reuters has reported that Tiktok’s prospective buyers were discussing four ways to structure an acquisition from Byte Dance. Within these, Byte Dance could still push ahead with a sale of Tiktok’s US assets without approval from China's commerce ministry by selling them without key algorithms.

 

Byte Dance and its founder Zhang Yiming have been caught in a clash between the world's two preeminent powers. Trump last month issued two executive orders that require Byte Dance to sell Tiktok’s US assets or face being banned in the country, where the app is hugely popular among teenagers.

 

US officials have criticized the app's security and privacy, suggesting that user data might be shared with Beijing. TikTok has said it would not comply with any request to share user data with the Chinese authorities.

Beijing has said it firmly opposes Trump's executive orders and on August 28 moved to give itself a say in the process, revising a list of technologies that will need Chinese government approval before they are exported. Experts said Tiktok’s recommendation algorithm would fall under this list.

4.Samsung aims to double online business market share by the end of 2020

-9 September 2020

On the back of 100 per cent year-on-year growth in the second half (July-December) of this year, Samsung aims to double online business market share by the end of 2020. Introduced early last year, the M-series has done exceedingly well for Samsung. And the recently launched M51 is Samsung's eighth launch under M series within this year. "We are here in the second half of 2020, and we are seeing a growth in scale and strength. We are looking at 100 per cent year on year growth between second half 2020 over the second half of 2019", says Asim Warsi, Senior Vice President, Samsung India.

 

Samsung has witnessed this growth on the backdrop of improving average selling price or ASPs. Samsung's ASP has also moved up by over 50 per cent. "The main part of our online business is the M series portfolio that we launched a little over one year ago in India. M series has been designed for the young Indian millennial consumers, the Gen Z young consumers who shop online. It's been very well appreciated, well-liked by consumers. And by the end of 2020, we foresee that M series would be greater than $3.5 billion franchise in terms of gross merchandise value," adds Warsi.

 

The M-series has been priced starting Rs 7,000 and goes up to the sub-Rs 25,000 price bracket as well. Continuing the success of M-series, Samsung has now launched the M51. Just like all its predecessors in the M-series, even this new model has been designed keeping in view the pattern and preferences of online shoppers. The M51 is Samsung's eighth launch under M series within this year. It features a 6.7-inch display, is powered by Snapdragon 733g processor, a 32 MP front camera and a 7000 mAh battery amongst other features.

5.Apple revises App Store review guidelines, loosens some in-app payment rules

-8 September 2020

Apple Inc on Friday published a revision of some of its App Store review guidelines here, loosening some restrictions on streaming game services, online classes and when developers must use its in-app purchase system, which charges a 30% commission. The company made the changes after criticism from developers over its App Store practices and after rivals such as Microsoft Corp and Alphabet Inc's Google declined to launch their streaming game platforms on the iPhone because of Apple's rules.

Apple has long barred catalogs of apps within apps but said Friday that it would allow streaming game companies to create such catalog apps. However, each game within the catalog must still be made into its own standalone app and use Apple's in-app payment system. Google and Microsoft did not immediately return requests for comment.

Other rule changes include allowing one-on-one virtual classes to be paid for outside of Apple's payment system, though classes taught to a group still must use Apple's system and pay its fees. The change comes after the New York Times reported here that Class Pass, which had helped users’ book in-person appointments at gyms, became subject to Apple's fees.

The new rules also let business applications such as professional databases skip Apple's payment system when selling to organizations, but still require Apple's payment system for sales to individuals or families. Apple also said that free standalone apps connected to a paid service outside the app - such as email or cloud storage services - do not need to use its payment system "provided there is no purchasing inside the app, or calls to action for purchase outside of the app."