GENEVA, May 23 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;The head of the World Health Organization said on Monday that it must be &#8220;at the centre&#8221; of a global healthcare system, while also acknowledging the need for internal reforms.



The World Health Assembly from May 22-28 is seen as one of the most important in the UN health agency&#8217;s 75-year history, as it seeks to define its future role in global health policy and get approval for a funding overhaul.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL2N2XC0VG&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a><a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL5N2X96B0&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



&#8220;We need a stronger and sustainably financed WHO, at the centre of the global health security architecture,&#8221; Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a major speech at the WHO&#8217;s annual assembly.



But he added: &#8220;There have been many calls for WHO to change. And there is no question that more change is needed.&#8221;



The WHO is under scrutiny after an independent panel described it as &#8220;underpowered&#8221; when COVID-19 struck, with limited powers to investigate outbreaks and coordinate containment measures.



However, its 194 member states are seen as split over whether it deserves new powers after its handling of COVID.



&#8220;Some members are saying the WHO did what it could during the pandemic and want to strengthen its authority and others are very disillusioned with the WHO and &#8230; are very divided on whether it should be given more powers,&#8221; said Adam Kamradt-Scott, a professor of Global Health at the School of Transnational Governance.



In the same speech, Tedros said COVID is far from over and that the world was not ready for the next pandemic, echoing the findings of a major report last week.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL2N2XA0VC&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



&#8220;It&#8217;s clear that the world was and remains unprepared for a pandemic,&#8221; he said.



(Reporting by Emma Farge and Mrinalika Roy; Editing by Catherine Evans)

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WHO chief says it must take central role in global health

BERLIN, May 22 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Russia&#8217;s impact on energy and food prices and security will provide the backdrop to Olaf Scholz&#8217;s first trip to Africa as German Chancellor, a three-day tour of Senegal, Niger and South Africa kicking off on Sunday.



The first stop on Scholz&#8217;s trip is Senegal, which has billions of cubic metres of gas reserves and is expected to become a major gas producer in the region.



Germany is seeking to reduce its heavy reliance on Russia for gas following the Kremlin&#8217;s invasion of Ukraine. It could help explore a gas field in Senegal, a government official said on Friday.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AS8N2WV04P&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



The source said Scholz also wanted to discuss possible cooperation on the development of renewable energy. In Senegal, he will visit a solar power plant after meeting and holding a joint news conference with the country&#8217;s President Macky Sall.



Germany has invited both Senegal, which currently holds the rotating chairmanship of the African Union, and South Africa to attend the G7 summit it is hosting in June as guest countries.



Both countries abstained from voting on a United Nations resolution against Russia&#8217;s invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a special military operation to demilitarize a neighbor it says threatened its security.



Ukraine and Western allies say the war is an unprovoked act of aggression.



The conflict has triggered supply disruptions that have pushed up food and energy prices in Africa. Russia&#8217;s military has blocked exports from ports in Ukraine, a major grains and food supplier to the region. The Kremlin blames Western sanctions for the rising prices.



SECURITY IN THE SAHEL



Scholz will travel later on Sunday to Niger. The country has taken on a bigger role hosting European special forces to stem a jihadist insurgency across the Sahel since European relations with the military junta ruling neighboring Mali have deteriorated.



The European Union suspended its military training mission in Mali due to a lack of guarantees from Malian authorities that military contractors from Russia&#8217;s Wagner Group would not interfere in the work. The group is under EU sanctions accused of human rights abuses.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL5N2X95FS&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



Russia denies any wrongdoing in Mali or in any other country where Wagner operates. Both Mali and Russia have previously said Wagner Group is not made up of mercenaries but trainers helping local troops with equipment bought from Russia.



Scholz will visit German troops in Niger and discuss the lengthy battle against insurgents linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State that have killed thousands and made swathes of territory ungovernable in the Sahel, south of the Sahara.



On Monday evening Scholz is set to travel to Johannesburg for the final leg of his tour.



(Reporting by Andreas Rinke and Sarah Marsh; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel)

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Russia looms large on Scholz’s first Africa tour as chancellor￼

KEY POINTS



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Nearly 2,500 global leaders from business, politics and civil society are expected to take part in a rare springtime version of Davos this week.</li><li>Organizers of the event had postponed the meeting from its traditional January slot over safety concerns amid the coronavirus pandemic. However, in a welcome boost to local residents, the forum’s first in-person event has now returned after a two-year hiatus.</li><li>That’s not to say everyone is happy to see the return of the world’s business and political elite to the Swiss Alps.</li></ul>



The World Economic Forum is trying to fix an image problem.



Nearly 2,500 global leaders from business, politics and civil society are expected to take part in a rare springtime version of Davos this week.



The annual meeting will see movers and shakers convene in Switzerland’s luxury Alpine ski resort of Davos for five days of conversation on issues including Covid-19, Russia’s war in Ukraine and the climate crisis.



Organizers of the event had&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/20/davos-world-economic-forum-postpones-meeting-due-to-covid.html">postponed the meeting</a>&nbsp;from its traditional January slot over safety concerns amid the coronavirus pandemic. However, in a welcome boost to local residents, the forum’s first in-person event has now returned after a two-year hiatus.



The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/05/davos-2022-whos-coming-and-everything-else-you-need-to-know/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">theme</a>&nbsp;of this year’s event is “History at a Turning Point: Government Policies and Business Strategies.”



“It means a lot to us. It means a lot to the whole of Switzerland,” Samuel Rosenast, a spokesperson for the local tourism board, said in an interview with CNBC’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/tom-chitty/">Tom Chitty</a>.



Rosenast said the event was “unbelievably important” to those residing in Europe’s highest town, estimating that the resort could see a windfall of approximately 70 million Swiss francs ($72 million) in just this week alone.



“Every business is in contact with the World Economic Forum. The people know how important it is,” Rosenast said. “Most people here are looking forward to the World Economic Forum. They are happy that it takes place here again this year.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-symbol-of-a-failed-era"><a></a>‘A symbol of a failed era’</h2>



That’s not to say everyone is pleased to see the return of the world’s business and political elite to the Swiss Alps. The event has been sharply criticized in recent years for being&nbsp;<a href="https://fortune.com/2015/01/22/davos-out-of-touch/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">out of touch</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/18/is-davos-nothing-more-than-an-overpriced-ineffective-talking-shop.html">ineffective</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fnlondon.com/articles/davos-is-broadly-irrelevant-there-is-no-case-for-guzzling-jets-and-gallons-of-dom-perignon-20220516" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">irrelevant</a>.



Three years ago, Dutch historian Rutger Bregman went viral at a Davos panel&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/19/rutger-bregman-historian-who-confronted-davos-elite-on-higher-taxes.html">when he called out billionaires for tax avoidance</a>. In a clip that has now been viewed nearly 11 million times, Bregman said that a global failure to effectively tackle tax avoidance was the primary cause of inequality.



“It feels like I’m at a firefighters conference and no one’s allowed to speak about water,” Bregman said at the time. “This is not rocket science … we have got to be talking about taxes. That’s it. Taxes, taxes, taxes.”



More recently, protestors, activists and people on the frontlines of inequality have sought to challenge the WEF over its “<a href="https://inequality.org/research/global-inequality-protest-davos/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">empty rhetoric</a>,” accusing Davos of representing “a symbol of a failed era” that should be left behind.



A report published Monday by global charity Oxfam found that 573 people became new billionaires during the coronavirus pandemic — at a rate of one every 30 hours. The brief, entitled “Profiting from Pain,” expects that 263 million additional people will fall into extreme poverty this year at a rate of 1 million people every 33 hours.



“Billionaires are arriving in Davos to celebrate an incredible surge in their fortunes. The pandemic and now the steep increases in food and energy prices have, simply put, been a bonanza for them,” said Gabriela Bucher, executive director of Oxfam International.



“Meanwhile, decades of progress on extreme poverty are now in reverse and millions of people are facing impossible rises in the cost of simply staying alive.”



In his youth, Philipp Wilhelm was one of those protesting the annual gathering of billionaires and political leaders in the town where he was born. Now, however, Wilhelm is the mayor of Davos, and his goal is to deliver a successful meeting.



“I protested during the annual meeting because, for me, it was important to express that it’s really crucial that we solve this climate crisis. And we need to make the world a more just place,” Wilhelm said.



Wilhelm said that he had taken part in protests because he felt it was essential to ensure that everyone arriving in Davos “gets the message that it’s really important to solve these issues.”



Wilhelm said he — and WEF — had changed their positions since his protesting days, adding that he believes he can influence policy more effectively in his current role.



When asked whether it was a concern that criticism of WEF had become too closely associated with Davos given that the town itself has become largely interchangeable with the forum, Wilhelm replied: “No it doesn’t bother me at all.”



“I think it is interesting that people know Davos as a place where people meet and discuss — and I mean it should be controversial. There should be a discussion about what is the right way to improve the state of the world,” Wilhelm said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a></a>Davos 2022 is ‘one marker in time’</h2>



“The forum’s work is ongoing. The meeting is one marker in time,” said Saadia Zahidi, managing director at the World Economic Forum.



“What we’ve been doing over the last two and a half years — while it hasn’t been visible through a particular meeting — is a set of work that is trying to make a dent on inequality and at the same time also make changes towards addressing one of the biggest existential risks we all face which is climate change.”



When asked whether rising income inequality had become a particular problem for the forum, Zahidi replied: “Inequality is a problem for the world. I think we know that societies that do not combat inequality will have slower growth.”



“And so there has to be an effort that addresses inequality. Now, what does that? Better education, better skills, better jobs, addressing issues like taxation and changing the nature of our economies so that they actually work for people and not just for the few,” Zahidi said. “That is going to be front and center on next week’s agenda.”

Stefan Wermuth | Bloomberg | Getty Images

How Davos became the anti-establishment’s punching bag

KEY POINTS



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>A document outlining the European Commission’s aims for the REPowerEU plan was published on Wednesday.</li><li>It highlighted the importance of energy savings, the diversification of energy imports and speeding up what it called “Europe’s clean energy transition.”</li><li>The EU’s desire to wean itself off Russian hydrocarbons means it will need to find oil and gas from other parts of the world to plug supply gaps.</li></ul>



The European Commission has fleshed out details of a plan to ramp up the EU’s renewable energy capacity and reduce its reliance on Russian fossil fuels, at the same time acknowledging that existing coal facilities may have to be used for “longer than initially expected.”



A document outlining the Commission’s aims for the REPowerEU plan was published on Wednesday, highlighting the importance of energy savings, the diversification of energy imports and speeding up what it called “Europe’s clean energy transition.”



In total, it envisages extra investment of 210 billion euros ($220.87 billion) between 2022 and 2027. When it comes to renewables’ share in the EU’s energy mix, the Commission has proposed that the current target of 40% by 2030 should be increased to 45%.



The Commission’s proposals came on the same day the governments of Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium said they would aim for a combined target of at least 65 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2030. By the middle of the century, they are aiming for 150 GW of capacity.



On the fossil fuel front, the situation is a challenging one. Russia was the biggest supplier of both petroleum oils and natural gas to the EU last year,&nbsp;<a href="https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=EU_imports_of_energy_products_-_recent_developments#:~:text=Russia%20was%20the%20largest%20supplier,and%2C%20at%20some%20distance%20Algeria" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according to Eurostat</a>.



The EU’s desire to wean itself off Russian hydrocarbons&nbsp;following the latter’s invasion of Ukraine&nbsp;means it will need to find oil and gas from other parts of the world to plug supply gaps.



The Commission said as much as 1.5 to 2 billion euros of investment would be needed to secure oil supply. To import enough liquefied natural gas and pipeline gas from other sources, an estimated 10 billion euros will be needed by 2030.



All the above comes at a time when the EU has said it wants to be carbon neutral by 2050. In the medium term, it wants net greenhouse gas emissions to be cut by at least 55% by 2030, which the EU calls its “Fit for 55” plan.



The Commission said REPowerEU could not work without what it called “a fast implementation of all Fit for 55 proposals and higher targets for renewables and energy efficiency.”



In this new reality, gas consumption in the EU would “reduce at a faster pace, limiting the role of gas as a transitional fuel,” the Commission said.



“However, shifting away from Russian fossil fuels will also require targeted investments for security of supply in gas infrastructure and very limited changes to oil infrastructure alongside large-scale investments in the electricity grid and an EU-wide hydrogen backbone,” it added.



“In parallel, some of the existing coal capacities might also be used longer than initially expected, with a role for nuclear power and domestic gas resources too,” the Commission said.



During a press conference on Wednesday the EU’s climate chief, Frans Timmermans, admitted that using less natural gas in a transitional phase would mean “you might use coal a bit longer — that has a negative impact on your emissions.”



“But if at the same time, as we propose, you rapidly speed up the introduction of renewables — solar, wind, biomethane — you then have the opposite movement,” he said.



Timmermans, who is the European Commission’s executive vice president for the European Green Deal, went on to stress the importance of finding a middle ground.



“If we can actually do what I say — reduce our energy consumption in combination with a speedier introduction of renewables — we will bring down our emissions even quicker than before,” he said.



“And then, of course we will have slightly higher emissions if people stick a bit longer to coal, but we need to strike the balance so that, on balance, we do not increase our emissions — we hopefully even decrease them more.”



Coal has a substantial effect on the environment, with Greenpeace describing it as “the dirtiest, most polluting way of producing energy.”



Elsewhere, the U.S. Energy Information Administration lists a range of emissions from coal combustion, including carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, particulates and nitrogen oxides.



The European Commission announcement drew criticism from a number of environmental organizations.



“These plans are supposed to fast-track the clean energy transition — but the European Commission’s latest strategy gives with one hand and takes with the other,” Eilidh Robb, an anti-fossil fuels campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe, said.



“So-called REPowerEU contains useful and necessary strides towards renewable solutions but it simultaneously enables almost 50 fossil fuel infrastructure projects and expansions,” Robb said.

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Europe admits it’ll have to burn more coal as it tries to wean itself off Russian energy

By Mohi Narayan and Scott DiSavino



May 20 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Oil&nbsp;prices fell on Friday as investors worried that weakening global economic growth and tighter central bank monetary policy could curb a recovery in&nbsp;fuel&nbsp;demand.



Brent&nbsp;LCOc1&nbsp;futures for July fell 59 cents, or 0.53%, to $111.45 a barrel by 0648 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for June&nbsp;CLc1&nbsp;fell 56 cents, or 0.5%, to $111.65 on its last day as the front-month.



The more actively traded WTI contract for July&nbsp;CLN2&nbsp;was down 0.8% at $109.01 a barrel.



The International Monetary Fund (IMF) urged Asian economies to be mindful of spillover&nbsp;risks from monetary tightening.



Asian economies faced a choice between supporting growth with more stimulus and withdrawing it to stabilise debt and inflation, IMF Deputy Managing Director Kenji Okamura said.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL3N2XB2VQ&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



While Bank of Japan policy runs counter to a global shift towards monetary tightening, central banks in the United States, Britain and Australia raised interest rates recently.



Crude gains have been limited this week, with Brent and WTI mostly trading in a range due to the uncertain path of&nbsp;demand. Investors, worried about rising inflation and more aggressive action from central banks, have been reducing exposure to riskier assets.



Open interest in WTI futures fell to 1.722 million contracts on May 18, the lowest since July 2016.



&#8220;If U.S. growth data continues to sour,&nbsp;oil&nbsp;prices could get caught up in the negative stock market feedback loop,&#8221; SPI Asset Management Managing Director Stephen Innes said in a client note.



In the United States, Americans were getting back behind the wheel, despite higher&nbsp;fuel&nbsp;prices, according to a report from the Federal Highway Administration on vehicle miles.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL2N2XB2RM&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



On the gasoline supply side, South Korea&#8217;s third-largest refiner S-Oil&nbsp;halted production at its No. 2 alkylation unit and related processes at its Onsan refinery due to a blast.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL2N2XB31C&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



The shutdown following Thursday night&#8217;s blast that killed one person is expected to affect already tight gasoline supplies in Asia.



Citi analysts expect S-Oil&#8217;s gasoline output to be &#8220;severely impacted&#8221; in the near term, although it could buy alkylate to maintain production.



Iran, meanwhile, is having a tougher time selling its crude now that more Russian barrels are available.



Iran&#8217;s crude exports to China have fallen sharply since the start of the Ukraine war as Beijing favoured heavily discounted Russian barrels, leaving almost 40 million barrels of Iranian&nbsp;oil&nbsp;stored on tankers at sea in Asia and seeking buyers.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL2N2XB1O9&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



(Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Kim Coghill and Frank Jack Daniel)

Oil falls on uncertainty over fuel demand recovery

LONDON, May 19 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;A new study by the&nbsp;central&nbsp;bank&nbsp;to the world&#8217;s&nbsp;central&nbsp;banks, the&nbsp;Bank&nbsp;of International Settlements (BIS), has called for&nbsp;urgent&nbsp;action to tackle&nbsp;rising&nbsp;wealth&nbsp;inequality, warning the problem was feeding a dangerous loop of recessions and poverty.



While government policies have largely been blamed for the rise in&nbsp;inequality&nbsp;since the 1980s,&nbsp;central&nbsp;bankers have also come under fire in recent years for fuelling huge stock market gains with ultra-low interest rates and asset buying schemes.



The&nbsp;BIS, looking at 182 recessions across 70 countries, found that even six years after a downturn, the income share of the bottom 50% of earners in an impacted economy remained 0.3% below the pre-recession level on average, whereas for those in the top 10% bracket it was still 0.7% higher.



Economies that are more unequal go through deeper recessions which in turn further increases&nbsp;inequality, its analysis showed. Less progressive taxes and social support programme in many countries have made the problems worse as well.



&#8220;It is increasingly apparent that&nbsp;inequality&nbsp;has evolved from being an academic issue to an&nbsp;urgent&nbsp;policy&nbsp;matter,&#8221; the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bis.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BIS&nbsp;paper</a>&nbsp;said, adding that one of key risks for&nbsp;central&nbsp;banks was that their policy tools become less effective.



The&nbsp;BIS&nbsp;study showed that low-paid workers in some countries were over three time more likely to have lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic, while surging inflation was&nbsp;now&nbsp;hitting poorer households disproportionately hard.



&#8220;Once&nbsp;inequality&nbsp;is left to grow unchecked, deeper and deeper recessions demand additional policy support,&#8221; it said.



&#8220;But at the same time monetary stimulus loses traction, so that the&nbsp;central&nbsp;bank&nbsp;needs to deploy bolder and bolder instruments, which can in turn produce undesirable side effects in terms of wealth&nbsp;inequality&#8221;.



Instead it recommended keeping inflation in check and that governments use &#8220;stabilisation policies&#8221; such as subsidies or support payments that help poorer people.



(Reporting by Marc Jones; Editing by Jan Harvey)

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Rising inequality now an urgent matter, BIS central bank group warns

May 19 (Reuters) &#8211; Russia will send any oil rejected by European countries to Asia and other regions, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Thursday, adding that Europe would have to find substitute supplies that would be more expensive.



The European Commission on Wednesday unveiled a 210 billion euro ($220 billion) plan for Europe to end its reliance on Russian fossil fuels by 2027 and to use the pivot away from Moscow to quicken its transition to green energy. <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/eu-unveils-escape-route-russian-fossil-fuels-by-2027-2022-05-18/">read more</a>



Europe receives about 4 million barrels per day (bpd) of Russian oil, Novak said, adding that Russia was ready to reroute those supplies leaving Europe with more expensive crude from other origins.



Western sanctions imposed on Russia after its troops marched into Ukraine in February forced a number of oil buyers to delay or refuse cargoes, which in turn knocked Russian oil production.



Novak said Russian oil production was about 1 million bpd lower in April but had increased by 200,000-300,000 bpd in May with more volumes expected to be restored next month.



He said Russia&#8217;s oil exports were gradually recovering and the country would be able to find export markets because its energy resources were competitive.



($1 = 0.9537 euros)



RegisterReporting by Reuters; Editing by Edmund Blair



<a href="https://eb2.3lift.com/pass?tl_clickthrough=true&amp;redir=https%3A%2F%2Frtb-us-east.linkedin.com%2Flax%2Fclk%3Ftrk%3DCwEAAAGA3JCq4mVrhscHC6XDe2DE2ro5JDlEjtw-w19DJo5ePkcIoSpbHWSScK0OeYlrUBmKpgzhzZ1y6JEY2ocP9vRVaaZiPt8YSS7Gq_eLkjPaoDqQ75p_iPl1pRk5L2YwP2X6IDKGWIqE3-ap-_gpkQqKiM_Rksb-VIYbZXviu4-cG6jJxCFd5eiQv1DJBJji8Piv_c14WM6ZVVHx7OjEgHSSNIl3Xb1AMZpS31o7FGFuKBrEFNPWT8F83gC1-yZw9CJhhrZWIyLz06xe1GmH-iuByGuDTQ4CgE5wa9z2OSWBEhtiCAFUMMPM4hG8X8bmE_OTZBLSLqFmT-tiM36jAesbJ8bxRnyLAf62uR0skxp3WSpMf3x-5_hn-osx-KcQ79hmbQ_82lnPz2-028CEOKmSW_ZzBnVUYQizW9GrGUUQVLihjGOVycNL7fEiEyhZe5ijf60hf3z5UHJellPn3KshJYB4Tp1_RJ0xrmLErvCYJeslsQD_DIjdFFg57JhNsIQXf8zvJC4wzzzkIiA27qFWRKL48u16NB-VU38PjywkxFXeF-jh3-8hgFAnWaazk0G0fVQc4JgyaiNjEIBc-TuyD0uto80S0Ii8OixkcgPqgHw62VqtAKP4LHLXywkREq5bZxg-Z0NqubwSJqmW3uMmpxXHkuhVNWhI3m5Oa1EG5zMOw6Dj8DND-C_30tJOX1OP6xKX9hCMRHlU3uHrKo8Aow2siZs54qdvUeGfJLm1Zbp657VRNHcaSOO2NfCc5VuDCXOAOiKkdYMz9KQwGaZPki11VBud0niYF8H0itM8f79DdJPtIDcmMKDJYA9ZPFAt0kVNENZ330tDzh8gyT6Nd0KOnpRPH_qn2cJzgUGtngcpjDU4laODj40tzDV8pfkp6GE1lUqLhUZhpY1eKoCIVCdXejMBsD7p2YmtEyNHkSzdaB5shBZuGxaDJ45okavF2X1fdMvgUz41roNCxC2fnMXxv-y79qByr5qwjAmNjE9d6gTyww5LNVcYEKW_PL803F51DheN12iLMOhb3NgzAnVlwctQ8V9dT6Di6eLHnMge7HYRu-sGnfBynv1EhHFyTk45KSKZSXsR2pK0vZvQ8NvqpIcgjfy7m_Ctnhp2fEGO8MGDcWtt7u_sw6hAu3kkHzU9KbQxqCZb3mmkzvGotPX4mbDpJM8LqbrnNXa2mgIjvYBTm6bJj62lrCJYc1yYCHJ2-enalD_4Z7EadYX6MRaMSvLMe1x7wuLwPgw2fO1WJWPp44CDjoMyKkyz4KH1i4w679BdeSIx7sQ8O03DD9aylx3RnZnoj9zPSdriem8q4kPFaZ54lW-FiacyvipCs3QTBhhP2stoxhwAnLiEcBDoSGqORfRvX-IWoduC1KrJACd8_nV1zGZb4jd45mNOe04bhThQYq76Ixg-vC7mYmgWbJjzxSjIcok-KynftIYyIiUrLMzxV6N1kO3Oh5SgAfCATfX5fLOaA-UL%26action%3Dclick%26laxrid%3D24f5c29d-cf3d-40f2-b108-99addb80d74f%26laxbid%3D2%26eid%3D3%26crtype%3Dvid%26laxerid%3D27513682238991459463900%26adfmt%3D6%26urle%3DCwEAAAGA3JCq9-hRRtXsu-wPa_J8Ur10q0hLs8UOYV-GjXUfbMvOviv_7QvcFASlXhVdCuJlBBI4mJFxQ7TvqvOV1gjmLavd4lh3vI-t4JxDYlGEfZ3nhBLwRZKc7v7xRflbkOCy89yplrQJHVVX5u0_god5Rfh15o1QauwG-LoPK8PGUaRwif4Mtt0j-uJe5wXC5WBuLdOvRr580aEuP4nQuywCESJyla65oBSQpDvgBs07_7aYsYqIFJSAm3M87TF38x4RR2jzZJAtA5BZrg-575fm_jyWN2xk1r6TXzjz2qTj8b_dQhfICDT-eGHThJhs9d0ins-182El193wr4H6mp5trHdxpJC1srZ0s2hra9jOeqWMFrWTb_wF4utRlgXaFCg9QnCk_cNP32UGnr0Y_Wt26BI4QQFtJUgNLbbVYjkTfsfiLXs0P765HUO36C8RTahma63SCAHdE-wo4XvxbbzFLq484BR-AA%26urlhash%3DwsTS&amp;pr=1.444&amp;bc=3.307&amp;aid=27513682238991459463900&amp;bmid=6250&amp;biid=6250&amp;sid=66552&amp;brid=554848&amp;adid=193517973&amp;crid=29158957&amp;ts=1652967909&amp;bcud=3307&amp;ss=12&amp;cb=81714" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"></a>

106112608-1567659337821gettyimages-1149971899

Russia to send oil rejected by Europe to Asia, other regions, says Novak

<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Stocks slide as inflation scare drives uncertainty</li><li>UK inflation hits 9%, in Canada rises to 6.8%</li><li>German 2-year yield hits 2011 high on ECB rate hike bets</li></ul>



NEW YORK, May 18 (Reuters) &#8211; Global stocks plunged and the dollar strengthened for the first time in four sessions on Wednesday as concerns about rising inflation on economic growth soured sentiment.



The mood was underscored by a 9% surge in British consumer prices and a faster-than-expected acceleration in inflation in Canada.



British inflation surged to its highest annual rate since 1982 as energy bills soared, while Canadian inflation rose to 6.8% last month, largely driven by rising food and shelter prices, Statistics Canada data showed. <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/uk-inflation-hits-9-highest-since-modern-records-started-2022-05-18/">read more</a>



British inflation is now the highest among major economies in Europe, but prices are rapidly rising worldwide, forcing central banks around the globe to hike interest rates and tamp down growth as suggested by a modest decline in U.S. homebuilding in April.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/us-building-permits-dive-april-housing-starts-fall-2022-05-18/">read more</a>



Soaring prices and material shortages have already hit homebuilding, the sector of the economy most sensitive to rates. But the U.S. Commerce Department report also showed a record backlog of houses to be built, indicating a decline in homebuilding potentially might be marginal.



Adding to the gloom caused by inflation were earnings results from Target Corp&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/TGT.N" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">(TGT.N)</a>, whose quarterly profit halved as it warned of a bigger margin hit this year due to rising fuel and freight costs.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/target-profit-halves-rising-costs-warns-bigger-margin-hit-2022-05-18/">read more</a>



Target shares plummeted 24.88%, its biggest one-day percentage drop since the &#8220;Black Monday&#8221; stock market crash on Oct. 19, 1987, a day after Walmart Inc <a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/WMT.N" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">(WMT.N)</a> warned of similar margin squeezes and saw its stock drop 11.4% for its biggest one-day percentage fall since Oct. 16, 1987.



&#8220;It was Walmart yesterday and everybody thought it was a one-off,&#8221; said Dennis Dick, head of markets structure and a proprietary trader at Bright Trading LLC in Las Vegas. &#8220;Now that Target misses earning a lot more than Walmart even did, they&#8217;re scared that consumer is not as strong as everybody think it is.&#8221;



MSCI&#8217;s gauge of stocks across the globe&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/quote/.MIWD00000PUS" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">(.MIWD00000PUS)</a>&nbsp;shed 2.74%, while in Europe, the pan-regional STOXX 600 index&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/quote/.STOXX" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">(.STOXX)</a>&nbsp;closed down 1.14%.



On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/quote/.DJI" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">(.DJI)</a>&nbsp;fell 3.56%, the S&amp;P 500&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/quote/.SPX" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">(.SPX)</a>&nbsp;lost 4.03% and the Nasdaq Composite&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/quote/.IXIC" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">(.IXIC)</a>&nbsp;dropped 4.73%.



The declines for the S&amp;P 500 and Dow marked their biggest one-day percentage declines since June 11, 2020.



Few analysts are willing to predict the end to selling after a bruising first five months of the year for risk assets given the magnitude of macroeconomic uncertainty, with many anticipating market volatility will be the norm for some time.



The U.S. dollar gained ground as the sell-off in risk assets boosted the safe-haven appeal of the greenback, which was on pace to snap a three-session losing streak, a day after Fed Chair Jerome Powell pledged the U.S. central bank would ratchet up rates as high as needed to combat rising inflation.



The dollar index rose 0.581%, with the euro down 0.8% to $1.0463. The Japanese yen strengthened 0.92% to 128.23 per dollar.



Treasury yields fell, although a steep path for rates remained the prevailing market consensus as the benchmark 10-year note yield hit a one-week high of 3.015% after Powell&#8217;s hawkish comments.



The yield fell 8.1 basis points to 2.890% on Wednesday after a soft U.S. housing starts number.



The German two-year government bond yield shot to 0.444%, its highest since November 2011 after more hawkish central banker comments, and last was up 1.6 basis points at 0.386%. The European Central Bank&#8217;s Klaas Knot said on Tuesday that a 50-basis-point rate hike in July was possible if inflation broadens.



Gold prices were little changed despite the risk-off environment as looming U.S. interest rate hikes and a resurgent dollar dimmed the metal&#8217;s shine.



Spot gold was up 0.1% at $1,816.06 an ounce.



Oil prices dipped in volatile trade, reversing early gains as traders grew less worried about a supply crunch after government data showed U.S. refiners ramped up output.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/oil-prices-climb-hopes-china-demand-recovery-2022-05-18/">read more</a>



U.S. crude settled down 2.5% at $109.59 per barrel and Brent settled at $109.11, down 2.52% on the day.



Reporting by Herbert Lash and Chuck Mikolajczak; additional reporting by Devik Jain in Bengaluru; editing by Jonathan Oatis



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Trading Board Is Showing A Crash In Stok Exchange Market

Stocks pummeled by growth worries, U.S. dollar climbs

KEY POINTS



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Goldman Sachs analysts have cut their China GDP forecast to 4% from 4.5% after weak data in April.</li><li>The bank does not expect China will start fully easing Covid controls before the second quarter of 2023.</li><li>On Monday, Citi — which had one of the highest China GDP forecasts — cut its outlook for growth to 4.2% from 5.1%.</li></ul>



BEIJING — Goldman Sachs analysts on Wednesday cut their forecast for China’s GDP to 4% after&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/16/china-economy-covid-lockdowns-weigh-on-retail-industrial-production-data.html">data for April showed a slump</a>&nbsp;in growth as Covid-19 controls restricted business activity.



The new forecast is even further below the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/05/china-on-deck-to-reveal-its-2022-gdp-target.html">“around 5.5%”</a>&nbsp;growth target the Chinese government announced for the year in March.



“Given the Q2 Covid-related damage to the economy, we now expect China’s growth to be 4% this year (vs. 4.5% previously),” Hui Shan and a team at Goldman wrote in a report Wednesday. That prediction assumes there will be significant government support, on top of measures to stabilize the property market and control Covid outbreaks.



Since March, mainland China has struggled to contain its worst Covid outbreak in two years. Notably, the metropolis of Shanghai only started this week to begin discussing the resumption of normal activity — with a goal of mid-June.



Among April’s weak data, the Goldman analysts pointed to a plunge in housing starts and sales, half the credit growth that markets expected and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/11/chinas-consumer-prices-climb-as-covid-prompts-food-stockpiling.html">a drop below 1% for the increase in consumer prices, excluding food and energy.</a>



Other data for April released Monday showed an <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/16/china-economy-covid-lockdowns-weigh-on-retail-industrial-production-data.html">unexpected drop in industrial production</a> and a worse-than-expected 11.1% decline in retail sales from a year ago. Exports, a major driver of growth, rose <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/09/china-economy-april-exports-slow-imports-unchanged-amid-virus-curbs.html">by 3.9% in April</a> from a year earlier, the slowest pace since a 0.18% increase in June 2020, according to official data accessed through Wind Information.



“The weak data highlight the tension between China’s growth target and zero-Covid policy which is at the core of China’s growth outlook,” the Goldman analysts said.



They noted how Chinese leaders have&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/12/chinese-official-on-chinas-economy-amid-covid-pandemic.html">emphasized their “dynamic zero-Covid” policy,</a>&nbsp;and how news that China will not host the Asian Cup next summer due to Covid reflects Beijing’s conservative mindset.



“We now expect reopening does not start before 2023Q2 and the process to be more gradual and controlled than previously assumed,” the Goldman analysts said.



“This is why our 2023 GDP growth forecast only increases by a quarter point to 5.3% (vs. 5.0% previously) despite the half a point downward revision to 2022 full-year growth forecast.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-other-banks-cut-forecasts"><a></a>Other banks cut forecasts</h2>



On Monday, Citi — which&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/26/investment-banks-slash-china-growth-outlook-one-puts-gdp-below-4percent.html">had one of the highest China GDP forecasts</a>&nbsp;— cut its outlook for growth to 4.2% from 5.1%.



A few days earlier, JPMorgan had reduced its estimate to 4.3% from 4.6%. Morgan Stanley cut its target in late April to 4.2% from 4.6%.

106910593-1626253221629-gettyimages-83781196-aa19b85a-38be-43ab-8727-5b1a7a5aae1e

Goldman Sachs cuts its China GDP forecast to 4% on Covid controls

LONDON, May 18 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Smoking rates have declined globally for the first time on record, according to a new report on tobacco use from a public health campaign group and U.S. academics.



However, the figures from the Tobacco Atlas report – described as a potential tipping point by the authors – also mask growing numbers of smokers in parts of the world, as well as increased tobacco use among young teenagers in almost half of the countries surveyed.



Globally, there are 1.1 billion smokers and 200 million more people who use other tobacco products, the report from Vital Strategies and the Tobacconomics team at the University of Illinois at Chicago found.



That represented a decline in smoking rates from 22.6 per cent of people in 2007 to 19.6 per cent in 2019, they said, the first since the report began in 2002.



However, population growth in Africa, the eastern Mediterranean and the Western Pacific regions meant there were still increasing numbers of smokers in a number of areas, the report said. Moreover, prevalence is rising among adults in at least 10 countries in Africa, as well as among young people.



&#8220;The industry is still preying on emerging economies in ways that will lock in harms for a generation or more,&#8221; said Jeffrey Drope, public health professor at the University of Illinois and a report author.



Children were also being targeted in a number of countries, resulting in a rise in smoking among teenagers aged 13-15 in 63 of 135 countries surveyed, he said. Around 50 million in this age group, both boys and girls, now used tobacco products, he said, and the impact of new products like e-cigarettes and flavoured products was not yet fully understood.



Falling prevalence globally was a sign of the effectiveness of strong tobacco control measures, such as increased taxes, Drope added, but many lower-income countries did not have tough enough restrictions in place.



The data also shows tobacco use caused almost 8.7 million deaths worldwide in 2019, and approximately $2 trillion in economic damage. While more than half of the deaths are currently in high-income countries, this is expected to change if cigarette use continues to rise in lower-income areas.



The report also suggests that the tobacco industry is targeting black people in the United States with menthol cigarette promotion. The authors backed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration&#8217;s plan to ban their sale.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL2N2WQ34R&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>.



(Reporting by Jennifer Rigby; Editing by Bradley Perrett)

smoking health-5317401_960_720_Pixaby

Global smoking rates fall for first time, but rise for kids, Africa – report

KEY POINTS



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Fed Chair Jerome Powell said he will back interest rate increases until prices start falling back toward a healthy level.</li><li>“If that involves moving past broadly understood levels of neutral we won’t hesitate to do that,” the central bank leader told the Wall Street Journal</li></ul>



Federal Reserve Chair&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/jay-powell/">Jerome Powell</a>&nbsp;emphasized his resolve to get inflation down, saying Tuesday he will back interest rate increases until prices start falling back toward a healthy level.



“If that involves moving past broadly understood levels of neutral we won’t hesitate to do that,” the central bank leader told The Wall Street Journal&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/feds-powell-to-take-wsj-questions-on-inflation-and-economic-outlook-11652779802" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">in a livestreamed interview</a>. “We will go until we feel we’re at a place where we can say financial conditions are in an appropriate place, we see inflation coming down.



“We’ll go to that point. There won’t be any hesitation about that,” he added.



Earlier this month, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/04/fed-raises-rates-by-half-a-percentage-point-the-biggest-hike-in-two-decades-to-fight-inflation.html">the Fed raised benchmark borrowing rates</a> by half a percentage point, the second increase of 2022 as inflation runs around a 40-year high.



Powell said following that increase that similar 50 basis point moves were likely to come at ensuing meetings so long as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/17/retail-sales-april-2022-up-0point9percent-vs-1point0percent-estimate.html">economic conditions</a>&nbsp;remained similar to where they are now.



On Tuesday, he repeated his commitment to getting inflation closer to the Fed’s 2% target, and cautioned that it might not be easy and could come at the expense of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/06/job-growth-accelerated-by-428000-in-april-more-than-expected-as-jobs-picture-stays-strong.html">a 3.6% unemployment rate</a>&nbsp;that is just above the lowest level since the late 1960s.



“You’d still have a strong labor market if unemployment were to move up a few ticks,” he said. “I would say there are a number of plausible paths to have a soft as I said softish landing. Our job isn’t to handicap the odds, it’s to try to achieve that.”



The U.S. economy saw growth contract at a 1.4% pace in the first quarter of 2022, due largely to ongoing supply side constraints, spread of the omicron Covid variant and the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/17/russia-ukraine-live-updates.html">war in Ukraine</a>.



However, tighter monetary policy has added to concerns about a steeper downturn and has sparked an aggressive sell-off on Wall Street. In addition to the 75 basis points in interest rate hikes, the Fed also has halted its monthly bond-buying program, which is also known as quantitative easing, and will begin shedding some of the $9 trillion in assets it has acquired starting next month.



Powell said he still hopes the Fed can achieve its inflation goals without tanking the economy.



“You’d still have a strong labor market if unemployment were to move up a few ticks. I would say there are a number of plausible paths to have a soft as I said softish landing. Our job isn’t to handicap the odds, it’s to try to achieve that,” he said.



He added that “there could be some pain involved to restoring price stability” but said the labor market should remain strong, with low unemployment and higher wages.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell Photo: via Flickr

Powell says the Fed will not hesitate to keep raising rates until inflation comes down

WASHINGTON, May 16 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;U.S. President Joe Biden has authorized the redeployment of fewer than 500 American troops into Somalia, U.S. officials said on Monday, after Donald Trump ordered their withdrawal during his presidency.



Prior to Trump&#8217;s withdrawal, the United States had about 700 troops in Somalia focused on helping local forces defeat the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab insurgency.



&#8220;This is a repositioning of forces already in theater who have traveled in and out of Somalia on an episodic basis,&#8221; White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters. The exact number of troops was not mentioned at the briefing.



A senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Biden had approved the request from U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to &#8220;enable a more effective fight against al Shabaab.&#8221;



The Pentagon said the troops would not be directly fighting in combat operations, but working to train, advise and equip Somali forces.



&#8220;Secretary&#8217;s (Austin&#8217;s) view was that the episodic engagement model was inefficient and increasingly unsustainable,&#8221; Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters.



The revamped troop presence will include fewer than 500 U.S. troops, another U.S. official said.



Al Shabaab is seeking to topple the government and establish its own rule in Somalia based on its strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.



The insurgent group frequently carries out bombings in Mogadishu and elsewhere as part of its war against the Horn of Africa country&#8217;s central government.



&#8220;It&#8217;s good news to have U.S. troops on the ground and counterterrorism efforts can be reinitiated,&#8221; said Colonel Ahmed Sheikh, the former commander of Somalia&#8217;s elite Danab Special Forces unit, trained by U.S. troops.



&#8220;This will be a huge boost for the new president – he has a big task ahead,&#8221; he added.



Former Somali leader Hassan Sheikh Mohamud won the presidency again in voting by parliamentarians on Sunday.



Somalia has endured conflict and clan battles with no strong central government since the fall of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. The government has little control beyond the capital and the African Union contingent guards in an Iraq-style &#8220;Green Zone.&#8221;



While the United States did not have troops in Somalia since Trump ordered their withdrawal in December 2020, the military has occasionally carried out strikes in the country and has had troops in nearby countries.



(Reporting by Steve Holland and Idrees Ali in WashingtonAdditional rerpoting by Katharine Houreld and Jeff Mason Editing by Bill Berkrot and Matthew Lewis)

somalia-flag_Public Domain Pictures

Biden approves redeployment of under 500 ground troops to Somalia

LONDON, May 16 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Improving demand and lower supply will help palladium and rhodium swing back into deficit this year and reduce platinum&#8217;s surplus, consultants Metals Focus said on Monday.



The three precious metals are used by automakers in engine exhaust systems, where they neutralise harmful emissions. Platinum is also used in other industries and for jewellery and investment.



Demand from auto makers, which are beginning to overcome a shortage of semiconductors that forced them to cut production, will lift demand for all three metals, Metals Focus said.



On the supply side, palladium and platinum production could be constrained by major producer Russia&#8217;s conflict with Ukraine, while output from another key producer, South Africa, will fall, it said.



Logistical issues and limited automotive scrap feedstock will also impede supply from recycling.



Metals Focus said the roughly 10 million ounce a year palladium market should swing back from its first surplus in 10 years in 2021 to a deficit of 521,000 ounces in 2022 and that prices would average $2,290 an ounce this year.



Palladium&nbsp;XPD=&nbsp;jumped to a record high of $3,440.76 an ounce earlier this year and now costs around $1,930 an ounce.



The surplus in the nearly eight million ounce a year platinum market&nbsp;XPT=&nbsp;is expected be 40% lower than in 2021 at 477,000 ounces this year, while prices will average $990 an ounce, Metals Focus said.



It predicted a deficit of 30,000 ounces in 2022 in the one-million-ounce rhodium market, included in the Metals Focus report for the first time.



Rhodium&#8217;s annual average price&nbsp;RHOD-LON&nbsp;will fall 17% from last year to $17,750 an ounce in 2022, the report said. Rhodium currently trades around $15,600.



(Reporting by Zandi Shabalala; editing by David Evans)

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Palladium to swing back into deficit, platinum surplus to fall

By Tom Sims



FRANKFURT, May 15 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Deutsche Bank&nbsp;DBKGn.DE&nbsp;is not financing a pipeline in Africa that environmental campaigners have said will displace thousands of families and disrupt nature reserves, a person with knowledge of the matter said on Sunday.



Germany&#8217;s largest lender has come under pressure to clarify its stance on the financing of the planned $3.5 billion East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), which would stretch more than 1,400 kilometres from Uganda to Tanzania.



Deutsche has so far not commented on the project despite the pressure increasing ahead of the bank&#8217;s annual general meeting on Thursday. The environmental activist group 350.org is organising a series of protests in the coming days.



&#8220;Many major banks and insurers have already pulled out of this devastating project. We&#8217;re raising the pressure on Deutsche Bank, as one of the only major banks in Europe that has not yet withdrawn their support for EACOP,&#8221; 350.org has said ahead of the planned protests.



The French energy giant Total&nbsp;TTEF.PA, which is developing the pipeline with China National Offshore Oil Corporation, has said it was taking steps to mitigate the environmental and human impact of the project.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N2L60K3&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



In recent years, Deutsche Bank has marketed itself as a bank that companies can turn to as they transition to a greener future.



&#8220;We have placed sustainability at the core of our strategy,&#8221; Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing said last year.



Deutsche Bank has never been involved in the financing of the pipeline, said the person, speaking on condition of anonymity.



Deutsche Bank said in a statement that it doesn&#8217;t comment on clients, but that it &#8220;supports the transition to a low-carbon economy&#8221; and its policies prohibit it from knowingly financing projects that clear primary forests, areas of high conservation value and peatlands.



The campaign called&nbsp;<a href="https://www.stopeacop.net/home" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">#STOPEACOP</a>&nbsp;says on its website that the pipeline puts at risk water for millions of people, and will cut through land critical for elephants, lions and chimpanzees.



(Reporting by Tom SimsEditing by Riham Alkousaa, Maria Sheahan and David Evans)



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Deutsche Bank not financing EACOP African pipeline – source

KEY POINTS



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Retail sales fell by 11.1% in April from a year ago, more than the 6.1% decline predicted in a Reuters poll.</li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Industrial production dropped by 2.9% in April from a year ago, in contrast with expectations for a slight increase of 0.4%.</li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>The unemployment rate in China’s 31 largest cities climbed to a new high of 6.7% in April, according to data going back at least to 2018.</li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Shanghai city announced Sunday that it would start to allow restaurants to reopen gradually, and said Monday the city aimed to resume normal production and life by the middle of June.</li></ul>



BEIJING — China reported a drop in retail sales and industrial production in April — far worse than analysts had expected.



Retail sales fell by 11.1% in April from a year ago, more than the 6.1% decline predicted in a Reuters poll.



Industrial production dropped by 2.9% in April from a year ago, in contrast with expectations for a slight increase of 0.4%. The output of mining and utilities businesses grew.



But manufacturing fell by 4.6%, mostly dragged down by a slump in the auto sector and equipment manufacturing, said Statistics Bureau Spokesperson Fu Linghui. In addition to Covid, he said industrial production faces pressure from insufficient market demand, rising costs and other factors.



Last month, the persistent spread of Covid and resulting stay-home orders —&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/17/shanghai-by-the-numbers-chinas-covid-lockdowns.html">primarily in Shanghai</a>&nbsp;— forced factories to close or operate at limited capacity.



The “increasingly grim and complex international environment and greater shock of [the] Covid-19 pandemic at home obviously exceeded expectation, new downward pressure on the economy continued to grow,” the statistics bureau said in a statement. The bureau said the impact of Covid is temporary and that the economy “is expected to stabilize and recover.”



Fixed-asset investment for the first four months of the year rose by 6.8% from a year ago, slightly missing expectations of 7% growth. Investment in real estate declined by 2.7%, while that in manufacturing rose by 12.2.% and that in infrastructure rose by 6.5%.



China’s passenger car production&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/11/china-autos-shanghai-production-plunged-in-april-after-covid-lockdown.html">dropped by 41.1% year-on-year in April</a>, according to the China Passenger Car Association. The auto sector in China accounts for about one-sixth of jobs and roughly 10% of retail sales, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/04/electric-cars-take-the-spotlight-in-chinas-post-coronavirus-stimulus-plans.html">official figures for 2018</a>&nbsp;compiled by the Ministry of Commerce.



Auto sales dropped by 31.6% in April from a year ago, the statistics bureau data showed. That was better than the peak of the decline in early 2020 — down 37% year-on-year in January and February that year — but worse than the 0% year-on-year change recorded for April 2020.



Catering sales plunged by 22.7% — better than a 31.1% year-on-year drop in April 2020. Restaurants in Shanghai were essentially closed in April, while&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/03/beijing-city-bans-in-restaurant-dining-as-chinas-covid-controls-tighten.html">Beijing city’s ban on dining in restaurants only took effect in early May.</a>



Within retail sales, only beverages, medicine, food and petroleum products saw year-on-year growth.



“Although Covid case numbers have declined markedly from the peak in mid-April, the unwinding of lockdowns has been extremely slow, due partly to the caution among local government officials,” Ting Lu, Chief China Economist at Nomura, said in a note. “Therefore, we believe local lockdowns will still severely impact the production-end of the economy in May and view a quick turnaround as all but impossible.”



Shanghai city announced Sunday that it would start to allow restaurants to reopen gradually, and said Monday the city aimed to resume normal production and life by the middle of June.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-jobless-rate-ticks-higher"><a></a>Jobless rate ticks higher</h2>



The unemployment rate in China’s 31 largest cities climbed to a new high of 6.7% in April, according to data going back at least to 2018.



The unemployment rate across cities rose by 0.3 percentage points from March to 6.1% in April. The jobless rate among those aged 16 to 24 was nearly three times higher at 18.2%.



For an additional sense of the scale of economic slowdown in April, other data showed a slump in business and household demand for loans.



Total social financing — a broad measure of credit and liquidity — roughly halved last month from a year ago to 910.2 billion yuan ($134.07 billion), the People’s Bank of China said late Friday.



However, Macquarie’s Chief China Economist Larry Hu said he expected the drop in credit demand would be short lived. He pointed out that on Sunday, the central government took its “first action &#8230; to save property” by cutting mortgage rates for first-time homebuyers.



The rate, which used to follow the five-year loan prime rate as a benchmark, is now 20 basis points below that.



“Today’s cut is far from enough to turn the property sector around, but more property easing would come,” Hu said in a note Sunday.



Real estate and related industries account for about a quarter of China’s GDP, according to Moody’s.

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China’s economic data disappoint in April as Covid controls weigh

KEY POINTS



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Twitter’s stock plummeted 18% in premarket trading following the initial announcement, but trimmed some losses after the second tweet.</li><li>Musk announced last month that he intends to buy Twitter for $44 billion.</li><li>He’s tweeted that one of his main priorities would be to remove “spam bots” from the platform.</li></ul>



<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/elon-musk/">Elon Musk</a>&nbsp;announced Friday that his&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/TWTR" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Twitter</a>&nbsp;deal is on hold until he receives more information about how many fake accounts there are on the social media platform.



In a follow-up tweet around two hours later, Musk added that he was “still committed to the acquisition.”



Twitter’s stock plummeted 18% in premarket trading following the initial announcement, but trimmed some losses after the second tweet. A spokesperson for the social media company did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.



<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/TSLA" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tesla</a>&nbsp;CEO Musk&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/14/elon-musk-offers-to-buy-twitter-for-54point20-a-share-saying-it-needs-to-be-transformed-as-private-company.html">announced last month</a>&nbsp;that he intends to buy Twitter for $44 billion and he’s previously tweeted that one of his main priorities would be to remove “spam bots” from the platform.



Even before Friday’s announcement, the company’s market value had fallen to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/12/twitter-market-cap-has-dropped-to-9-billion-below-musk-purchase-price.html">$9 billion beneath the offer price due to concerns about the deal.</a>



Musk, who is <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/05/elon-musk-expected-to-serve-as-temporary-twitter-ceo-after-deal-closes.html">expected to serve as Twitter’s temporary CEO</a> if the deal goes ahead, would have to pay a $1 billion breakup fee should <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/26/elon-musk-will-owe-twitter-1-billion-if-he-cant-secure-financing.html">he choose to walk away</a>. Musk is worth more than $220 billion.



Twitter estimated in a filing earlier this month that fewer than 5% of its monetizable daily active users during the first quarter were bots or spam accounts.



Musk, who is the world’s richest person on paper, now wants the company to confirm this before he continues with the deal, which is being partly funded by Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.



The San Francisco-headquartered social media company said in the filing that it had 229 million users in the first quarter who were served advertising.



On Tuesday,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/10/elon-musk-says-he-would-lift-twitter-ban-on-donald-trump-after-deal-closes.html">Musk said</a>&nbsp;that he would lift Twitter’s ban on former President&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/donald-trump/">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;if he takes over the company.



“Permanent bans should be extremely rare and really reserved for accounts that are bots, or scam, spam accounts … I do think it was not correct to ban Donald Trump,” Musk said at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/50d2861e-fdeb-487c-b052-f2021558e87d" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">FT Live’s Future of the Car conference</a>. “I think that was a mistake, because it alienated a large part of the country and did not ultimately result in Donald Trump not having a voice.”



Earlier this month,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/05/bill-gates-says-elon-musk-could-make-twitter-worse.html">Bill Gates warned</a>&nbsp;that Musk could make&nbsp;Twitter&nbsp;“worse.” Speaking at The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Summit, Gates said it’s unclear how Musk will change Twitter if he takes ownership, while also raising concerns about the spread of misinformation on social media platforms.



Gates went on to question what Musk’s goal is with Twitter and whether his drive to promote free speech is sensible. “What are his goals for what it ends up being? Does that match this idea of less extreme falsehoods spreading so quickly [and] weird conspiracy theories? Does he share that goal or not?” Gates said.



Before Musk made his bid to buy Twitter outright, he&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/04/elon-musk-thumbs-his-nose-at-the-sec-again-with-twitter-stake.html">failed to disclose</a>&nbsp;a more than 9% stake in the company within the SEC’s mandatory 10-day window.



<a href="https://www.theinformation.com/articles/elon-musks-early-twitter-purchase-under-ftc-scrutiny" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Information reported</a>&nbsp;that the Federal Trade Commission is probing the timing of Musk’s disclosure.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-05/musk-faces-ftc-antitrust-review-on-twitter-alongside-stock-probe" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bloomberg later said</a>&nbsp;the FTC is separately reviewing the acquisition itself, though many experts don’t expect the deal to raise antitrust concerns.



The FTC doesn’t disclose ongoing investigations, and an FTC spokesperson declined to comment.



Tesla’s share price climbed nearly 7% in premarket trading Friday.



Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said some are likely to query whether fake accounts are the real reason behind this delaying tactic.



“The $44 billion price tag is huge, and it may be a strategy to row back on the amount he is prepared to pay to acquire the platform,” she said in a statement.



Additional reporting by CNBC’s Lauren Feiner.

Elon Musk At SpaceX Headquarters

Elon Musk says Twitter deal on hold pending details on fake accounts; shares sink 11%

EM FX, stocks down amid broader risk-off



Indian rupee at record low; inflation data due 1200 GMT



Yuan at 20-month low



Czech crown bounces from eight-week lows



S. Africa gold, mining March data due 0930 GMT



By Anisha Sircar



May 12 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Emerging market currencies slipped on Thursday as the greenback hit its highest&nbsp;level in two decades&nbsp;after hotter U.S. inflation data, while regional shares tumbled to&nbsp;fresh 22-month lows on pressure from&nbsp;stock markets in India and China.



MSCI&#8217;s index of emerging market (EM) currencies&nbsp;.MIEM00000CUS&nbsp;resumed a descent that began in&nbsp;early-April, falling 0.6% to return to its weakest level since November 2020 after a breather in its last two sessions.



Inflation pressures in parts of EM are rising, even though U.S. inflation might have peaked, said Natalia Gurushina, EM Fixed Income economist at VanEck.



Data on Wednesday&nbsp;showed U.S. consumer price growth is likely to stay hot for a while. Higher-than-expected inflation lifted&nbsp;the dollar&nbsp;=USD&nbsp;and dragged stocks as it suggests a more robust Federal Reserve response this year.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL2N2X315F&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



&#8220;Some EM central banks will have to keep on hiking – in a sense &#8216;matching&#8217; the Fed&#8217;s hikes – even though EM inflation is driven by exogenous factors, but the problem is that global supply shocks are feeding into core inflation, and this passthrough might be higher than in normal pre-COVID years,&#8221; Gurushina added.



Stocks&nbsp;.MSCIEF&nbsp;plunged 2.3% to a 22-month low, dropping eight out of its nine previous sessions.



Indian shares&nbsp;.NSEI,&nbsp;.BSESN&nbsp;dropped nearly 2% and the rupee&nbsp;INR=IN&nbsp;hit an all-time low for a second time this week ahead of domestic retail inflation numbers, with a Reuters poll expecting it to surge to an 18-month high.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL3N2X40XW&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a><a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL3N2WY21A&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



China stocks&nbsp;.SSEC,&nbsp;.CSI300&nbsp;pared gains to close upto 0.4% lower, while the yuan&nbsp;CNY=&nbsp;slipped 0.9% to a 20-month low.



The South African rand&nbsp;ZAR=&nbsp;fell 0.8%, ahead&nbsp;of mining data and after new COVID-19&nbsp;cases crossed 10,000 for first time since January, stoking fears of a fifth wave.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AJ8N2WE008&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



In Central Europe, the Czech crown&nbsp;EURCZK=&nbsp;bounced 0.2% a day after plumbing two-month lows after Czech Republic President Milos Zeman appointed Ales Michl, a central bank board member who has opposed policy tightening, as the bank&#8217;s new governor, signalling a likely end to rate hikes.&nbsp;CEE/



For GRAPHIC on emerging market FX performance in 2022, see&nbsp;<a href="http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh</a>



For GRAPHIC on MSCI emerging index performance in 2022, see&nbsp;<a href="https://tmsnrt.rs/2OusNdX" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://tmsnrt.rs/2OusNdX</a>



For TOP NEWS across emerging markets&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3ATOPEMRG&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



For CENTRAL EUROPE market report, see&nbsp;CEE/



For TURKISH market report, see&nbsp;.IS



For RUSSIAN market report, see&nbsp;RU/RUB



(Reporting by Anisha Sircar and Lisa Pauline Mattackal in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)

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International

WHO chief says it must take central role in global health

Russia looms large on Scholz’s first Africa tour as chancellor

How Davos became the anti-establishment’s punching bag

Europe admits it’ll have to burn more coal as it tries to wean itself off Russian energy

Oil falls on uncertainty over fuel demand recovery

Rising inequality now an urgent matter, BIS central bank group warns

Russia to send oil rejected by Europe to Asia, other regions, says Novak

Stocks pummeled by growth worries, U.S. dollar climbs

Goldman Sachs cuts its China GDP forecast to 4% on Covid controls

Global smoking rates fall for first time, but rise for kids, Africa – report

Powell says the Fed will not hesitate to keep raising rates until inflation comes down

Biden approves redeployment of under 500 ground troops to Somalia

Palladium to swing back into deficit, platinum surplus to fall

Deutsche Bank not financing EACOP African pipeline – source

China’s economic data disappoint in April as Covid controls weigh

Elon Musk says Twitter deal on hold pending details on fake accounts; shares sink 11%

EMERGING MARKETS – FX returns to 18-month lows as dollar gallops higher

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WHO chief says it must take central role in global health

Russia looms large on Scholz’s first Africa tour as chancellor￼

How Davos became the anti-establishment’s punching bag

Europe admits it’ll have to burn more coal as it tries to wean itself off Russian energy

Oil falls on uncertainty over fuel demand recovery

Rising inequality now an urgent matter, BIS central bank group warns

Russia to send oil rejected by Europe to Asia, other regions, says Novak

Stocks pummeled by growth worries, U.S. dollar climbs

Goldman Sachs cuts its China GDP forecast to 4% on Covid controls

Global smoking rates fall for first time, but rise for kids, Africa – report

Powell says the Fed will not hesitate to keep raising rates until inflation comes down

Biden approves redeployment of under 500 ground troops to Somalia

Palladium to swing back into deficit, platinum surplus to fall

Deutsche Bank not financing EACOP African pipeline – source

China’s economic data disappoint in April as Covid controls weigh

Elon Musk says Twitter deal on hold pending details on fake accounts; shares sink 11%

EMERGING MARKETS – FX returns to 18-month lows as dollar gallops higher

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Russia looms large on Scholz’s first Africa tour as chancellor