Rare snow surprises residents in west Cameroon
CGTN

14-Sep-2021


Rare snow in the tropical country of Cameroon near the equator, has surprised many residents who took to social media to share their excitement.

The snowfall disrupted traffic and destroyed crops on some plantations in Bana, a sub-prefecture in the West Region of the country, according to reports.

Bana's mayor Jean Baptiste Sanga attributed the snowfall to climate change.

Cameroon, located in West Africa, lies between 1 and 13 degrees north latitude. Its natural landscape consists of beaches, mountains, rain forests and savannas. It has an annual average temperature of about 24-28 degrees Celsius.

(Cover image via video screenshot)

VIDEO: Rare snow surprises residents in west Cameroon - CGTN

Washington Is Shedding Crocodile Tears for Afghan Women

War hawks constantly cite women’s liberation in support of the US occupation of Afghanistan. That’s transparent hypocrisy: during the Cold War, the US supported patriarchal fundamentalists against a party dedicated to advancing the cause of Afghan women.

Women fighters from the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) demonstrate in Kabul during the Soviet troop withdrawal in February 1989. (Patrick Robert / Sygma via Getty Images)

BY GILBERT ACHCAR

JACOBIN
09.14.2021

The entire US political class is shedding warm tears for Afghan women’s fate under renewed Taliban rule. These tears are consistent with a twenty-year-old discourse that presented the desire to liberate Afghan women from Taliban yoke as a key motivation of the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, second only to the immediate goal of extirpating al-Qaeda in response to the 9/11 attacks.

This pretense is very hypocritical indeed. The insincerity is especially transparent in light of the Cold War, when the US supported patriarchal fundamentalists against a party dedicated to advancing the cause of Afghan women.

The claim of acting on behalf of Afghan women could have been used likewise, if not more convincingly, to justify the ten-year-long Soviet occupation of their poor country. After all, under the Soviet-sponsored government of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), crucial measures were taken in trying to emancipate Afghan women from traditional patriarchal shackles. A 2003 report by the NATO advisory International Crisis Group (ICG) detailed these measures enforced by the PDPA regime and the harsh regression in women’s condition that prevailed after its fall. As summarized ten years later in a 2013 report by the same ICG:

Ousting Daud in a military coup, the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) promised women equal rights, compulsory education and protection against forced, arranged and child marriage. Successive PDPA regimes also encouraged female employment. By the time the Taliban took over in the mid-1990s, 70 per cent of teachers, about half of all civil servants and 40 per cent of doctors in Afghanistan were women.

To be sure, the ICG did criticize the PDPA regime and the Soviet occupation for their brutality and the heavy-handed imposition of measures such as ending segregation in schools, but there’s no question that the PDPA years saw a major effort toward improving the condition of Afghan women in the areas (especially urban) under regime control. Meanwhile, the Islamic opposition to the PDPA regime, dominated by hardline fundamentalists, was heavily anti-women: the difference between the mujahidin of the 1980s and early 1990s and the Taliban is one of shades on the same end of the color spectrum — not a qualitative difference. As the 2013 ICG report noted: “The mujahidin used their control over camps in Pakistan to impose their idiosyncratic interpretation of the role of women on the refugee population, supported by General Zia-ul-Haq’s regime, which shared their puritanical version of Islam.”

A demonstrator in support of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) in Kabul during the Soviet troop withdrawal, 1989. (Patrick Robert / Sygma via Getty Images)

In addition to the Pakistani military dictatorship, the mujahidin were supported by the oldest and closest US Muslim ally, the Saudi kingdom, likewise known for its appalling treatment of women. And yet it was this arc of forces that Washington chose to support in their fight against the PDPA regime and its Soviet backers.

Zbigniew Brzezinski, Jimmy Carter’s National Security Advisor from 1977 to 1981, made a lot of noise with the interview he gave to a French magazine in 1998, two years after the Taliban seized power in Kabul. After boasting that his administration had given the USSR “its Vietnam war” that “brought about the breakup of the Soviet empire,” he was asked if he regretted “having supported Islamic fundamentalism, having given arms and advice to future terrorists.” Brzezinski cynically replied: “What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war?”

Brzezinski at least did not attempt to excuse the Taliban — unlike Zalmay Khalilzad, who, after having served in the State and Defense departments in the Reagan and Bush Sr administrations, became US ambassador to Iraq and then to Afghanistan under George W. Bush. He was later put in charge of US negotiation with the Taliban by Donald Trump and played that role until the completion of the US withdrawal last August. In 1996, Khalizad argued the following in the Washington Post: “Based on recent conversations with Afghans, including the various Taliban factions, and Pakistanis, I am confident that they would welcome an American reengagement. The Taliban does not practice the anti-U.S. style of fundamentalism practiced by Iran — it is closer to the Saudi model.”

Feminists will appreciate Khalilzad’s high concern for women’s rights, which is but a sample of Washington’s long-standing double standard in bashing Iran’s Islamic fundamentalism while excusing the Saudis’ — even though, compared to the latter, the former looks like a beacon of democracy and women’s emancipation. What prevented the reengagement that Khalilzad had recommended from taking place wasn’t the fate of Afghan women in the least. It was solely the increase in Al-Qaeda’s attacks on US targets, which led Bill Clinton to order a missile strike on Osama bin Laden’s bases in Afghanistan in 1997. The rest of the story is well known: 9/11 and the twenty-year US involvement in that war-torn country, ending in the catastrophic outcome that the whole world has witnessed in August.

Whether the condition of women was overall more advanced under the US-sponsored Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (2004–2021) than it was under the PDPA regime is debatable. Unlike the latter, however, the US-sponsored regime had to accommodate the patriarchal tradition embodied by Washington’s old Afghan allies, the mujahidin who had fought the PDPA and the Soviet occupation and maintained their dominance over the new regime (see the sections on women’s and girls’ rights in the successive annual Human Rights Watch reports on Afghanistan).

Moreover, women in rural areas, where the vast majority of Afghans live, have borne the brunt of the US-led war and endured huge suffering as a result of it. The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) has denounced this situation in strong terms. And despite pleas for the inclusion of women in the peace process that Washington conducted with the Taliban under Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden, women’s participation remained marginal. The claim that the US obtained promises of moderation from the Taliban has already proven to be a joke — which would have been risible had the situation not been so tragic.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gilbert Achcar is a professor at SOAS, University of London. His most recent books are Marxism, Orientalism, Cosmopolitanism (2013), The People Want: A Radical Exploration of the Arab Uprising (2013), and Morbid Symptoms: Relapse in the Arab Uprising (2016).

Is the world ready for the continued decline of the West?
By Song Luzheng

Published: Sep 12, 2021 

OPINION / VIEWPOINT

G7 Photo: VCG

What happened in Afghanistan last month has twice shocked the world - the Taliban's rapid victory and takeover of Afghanistan, and the US' chaotic withdrawal from the country.

Both events have proved the failure of the US. The country could no longer afford the war in Afghanistan and had no choice but make peace with the Taliban. This has kicked off unimaginable dominoes. The US' final withdrawal would have been an even greater calamity had the Taliban not kept their word.

The decline of the US-led alliance is not a new topic. Following the 2008 global financial crisis, Brexit, Donald Trump's election as president, and Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan, the West has shown one thing in common: It is ready to abdicate responsibility. What has happened in Afghanistan reinforces it.

The UK has turned its back on a troubled EU to fend for itself. Trump has turned its back on the world by quitting international groups to shore up his "America First," or even "US only." US President Joe Biden has categorically abandoned Afghanistan by insisting on the withdrawal.

Even amid the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, the West scrambled for anti-epidemic materials around the world in the early stage by making use of their financial advantages. Later they rushed to stockpile vaccines. Some of them were found to have illegally intercepted masks that were planned to be transported to third countries. Canada ordered vaccines for more than twice its population. Now the West has begun to promote a third dose of vaccine despite the protests of the WHO. However, only around 3 percent of Africa's population is fully vaccinated.

During its decline, the US-led alliance has worried the world by abdicating its responsibility. More importantly, it has also been unwilling to share power with the vast number of developing countries. This is utter selfishness. More than that, it has even clamped down on high-performing emerging countries.

China's Huawei is a typical example of this. The US government has cracked down on Huawei baselessly. This seriously violates the principles of market and rule of law broadly advocated by the West.

The US' crackdown on Huawei is an assault on China's tech industry. Its attempt to lure and divide developing countries while playing geopolitical game with China has destabilized the world order and also endangered world peace. For example, the world has seen the US actively involved in the South China Sea. It has courted China's neighboring countries, but everyone knows that US' move is only to serve its own interests. It will abandon the region if needed, just as it did in Afghanistan.

The current West-dominated international order is unsustainable with the West's continuing move of shifting responsibility. It is refusing to share power with developing countries.

For that, the world needs to make some preparations.

The first thing for the developing countries is to give up the illusion of the West. They need to develop and improve the ability to solve problems on their own. Third world countries have rich natural resources, young populations and abundant labor forces. It is entirely possible for them to create a new economic miracle as long as they find a development path suitable for their own conditions.

China faced enormous difficulties at the beginning of reform and opening-up - backward economy, huge population and a planned economy. But it became the world's second largest economy in just four decades through peaceful development. If China can do it, other countries can do it as well.

Second, the developing countries need to join hands to cope with the challenges brought by the decline of the West. They need to urge the West to stop shifting responsibility, refusing to share power, and destroying the unity of developing countries. Only in this way can the world effectively transform the old international order into one that is as peaceful and secure as possible.

The author is a research fellow at the China Institute, Fudan University.

 opinion@globaltimes.com.cn

The Decline of the West - LibertyGalaxy.com

libertygalaxy.com/videos/DeclineOfTheWestSpengler.pdf · PDF file

the decline of the west form and actuality by oswald spengler authorized translation with notes by charles francis atkinson mcmxxvii: alfred • a • knopf: new york …

Activision Blizzard’s Labor Woes Grow on Union Complaint to NLRB

Josh Eidelson
Tue, September 14, 2021


(Bloomberg) -- A union has filed a federal labor board complaint against Activision Blizzard Inc., opening a new front in the legal battle over workplace rights at the video game maker.

The U.S. National Labor Relations Board complaint, filed by the Communications Workers of America, accuses Activision of violating federal labor law through coercive rules, actions and statements.

“The employer has threatened employees that they cannot talk about or communicate about wages, hours and working conditions,” according to a copy of the complaint obtained through a public information request. The document also accuses Activision of illegally telling staff they can’t discuss ongoing investigations; threatening or disciplining employees because of their activism; deploying surveillance and interrogations targeting legally protected activism; and maintaining a social media policy that infringes on workers’ rights.

The agency’s docket shows that CWA’s complaint was filed Sept. 10. Activision didn’t reply to requests for comment Tuesday.

Activision Blizzard, which creates games like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, is embroiled in controversy over its treatment of employees. California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing sued Activision in July, alleging the company fostered a “frat boy” culture in which female employees were subjected to sexual harassment, pay inequality and retaliation. Days later, an employee walkout drew hundreds of demonstrators to the sidewalks of the company’s corporate campus in Southern California.

In a July email to employees, Activision’s chief compliance officer, who served as Homeland Security Advisor to President George W. Bush, called the California agency’s claims “factually incorrect, old and out of context.” Activision has also said that the picture painted in the lawsuit “is not the Blizzard workplace of today” and that the company values diversity and strives to “foster a workplace that offers inclusivity for everyone.”

Complaints filed with the labor board are investigated by regional offices and, if found to have merit and not settled, can be prosecuted by the agency’s general counsel and heard by administrative law judges. The rulings can be appealed to NLRB members in Washington, D.C., and from there to federal court. The agency can require remedies such as posting of notices and reversals of policies or punishments, but has no authority to impose punitive damages.

CWA, which has increasingly focused in recent years on organizing non-union video game and tech workers, said in an emailed statement that it was “very inspired by the bravery” of Activision employees and that it filed with the labor board to ensure that violations by the company “will not go unanswered.”

Activision Blizzard workers accuse company of violating federal labor law

Jon Fingas
·Weekend Editor
Tue, September 14, 2021


Activision Blizzard is facing still more legal action over its labor practices. As Game Developer reports, Activision Blizzard workers and the Communication Workers of America have filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board accusing the game developer of using coercion (such as threats) and interrogation. While the filing doesn't detail the behavior, the employee group ABetterABK claimed Activision Blizzard tried to intimidate staff talking about forced arbitration for disputes.

Companies sometimes include employment clauses requiring arbitration in place of lawsuits. The approach typically favors businesses as arbitrations are often quicker than lawsuits, deny access to class actions and, most importantly, keep matters private. Work disputes are less likely to reach the public eye and prompt systemic change. Tech firms like Microsoft have ended arbitration for sexual harassment claims precisely to make sure those disputes are transparent and prevent harassers from going unchecked.

It's not clear how Activision Blizzard intends to respond. We've asked the company about the complaint. The NLRB has yet to say if it will take up the case.

The gaming giant has taken some action in response to California's sexual harassment lawsuit, dismissing three senior designers and a Blizzard president after they were referenced in the case. It has so far been reluctant to discuss structural changes, though. The NLRB complaint might intensify the pressure for reform, and certainly won't help Activision Blizzard's image.



Activision Blizzard Hires Disney’s Julie Hodges as HR Chief in Wake of Sex Harassment Scandal

Todd Spangler
Tue, September 14, 2021



Activision Blizzard has hired Julie Hodges, a 32-year veteran of the Walt Disney Co., as its chief people officer.

Hodges joins the games giant effective Sept. 21, replacing Claudine Naughton, whom Activision Blizzard said is “leaving the company.” The change in HR leadership at the company comes two months after it was hit with a lawsuit from the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, alleging that Activision Blizzard allowed a “pervasive frat boy workplace culture” to thrive that resulted in women employees being continuously subjected to sexual harassment and being paid less than men.

Other senior execs who have exited Activision Blizzard in the wake of the lawsuit included Blizzard Entertainment president J. Allen Brack, who was named in the California DFEH complaint as among company leaders who were allegedly aware of the misconduct and — despite repeatedly being informed of the problems — “failed to take effective remedial measures in response to these complaints.”

In announcing Hodges’ hire, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick said that “Julie is the seasoned leader we need to ensure we are the most inspiring, equitable and emulated entertainment company in the world.”

Meanwhile, on Sept. 10, the Communications Workers of America’s Campaign to Organize Digital Employees (CODE-CWA) filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board against Activision Blizzard on behalf of company employees, alleging it illegally used “coercive tactics” to try to prevent workers from organizing a union following the California DFEH lawsuit, per Protocol.

In addition, Activision Blizzard on Tuesday said Sandeep Dube, formerly SVP of revenue management at Delta Airlines, will become chief commercial officer, effective Sept. 27. He is filling the role left vacant after Armin Zerza was promoted to CFO earlier this year.

“These two outstanding leaders from companies with exceptional reputations will help us achieve our goal of becoming the best company to work for in the entertainment industry while growing our reach, engagement and player investment,” Kotick commented.

In her 32 years at Disney, Hodges led HR for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, the company’s Talent Acquisition Center of Excellence, HRBP for Worldwide Operations, and Disney University/Learning and Development, Organization Development and Cast Research. Hodges earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

At Activision Blizzard, Hodges will be responsible for the company’s global talent organization, with the mission of making the company “the destination for top talent.” In her role, she will lead all aspects of human resources, including diversity, equity and inclusion, talent acquisition, employee experience, learning and development, compensation and benefits, and workforce planning.

The Next South American Oil Giant







Editor OilPrice.com
Tue, September 14, 2021

The COVID pandemic has wreaked considerable damage on the economies of South America’s smaller fiscally fragile countries, with the former Dutch colony of Suriname hit especially hard.

During 2020 the impoverished South American nation’s gross domestic product shrank by 13.5%, the continent’s worst performance after Venezuela. A deeply impoverished Suriname now finds itself mired in a severe economic crisis that is threatening an already fragile state that only emerged from an intense political impasse during July 2020.

The depth of Suriname’s economic problem is reflected by the former Dutch colony defaulting on scheduled debt service payments for $675 million of sovereign debt during 2020. Since then, Paramaribo has been negotiating with creditors to cure the default. That resulted in international credit agencies Fitch Ratings and S&P Global Ratings downgrading Suriname’s credit rating.

President Chan Santokhi, who won the tiny South American country’s top office in the July 2020 election, is battling to resurrect a flailing economy and cast off the corruption as well as the malfeasance of the Bouterse administration. Like in neighboring Guyana, Santokhi’s government plans to exploit what appears to be Suriname’s considerable offshore petroleum wealth to revitalize the economy, bolster government finances and return the former Dutch colony to growth.

Despite Suriname only possessing oil reserves of 89 million barrels, the tiny South American nation possesses enormous oil potential. The impoverished country shares the Guyana Suriname Basin, which the U.S. Geological Survey estimates contains up to 35.6 billion barrels of undiscovered oil resources. Already, neighboring Guyana is experiencing a massive oil boom that saw its GDP expand by an exceptional 43% during 2020.

Exxon’s slew of quality oil discoveries in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, with the latest at the Pinktail well, point to even greater petroleum potential. Exxon along with partner Malaysian national oil company Petronas, which is the operator, found the presence of hydrocarbons at the 15,682-foot Sloanea-1 exploration well in offshore Suriname Block 52. The 1.6-million-acre Block 52 and neighboring 1.4-million-acre Block 58 are believed to lie on the same hydrocarbon fairway as the prolific Stabroek Block.

That proposition is supported by the five quality oil discoveries made by Apache and TotalEnergies, the operator, in Block 58 where they both hold a 50% interest.

Investment bank Morgan Stanley in 2020 announced that it had modeled the oil potential for Block 58 and determined that it could contain oil resources of up to 6.5 billion barrels.

Industry consultancy Rystad Energy estimates that the five discoveries made in offshore Suriname up until the end of June 2021 hold recoverable oil resources of up to 1.9 billion barrels of crude oil.

At the June 2021 Suriname Energy, Oil and Gas Summit Apache’s Vice President Global Geoscience and Portfolio Management Eric Vosburgh stated; “What I would say is that the ultimate scale of the resource and production potential is big. I think I need a word bigger than big, but it’s big.”

Apache and partner TotalEnergies are committed to developing Block 58. At the start of 2021, Apache announced that most of its annual $200 million exploration budget will be directed toward drilling in Suriname. TotalEnergies set a 2021 exploration budget allocated $800 million with the energy supermajor devoting a third of its exploration appraisal activities to Block 58.

While plans to develop the block have yet to be released TotalEnergies and Apache are expected to make their final investment decision during mid-2022 and work toward first oil by 2025. Suriname’s national oil company and industry regulator Staatsolie has the right to farm into Block 58 and take up to a 20% stake, which would see it liable for $1 billion to $1.5 billion in development costs. Paramaribo is also focused on attracting further energy investment in Suriname recently awarding three shallow-water blocks to foreign energy supermajors. TotalEnergies and partner Qatar Petroleum won Blocks 6 and 8, which are adjacent to Block 58, and Chevron was awarded Block 5. That region is underexplored and thought to possess considerable petroleum potential.

The medium and light crude oil found in Block 58 has similar characteristics to the Liza grade crude oil being pumped from the neighboring Stabroek Block. When that is combined with a low estimated breakeven price of around $40 per barrel Brent it is easy to see why offshore Suriname is especially attractive for international energy companies.

As further petroleum discoveries are made, oilfields developed and infrastructure built the breakeven price for offshore Suriname will fall to under $40 per barrel, making the region competitive with neighboring offshore Guyana and Brazil.

The downgrades to Suriname’s credit rating will make it difficult for Paramaribo to raise urgently needed capital including that required by Staatsolie to exercise its farm in option for Block 58.

International ratings agency Fitch in April 2021 announced it had downgraded Suriname to restricted default (RD) after the government failed to make $49.8 billion of payments on its 2023 and 2026 notes. That event according to the ratings agency was Suriname’s third default since the pandemic began in March 2020.

Those events highlight why Paramaribo must resolve the negotiations with creditors and the potential for a sovereign debt default if it is to build further momentum for the exploitation of Suriname’s vast offshore petroleum resources.

The current economic crisis coupled with the economy shrinking by nearly 14% last year emphasizes why Paramaribo must attract further investment from foreign energy companies so it can experience a massive economic boom like the one underway in neighboring Guyana. It is French oil supermajor TotalEnergies which is positioned to become a leading player in Suriname’s emerging offshore oil boom.

By Matthew Smith for Oilprice.com

BHP Spent Just Half a Day’s Profit Looking for Copper Last Year

Thomas Biesheuvel
Tue, September 14, 2021,


(Bloomberg) -- Copper might be BHP Group’s most prized metal, but the world’s biggest mining company spent little more than it earned in an average 12-hour period last year exploring for new deposits.

The company spent just $53 million looking for the metal last year, when it posted record profit of $37.4 billion. In total it spent $516 million on exploration, with more than two-thirds directed at oil and gas, a business it’s in the process of exiting.

The world’s biggest miners are universally bullish on copper, expecting a surge in demand as the global economy decarbonizes, while long-term supply looks constrained by the lack of new mine development. Yet part of the reason copper is so favored by miners and investors alike is because new deposits have been so hard to find.

Still, BHP does have growth plans in copper, but from buying into smaller developers rather then spending a fortune on exploration.

The company has built a stake in SolGold Plc, which is developing Ecuador’s Cascabel project, potentially one of the biggest copper mines in the world. BHP is also in the process of trying to buy Noront Resources Ltd. to gain control of a nickel project in Canada.

The company expects its total exploration spend to jump to $800 million this year.

BHP handing unexpectedly small $3.9 billion clean-up tab to Woodside in oil merger

BHP's logo is projected on a screen during a round-table meeting with journalists
In this article:

Sonali Paul
Mon, September 13, 2021


MELBOURNE (Reuters) - BHP Group will transfer a smaller-than-expected $3.9 billion in oil and gas decommissioning liabilities to Woodside when it merges its petroleum business with the independent Australian gas producer.

Woodside's shares jumped 6.5% after the figure was disclosed in BHP's annual report on Tuesday, outperforming gains of around 4% among its peers.

"The long awaited BHPP (BHP Petroleum) abandonment provision number has been released, coming in below what we feared it could be," Credit Suisse analyst Saul Kavonic said in a note.

BHP said in its annual report that as of June 2021, its petroleum assets included "property plant and equipment and closure and rehabilitation provisions of approximately $11.9 billion and $3.9 billion, respectively".

When the merger was announced in August, investors had raised concerns as Woodside declined to reveal the rehabilitation liabilities that were assumed in setting the deal terms with BHP's petroleum business to create a global top-10 independent oil and gas company.

The oil and gas rehabilitation provisions, which are estimates of the cost of removing platforms and pipelines and cleaning up sites at the end of their lives, make up about one-third of BHP's total closure and rehabilitation provisions of $11.9 billion for all its assets.

Kavonic said he had assumed Woodside might inherit as much as $5 billion to $7 billion in decommissioning liabilities in the merger with BHP's petroleum arm, which comprises assets in Australia, the Gulf of Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, and Algeria.

Citi had estimated BHP's decommissioning liabilities in Australia's Bass Strait alone at $3.4 billion.

Once tax offsets are taken into account, the actual decommissioning cost may be below $1 billion, Kavonic said, adding that those costs could be deferred through reusing sites for activities such as carbon capture and storage or offshore wind in the future.

Capital One Testing Buy-Now, Pay-Later Option to Battle Affirm

Jenny Surane
Mon, September 13, 2021



(Bloomberg) -- Capital One Financial Corp. will test a new buy-now, pay-later service as consumers flock to the options that let them split up a purchase and pay it off over time.

The company will begin beta testing the product with some of its existing customers at select merchants later this year, Chief Executive Officer Richard Fairbank said Monday at an investor conference. He declined to share more beyond saying the new offering wouldn’t be linked to the firm’s private-label credit-card business.

Buy-now, pay-later options -- with names such as Afterpay Ltd. and Affirm Holdings Inc. -- have swelled in popularity in recent years, especially among younger consumers looking to pay off purchases over time and often without interest. The offerings make most of their money by charging merchants a fee each time a consumers uses the product at checkout.

“We’re watching this product closely and certainly not taking this growth lightly, especially as many of these buy-now, pay-later providers form new financial relationships with a large number of consumers and merchants,” Fairbank said.

Capital One has been eyeing ways to juice loan growth in recent months. The McLean, Virginia-based firm has spent more on marketing in an effort to add new customers and has begun gradually increasing credit lines for existing clients. The lender’s latest move in the buy-now, pay-later business marks a bit of a reversal, though: last year, it barred customers from using Capital One credit cards for buy-now, pay-later options.

“Competitors are amassing at the border, and it’s possible they will bid down the level of the merchant discount,” Fairbank said. “As there is a drop in margins, it could alter how the business works -- who pays for the loans, and which customers ultimately choose the product.”

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BY THE NINTIES AND THE 000'S CREDIT WAS EASILY AVAILABLE AND SHOWED THE DOMINANCE OF FINANCIAL CAPITAL GROWING OVER ALL OTHER FORMS OF CAPITAL.

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Chinese delivery giants Meituan, Ele.me pledge to not force drivers to register as independent businesss

Wed, September 15, 2021

SHANGHAI, Sept 15 (Reuters) - China's online food delivery giants Meituan and Ele.me both said this week they will not force couriers who do work for them to register as independent businesses, a bone of contention amid ongoing scrutiny of the food delivery sector.

The promise comes as part of a broader push from regulators to improve conditions for 'gig-economy' workers, and during ongoing public scrutiny towards tech companies treatment of said drivers.

In August, several Chinese regulatory bodies met with a number of Chinese food delivery companies to call for better labour safeguards.

Many drivers for food delivery or ride-hailing apps are hired indirectly by the platform and do not receive basic social or medical insurance

This past week, a social media account covering labour law published an article alleging some drivers working for Meituan and Ele.me were operating as individual businesses, as opposed to employees of the platform company or a third-party company, thereby reducing the platform company's legal obligations to the driver. The piece spread widely across China's internet.

In a social media post published late on Tuesday evening, Meituan wrote that, "Drivers are important partners of Meituan. When it comes to protecting drivers' labour rights, we must make more improvements and need to do better."

The company said that following the publication of regulations targeting food delivery workers last July, it had formed a work group to examine its employment practices. It said this month it issued a document to over 1,000 delivery partners and held a video conference stating it prohibits forcing couriers to register as independent businesses.

The company added that it aimed to improve its treatment of riders in aspects such as income, social security, and health and safety. On Monday, Meituan said it would change its algorithm be more accommodating towards its drivers when facing tight delivery times.

On Wednesday morning, Ele.me published a statement also pledging not to force drivers to register as independent businesses. 

(Reporting by Josh Horwitz; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)

Is Toyota Pivoting Away From Hydrogen Fuel Cells?


Editor OilPrice.com
Mon, September 13, 2021

Toyota is finally trying to get in on the electric vehicle (EV) revolution. The Japanese automaker has been dragging its feet for years, investing its time, money, and attention to lobbying against the spread of EVs while its rivals gave up the ghost and dove in. Now, Toyota is way behind and trying to catch up with a new investment of more than $13.6 billion into EV batteries.
Toyota To Embrace The Electric Vehicle Boom

Toyota is the world’s biggest automaker, but even their colossal industry sway couldn’t slow the changing of the tides away from gas-powered engines. But they sure tried their hardest to do so. Toyota execs have downplayed or disparaged all-electric vehicles for years, and have yet to launch a single EV outside of China. Instead of focusing on battery-powered cars, Toyota has historically promoted hydrogen fuel cells and hybrids. This new investment thereby marks the end of an era for Toyota, and stands as a major victory for the EV industry.

The company is investing 1.5 trillion yen (or $13.6 billion, as previously mentioned) into battery supply and research to be carried out by 2030. Investing in a reliable battery supply chain is paramount, as the EV industry is currently plagued by a shortage and the threat that the sector will run out of batteries entirely is a very real and present danger. In fact, it’s projected to happen by just 2020 if some major changes aren’t made in the immediate term, due to the increasingly rapid adoption of EVs and skyrocketing demand for lithium-ion batteries. A Bank of America Global Research report released in July announced: “Our updated EV battery supply-demand model suggests the global EV battery supply will likely hit [a] ‘sold-out’ situation between 2025-26, with its global operating rates reaching above 85%.”

In fact, the lithium-ion battery sector is bogged down by a litany of problems that could eventually have very real and problematic geopolitical ramifications. These batteries are reliant on rare earth minerals, such as lithium and cobalt, which are finite resources only found in certain areas of the world. As it stands now, China controls up to 90% of the market for some of these essential ingredients. As the world’s hunger for EVs grow, China’s chokehold on this essential part of the supply chain only intensifies, and Beijing has already shown that it is not afraid to use that power to sway international politics and diplomacy. It has even been speculated that we are headed for a clean energy resource war if superpowers -- most notably the United States and China -- don’t play nicely.

In the meantime, companies like Toyota are snapping up as many batteries as they can get. The company’s chief technology officer Masahiko Maeda has said that Toyota’s goal is to secure a supply of 200 GWh of batteries before the end of the decade. “We are assuming that we will go beyond the 180 GWh worth of batteries that we are currently considering and will ready 200 GWh worth of batteries or more if the dissemination of BEVs is faster than expected,” he was quoted by EV news outlet Electrek. According to their reporting, “at an average of 60 kWh per battery pack, it would be enough for the annual production of more than 3 million electric cars per year.”

This is a huge change in tune for a company that has been outright antagonistic to battery-powered electric vehicles. In fact, even as Toyota moves forward with EVs, making a late bid to become competitive in a largely developed market, the company is concurrently lobbying the United States government to slow down the production and adoption of electric vehicles. Despite Toyota’s best efforts, the Biden administration is continuing to push electric vehicles as a key part of its platform and as a central tenet of the infrastructure agreement and spending bill. On Friday U.S. Democrats announced a plan to significantly expand tax credits for EVs, with especially lofty subsidies for union-made models assembled domestically in a move that favors the nation’s Big Three automakers. It’s no wonder that Toyota sent an executive to protest in the U.S. senate as it looks like they will once again fall behind in the overseas EV revolution.

By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com

UH OH 

BACKWARDS TO THE FUTURE, FORWARD TO THE PAST

Japan’s Nikkei 225 Returns to Bubble-Economy Level Seen in 1990

Naoto Hosoda and Komaki Ito
Tue, September 14, 2021





(Bloomberg) -- Japanese stocks advanced for a third day, lifting the Nikkei 225 Stock Average to a level last seen during the nation’s bubble economy more than three decades ago.

The blue-chip gauge closed at 30,670.10 in Tokyo, surpassing this year’s previous peak in February to end at the highest since August 1990. KDDI Corp. and Fanuc Corp. were the largest contributors to the Nikkei’s 0.7% gain. Electronics makers and car companies gave the biggest boosts to the broader Topix, which advanced 1%.

Japan has been the world’s best-performing major stock market over the past two weeks amid hopes for new leadership, an acceleration of vaccinations and a reshuffle in the Nikkei 225 that will add heavyweights Nintendo Co., Keyence Corp. and Murata Manufacturing Co. Crucially, foreign money is returning, with JPMorgan, Baillie Gifford and BNP Paribas Asset Management among investors who say they’re becoming more positive on Japan.

“Global allocations to Japanese equities remain limited, suggesting room for investors to add exposure,” Goldman Sachs strategists including Christian Mueller-Glissmann wrote in a note. “The rebound in Japanese equities comes after a prolonged underperformance vs. the S&P 500 and other major indices since Q2.”

Hideyuki Ishiguro, a strategist at Nomura Asset Management Co. in Tokyo, said Japan’s progress against the pandemic has been supportive for the market. On Tuesday, Japan overtook the U.S. in the proportion of those of have received first doses of Covid-19 vaccine with 63.6% having received their first shot. More than 51% of Japan’s population is now fully vaccinated.

Japan Overtakes U.S. on Vaccination After Starting Months Later

“Japan’s vaccination rate has topped 50% and is on a similar level to that of the U.S.,” Ishiguro said. “Japanese equities had been showing unstable performance relative to U.S. and European equities because of political uncertainties and a delayed vaccination process but with the two factors having been resolved, investors’ moves to unwind their previous positions will continue.”

The Nikkei 225 is now up about 12% for the year, with the Topix up 17%. That compares with a 19% gain for the S&P 500 Index and 17% advance for the STOXX Europe 600 Index.

The rally in Japan’s equity market is lifting a broad spectrum of stocks. The share of Topix members trading above their 200-day moving averages has climbed to 74% -- the highest since April -- an indication of strong market breadth. “It’s good that the gains seen recently aren’t targeted to a narrow group,” Nomura Asset’s Ishiguro said.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. strategists led by Marko Kolanovic advise adding to Japanese stocks. The resignation of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga paves the way for a stable ruling party, a scenario that the firm says has historically produced better equity returns, they wrote in a client note. Taro Kono, a popular candidate among foreign investors, is the favorite among the public to replace Suga as the leader of the ruling party, according to a poll by Nikkei and TV Tokyo.

Foreign investors bought a net 662.7 billion yen ($6 billion) worth of Japanese equities and futures in the week through Sept. 3, the day news unexpectedly broke that Suga would not seek for another term as LDP leader. It was the most in a single week since February.