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Global equities were mixed Friday, while oil prices retreated as markets weighed the latest developments in the war between Iran and Israel.Markets rose after US President Donald Trump said he would allow for up to two weeks before possible US military action against Iran.But on Friday afternoon, Trump expressed doubt that European powers would be able to help end the Iran-Israel war, telling reporters “Europe is not going to be able to help in this.”Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished lower following a choppy session. Analysts pointed to broad investor unease.”We have a situation in the Middle East where missiles are still firing, there’s no ceasefire and there’s a fear that the US may be involved,” said Adam Sarhan of 50 Park Investments.In light of uncertainty on Iran, trade and other areas, “investors are de-risking, they’re selling stocks ahead of the weekend,” Sarhan said.European equity markets mostly rose while Asian markets were mixed.The Brent international crude benchmark contract dropped more than two percent after Trump’s remarks, with analysts pointing to investor relief following fears that the United States could immediately join the Israeli campaign.US oil prices fell more modestly because a US holiday on Thursday kept trading volumes low that day.”News that President Trump would delay any decision on joining Israel’s attacks against Iran has boosted the market mood,” said Kathleen Brooks, an analyst at trading firm XTB.”Brent crude has dropped… as traders price out the worst-case scenario for geopolitics.”Crude futures had soared and global equities slumped in recent sessions as the Israel-Iran conflict showed no signs of easing, with investors pricing in the risk of tighter oil supplies that would likely weigh on economic growth.But analysts cautioned of more volatility ahead.”While the immediate prospect of a US intervention in Iran may have diminished, the fact this is reportedly a two-week hiatus means it will remain a live issue for the markets going into next week,” said Dan Coatsworth, an investment analyst at AJ Bell.While the Middle East crisis continues to absorb most of the news, Trump’s trade war remains a major obstacle for investors as the end of a 90-day pause on his April 2 tariff blitz looms.”While the worst of the tariffs have been paused, we suspect it won’t be until those deadlines approach that new agreements may be finalized,” said David Sekera, chief US market strategist at Morningstar.”Until then, as news emerges regarding the progress and substance of trade negotiations, these headlines could have an outsize positive or negative impact on markets,” he said.- Key figures at around 2050 GMT -Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 2.3 percent at $77.01 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.3 percent at $74.93 per barrelNew York – Dow: UP 0.1 percent at 42,206.82 (close)New York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.2 percent at 5,967.84 (close)New York – Nasdaq: DOWN 0.5 percent at 19,447.41 (close)London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.2 percent at 7,589.66 (close) Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.5 percent at 7,589.66 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: UP 1.3 percent at 23,350.55 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.2 percent at 38,403.23 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 1.3 percent at 23,530.48 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.1 percent at 3,359.90 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1516 from $1.1495 on ThursdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3444 from $1.3465Dollar/yen: UP at 146.13 yen from 145.45 yenEuro/pound: UP at 85.66 pence from 85.37 penceburs-jmb/acb

The hosts of the most recent UN climate talks are worried international lenders are retreating from their commitments to help boost funding for developing countries’ response to global warming.Major development banks have agreed to boost climate spending and are seen as crucial in the effort to dramatically increase finance to help poorer countries build resilience to impacts and invest in renewable energy.But anxiety has grown as the Trump administration has slashed foreign aid and discouraged US-based development lenders such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund from focussing on climate finance.Developing nations, excluding China, will need an estimated $1.3 trillion a year by 2035 in financial assistance to transition to renewable energy and climate-proof their economies from increasing weather extremes.Nowhere near this amount has been committed.At last year’s UN COP29 summit in Azerbaijan, rich nations agreed to increase climate finance to $300 billion a year by 2035, an amount decried as woefully inadequate. Azerbaijan and Brazil, which is hosting this year’s COP30 conference, have launched an initiative to reduce the shortfall, with the expectation of “significant” contributions from international lenders.But so far only two — the African Development Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank — have responded to a call to engage the initiative with ideas, said COP29 president Mukhtar Babayev.”We call on their shareholders to urgently help us to address these concerns,” he told climate negotiators at a high-level summit in the German city of Bonn this week.”We fear that a complex and volatile global environment is distracting” many of those expected to play a big role in bridging the climate finance gap, he added.- A ‘worrisome trend’ -His team travelled to Washington in April for the IMF and World Bank’s spring meetings hoping to find the same enthusiasm for climate lending they had encountered a year earlier.But instead they found institutions “very much reluctant now to talk about climate at all”, said Azerbaijan’s top climate negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev.This was a “worrisome trend”, he said, given expectations these lenders would extend the finance needed in the absence of other sources.”They’re very much needed,” he said.The World Bank is directing 45 percent of its total lending to climate, as part of an action plan in place until June 2026, with the public portion of that spilt 50/50 between emissions reductions and building resilience. The United States, the World Bank’s biggest shareholder, has pushed in a different direction.  On the sidelines of the April spring meetings, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged the bank to focus on “dependable technologies” rather than “distortionary climate finance targets.”This could mean investing in gas and other fossil fuel-based energy production, he said.Under the Paris Agreement, wealthy developed countries — those most responsible for global warming to date — are obliged to pay climate finance to poorer nations.Other countries, most notably China, make voluntary contributions.- Money matters -Finance is a source of long-running tensions at UN climate negotiations.Donors have consistently failed to deliver on past finance pledges, and have committed well below what experts agree developing nations need to cope with the climate crisis.The issue flared up again this week in Bonn, with nations at odds over whether to debate financial commitments from rich countries during the formal meetings.European nations have also pared back their foreign aid spending in recent months, raising fears that budgets for climate finance could also face a haircut.At COP29, multilateral development banks (MDBs) led by the World Bank Group estimated they could provide $120 billion annually in climate financing to low and middle income countries, and mobilise another $65 billion from the private sector by 2030. Their estimate for high income countries was $50 billion, with another $65 billion mobilised from the private sector. Rob Moore, of policy think tank E3G, said these lenders are the largest providers of international public finance to developing countries. “Whilst they are facing difficult political headwinds in some quarters, they would be doing both themselves and their clients a disservice by disengaging on climate change,” he said.The World Bank in particular has done “a huge amount of work” to align its lending with global climate goals. “If they choose to step back this would be at their own detriment, and other banks like the regionally based MDBs would likely play a bigger role in shaping the economy of the future,” he said. The World Bank declined to comment on the record. 

Oil prices retreated Friday while US and European stock markets mostly gained ground as concerns over a war escalation in Iran eased.But investors remain wary of further volatility in the coming days, with analysts citing uncertainty over the Middle East conflicts and the lingering uncertainty over US tariffs. The Brent international crude benchmark contract  dropped three percent, weighing on the share prices of energy majors, after US President Donald Trump said he would decide whether to join Israel’s strikes on Iran within the next two weeks.Traders said it suggested Trump preferred negotiations to end the fighting, as top European diplomats met Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Geneva on Friday to discuss a “diplomatic solution” to end the war.US indices opened slightly higher Friday before falling back, though analysts said volumes were likely to be lacklustre with many traders taking a four-day weekend after Thursday’s Juneteenth holiday in the US.Asian equity indices closed out the week mixed, and the dollar retreated against its main rivals.”News that President Trump would delay any decision on joining Israel’s attacks against Iran has boosted the market mood,” said Kathleen Brooks, an analyst at trading firm XTB.”Brent crude has dropped… as traders price out the worst-case scenario for geopolitics.”Crude futures had soared and global equities slumped in recent sessions as the Israel-Iran conflict showed no signs of easing, with investors pricing in the risk of tighter oil supplies that would likely weigh on economic growth.However the main US oil contract, WTI, found support Friday, a reflection of low trading volumes after the Thursday market close and data indicating a large drop in American crude stockpiles, analysts said.”While the immediate prospect of a US intervention in Iran may have diminished, the fact this is reportedly a two-week hiatus means it will remain a live issue for the markets going into next week,” said Dan Coatsworth, an investment analyst at AJ Bell.While the Middle East crisis continues to absorb most of the news, Trump’s trade war remains a major obstacle for investors as the end of a 90-day pause on his April 2 tariff blitz looms.”While the worst of the tariffs have been paused, we suspect it won’t be until those deadlines approach that new agreements may be finalised,” said David Sekera, chief US market strategist at Morningstar.”Until then, as news emerges regarding the progress and substance of trade negotiations, these headlines could have an outsize positive or negative impact on markets,” he said.In Europe, Eutelsat shares soared 30 percent on the Paris stock exchange after the French government said it would lead a 1.35 billion euros ($1.5 billion) in the European satellite operator.French President Emmanuel Macron urged a “speedy reconquest” for Europe in the space sector in the face of growing American competition, in a speech at the Paris Air Show.- Key figures at around 1540 GMT -Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 3.1 percent at $76.44 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.3 percent at $73.25 per barrelNew York – Dow: UP 0.3 percent at 42,311.23 pointsNew York – S&P 500: FLAT at 5,981.74New York – Nasdaq: DOWN 0.3 percent at 19,485.47London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.2 percent at 7,589.66 (close) Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.5 percent at 7,589.66 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: UP 1.3 percent at 23,350.55 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.2 percent at 38,403.23 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 1.3 percent at 23,530.48 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.1 percent at 3,359.90 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1521 from $1.1463 on ThursdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3465 from $1.3429Dollar/yen: UP at 145.88 yen from 145.63 yenEuro/pound: UP at 85.56 pence from 85.36 penceburs-bcp-js/jxb

The hosts of the most recent UN climate talks are worried international lenders are retreating from their commitments to help boost funding for developing countries’ response to global warming.This anxiety has grown as the Trump administration has slashed foreign aid and discouraged US-based development lenders like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund from focussing on climate finance.Developing nations, excluding China, will need an estimated $1.3 trillion a year by 2035 in financial assistance to transition to renewable energy and climate-proof their economies from increasing weather extremes.But nowhere near this amount has been committed.At last year’s UN COP29 summit in Azerbaijan, rich nations agreed to increase climate finance to $300 billion a year by 2035, an amount decried as woefully inadequate. Azerbaijan and Brazil, which is hosting this year’s COP30 conference, have launched an initiative to plug the shortfall that includes expectations of “significant” contributions from international lenders.But so far only two — the African Development Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank — have responded to a call to engage the initiative with ideas, said COP29 president Mukhtar Babayev.”We call on their shareholders to urgently help us to address these concerns,” he told climate negotiators at a high-level summit in the German city of Bonn this week.”We fear that a complex and volatile global environment is distracting” many of those expected to play a big role in bridging the climate finance gap, he added.His team travelled to Washington in April for the IMF and World Bank’s spring meetings hoping to find the same enthusiasm for climate lending they had encountered a year earlier.But instead they found institutions “very much reluctant now to talk about climate at all”, said Azerbaijan’s top climate negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev.This was a “worrisome trend”, he said, given expectations these lenders would extend the finance needed in the absence of other sources.”They’re very much needed,” he said.The United States, the World Bank’s biggest shareholder, has sent a different message.   On the sidelines of the April spring meetings, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged the bank to focus on “dependable technologies” rather than “distortionary climate finance targets.”This could mean investing in gas and other fossil fuel-based energy production, he said.- Money matters -Under the Paris Agreement, wealthy developed countries — those most responsible for global warming to date — are obligated to pay climate finance to poorer nations.But other countries, most notably China, do make their own voluntary contributions.Finance is a source of long-running tensions at UN climate negotiations.Donors have consistently failed to deliver on past finance pledges, and committed well below what experts agree developing nations need to prepare for the climate crisis.The issue flared again this week in Bonn, with nations at odds over whether to debate financial commitments from rich countries during the formal meetings.European nations have also pared back their foreign aid spending in recent months, raising fears that budgets for climate finance could also face a haircut.At COP29, multilateral development banks (MDBs) led by the World Bank Group estimated they could provide $120 billion annually in climate financing to low and middle income countries, and mobilise another $65 billion from the private sector by 2030. Their estimate for high income countries was $50 billion, with another $65 billion mobilised from the private sector. Rob Moore, of policy think tank E3G, said these lenders are the largest providers of international public finance to developing countries. “Whilst they are facing difficult political headwinds in some quarters, they would be doing both themselves and their clients a disservice by disengaging on climate change,” he said. The World Bank in particular has done “a huge amount of work” to align its lending with global climate goals. “If they choose to step back this would be at their own detriment, and other banks like the regionally based MDBs would likely play a bigger role in shaping the economy of the future,” he said. The World Bank did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

The price of Brent oil, the world’s main international contract, slid Friday while Europe’s major stock markets rebounded as concerns over a war escalation in Iran eased.Brent dropped more than two percent, weighing on the share prices of energy majors, after US President Donald Trump said Thursday that he would decide whether to join Israel’s strikes on Iran within the next two weeks.Trump spoke as top European diplomats prepared to meet Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Geneva on Friday to discuss the country’s nuclear programme.Asian equity indices closed out the week mixed and the dollar retreated against key rivals.”News that president Trump would delay any decision on joining Israel’s attacks against Iran has boosted the market mood,” said Kathleen Brooks, an analyst at trading firm XTB.”Brent crude has dropped… as traders price out the worst-case scenario for geopolitics,” she said.Crude futures had soared and global equities slumped in recent sessions on the Israel-Iran conflict, as investors priced in the risk of tighter oil supplies, which would likely weigh on economic growth.”While the immediate prospect of a US intervention in Iran may have diminished, the fact this is reportedly a two-week hiatus means it will remain a live issue for the markets going into next week,” said Dan Coatsworth, an investment analyst at AJ Bell.”A meeting of European ministers with their Iranian counterparts to try and formulate a deal today could be crucial.”The main US oil contract, WTI, rose Friday as a result of low trading volumes following the Thursday market close to mark Juneteenth, and also thanks to data indicating a large drop to American crude stockpiles, analysts said.While the Middle East crisis continues to absorb most of the news, Trump’s trade war remains a major obstacle for investors as the end of a 90-day pause on his April 2 tariff blitz approaches.”While the worst of the tariffs have been paused, we suspect it won’t be until those deadlines approach that new agreements may be finalised,” said David Sekera, chief US market strategist at Morningstar.”Until then, as news emerges regarding the progress and substance of trade negotiations, these headlines could have an outsize positive or negative impact on markets,” he said.- Key figures at around 1100 GMT -Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 2.2 percent at $77.11 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 0.6 percent at $73.92 per barrelLondon – FTSE 100: UP 0.5 percent at 8,833.81 pointsParis – CAC 40: UP 0.5 percent at 7,593.39 Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.9 percent at 23,262.14Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.2 percent at 38,403.23 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 1.3 percent at 23,530.48 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.1 percent at 3,359.90 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1527 from $1.1463 on ThursdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3495 from $1.3429Dollar/yen: DOWN at 145.39 yen from 145.63 yenEuro/pound: UP at 85.42 pence from 85.36 penceburs-bcp/ajb/js

Oil prices tumbled Friday and equity traders fought to end a volatile week on a positive note after Donald Trump said he would consider over the next two weeks whether to join Israel’s attacks on Iran.Speculation had been swirling that Trump would throw his lot in with Israel, but on Thursday he said he would decide “within the next two weeks” whether to involve the United States, giving diplomacy a shot to end the hostilities.While tensions are sky high amid fears of an escalation, the US president’s remarks suggested the crisis could be prevented from spiralling into all-out war between the Middle East foes.Since Israel first hit Iran last Friday, the two have exchanged deadly strikes and apocalyptic warnings, though observers said the conflict has not seen a critical escalation.European foreign ministers were due to meet their Iranian counterpart on Friday in Geneva.In a statement read out by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, the president said: “Based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks.”Leavitt added: “If there’s a chance for diplomacy the president’s always going to grab it, but he’s not afraid to use strength as well.”Both main oil contracts were down around two percent from Thursday but uncertainty prevailed and traders remained nervous.”Crude still calls the shots, and volatility’s the devil in the room — and every trader on the street knows we’re two headlines away from chaos,” said Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management. “Make no mistake: we’re trading a geopolitical powder keg with a lit fuse. “President Trump’s two-week ‘thinking window’ on whether to join Israel’s war against Iran is no cooling-off period — it’s a ticking volatility clock.”Stocks were mixed following a public holiday in New York, with Hong Kong, Taipei, Mumbai and Bangkok all up with London, Paris and Frankfurt.Seoul’s Kospi led the gains, rising more than one percent to break 3,000 points for the first time in nearly three and a half years.The index has risen every day except one since the June 4 election of a new president, which ended months of political crisis and fuelled hopes for an economic rebound.Tokyo fell as Japanese core inflation accelerated, stoked by a doubling in the cost of rice, a hot topic issue that poses a threat to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba ahead of elections next month.There were also losses in Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Manila and Jakarta.The Middle East crisis continues to absorb most of the news but Trump’s trade war remains a major obstacle for investors as the end of a 90-day pause on his April 2 tariff blitz approaches with few governments reaching deals to avert them being imposed.”While the worst of the tariffs have been paused, we suspect it won’t be until those deadlines approach that new agreements may be finalised,” said David Sekera, chief US market strategist at Morningstar.”Until then, as news emerges regarding the progress and substance of trade negotiations, these headlines could have an outsize positive or negative impact on markets.”- Key figures at around 0810 GMT -Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 2.2 percent at $77.09 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.7 percent at $73.76 per barrelTokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.2 percent at 38,403.23 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 1.3 percent at 23,530.48 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.1 percent at 3,359.90 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.4 percent at 8,826.06 Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1516 from $1.1463 on ThursdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3476 from $1.3429Dollar/yen: DOWN at 145.40 yen from 145.63 yenEuro/pound: UP at 85.45 pence from 85.36 pence

The European Union on Friday banned Chinese firms from government medical device purchases worth more than five million euros ($5.8 million) in retaliation for limits Beijing places on access to its own market.The latest salvo in trade tensions between the 27-nation bloc and China covers a wide range of healthcare supplies, from surgical masks to X-ray machines, that represent a market worth 150 billion euros in the EU.”Our aim with these measures is to level the playing field for EU businesses,” the bloc’s trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic said. “We remain committed to dialogue with China to resolve these issues.”In response, China accused the EU of “double standards”.”The EU has always boasted that it is the most open market in the world, but in reality, it has gradually moved towards protectionism”, foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said at a regular press briefing. “Under the guise of fair competition (the EU) actually carries out unfair competition, which is a typical case of double standards.”The European Commission said in a statement the move was in “response to China’s longstanding exclusion of EU-made medical devices from Chinese government contracts.”Brussels said just under 90 percent of public procurement contracts for medical devices in China “were subject to exclusionary and discriminatory measures” against EU firms.In addition to barring Chinese firms from major state purchases, “inputs from China for successful bids” would also be limited to 50 percent, it said.Over the last three years, Brussels and Beijing have come into conflict in a number of economic sectors, including electric cars, the rail industry, solar panels and wind turbines.The decision on medical devices comes at a time of heightened trade tensions with President Donald Trump’s United States, which has imposed customs surcharges on imports from all over the world, including Europe.The EU has decided to take a tougher stance on trade in recent years, adopting a vast arsenal of legislation to better defend its businesses against unfair competition.In April 2024, the commission opened an investigation into Chinese public contracts for medical devices, the first under a new mechanism introduced by the EU in 2022 to obtain better access to overseas state purchases. China, on the other hand, accuses Europe of protectionism. After a year of negotiations, the commission, which manages trade policy on behalf of the 27 member states, said it had failed to make any progress with China.”The measure seeks to incentivise China to cease its discrimination against EU firms and EU-made medical devices and treat EU companies with the same openness as the EU does with Chinese companies and products,” Brussels said.   

Small, fuzzy and baring sharp teeth, Chinese toymaker Pop Mart’s Labubu monster dolls have taken over the world, drawing excited crowds at international stores and adorning the handbags of celebrities such as Rihanna and Cher.Beijing-based Pop Mart is part of a rising tide of Chinese cultural exports gaining traction abroad, furry ambassadors of a “cool” China even in places associated more with negative public opinion of Beijing such as Europe and North America.Labubus, which typically sell for around $40, are released in limited quantities and sold in “blind boxes”, meaning buyers don’t know the exact model they will receive.The dolls are “a bit quirky and ugly and very inclusive, so people can relate”, interior designer Lucy Shitova told AFP at a Pop Mart store in London, where in-person sales of Labubus have been suspended over fears that fans could turn violent in their quest for the toys.”Now everything goes viral… because of social media. And yes, it’s cool. It’s different.”While neighbouring East Asian countries South Korea and Japan are globally recognised for their high-end fashion, cinema and pop songs, China’s heavily censored film and music industry have struggled to attract international audiences, and the country’s best-known clothing exporter is fast-fashion website Shein.There have been few success stories of Chinese companies selling upmarket goods under their own brands, faced with stereotypes of cheap and low-quality products.”It has been hard for the world’s consumers to perceive China as a brand-creating nation,” the University of Maryland’s Fan Yang told AFP.Pop Mart has bucked the trend, spawning copycats dubbed by social media users as “lafufus” and detailed YouTube videos on how to verify a doll’s authenticity. Brands such as designer womenswear label Shushu/Tong, Shanghai-based Marchen and Beijing-based handbag maker Songmont have also gained recognition abroad over the past few years.”It might just be a matter of time before even more Chinese brands become globally recognisable,” Yang said.- TikTok effect -Through viral exports like Labubu, China is “undergoing a soft-power shift where its products and image are increasingly cool among young Westerners,” said Allison Malmsten, an analyst at China-based Daxue Consulting. Malmsten said she believed social media could boost China’s global image “similar to that of Japan in the 80s to 2010s with Pokemon and Nintendo”.Video app TikTok  —  designed by China’s ByteDance — paved the way for Labubu’s ascent when it became the first Chinese-branded product to be indispensable for young people internationally.Joshua Kurlantzick from the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) told AFP that “TikTok probably played a role in changing consumers’ minds about China”.TikTok, which is officially blocked within China but still accessible with VPN software, has over one billion users, including what the company says is nearly half of the US population.The app has become a focus of national security fears in the United States, with a proposed ban seeing American TikTok users flock to another Chinese app, Rednote, where they were welcomed as digital “refugees”.A conduit for Chinese social media memes and fashion trends, TikTok hosts over 1.7 million videos about Labubu.- Labubumania -Cultural exports can “improve the image of China as a place that has companies that can produce globally attractive goods or services”, CFR’s Kurlantzick told AFP.”I don’t know how much, if at all, this impacts images of China’s state or government,” he said, pointing to how South Korea’s undeniable soft power has not translated into similar levels of political might.While plush toys alone might not translate into actual power, the United States’ chaotic global image under the Trump presidency could benefit perceptions of China, the University of Maryland’s Yang said.”The connection many make between the seeming decline of US soft power and the potential rise in China’s global image may reflect how deeply intertwined the two countries are in the minds of people whose lives are impacted by both simultaneously,” she told AFP.At the very least, Labubu’s charms appear to be promoting interest in China among the younger generation.”It’s like a virus. Everyone just wants it,” Kazakhstani mother-of-three Anelya Batalova told AFP at Pop Mart’s theme park in Beijing. Qatari Maryam Hammadi, 11, posed for photos in front of a giant Labubu statue.”In our country, they love Labubu,” she said. “So, when they realise that the origin of Labubu is in China, they’d like to come to see the different types of Labubu in China.”

The price of rice doubled in Japan in the 12 months to May, data showed Friday, as an acceleration in inflation piled fresh pressure on Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba ahead of key elections next month.Polls for parliament’s upper house are crucial for Ishiba after public support for his administration tumbled to its lowest level since he took office in October, partly because of frustration over the cost of living.One of the main sources of anger has been the surging cost of the food staple, which has rocketed for months owing to shortages caused by a variety of reasons including supply chain snarls.The price of the grain rocketed 101 percent year-on-year in May, having jumped 98.4 percent in April and more than 92.5 percent in March.That helped push core inflation, which excludes volatile fresh food prices, to a forecast-topping 3.7 percent — its highest level since January 2023 — and up from 3.5 percent in April.The rice crisis has led the government to take the rare step of releasing its emergency stockpile since February, which it usually only ever did during disasters.But rice is not the only thing pushing inflation up: electricity bills jumped 11.3 percent in May, while gas fees rose 5.4 percent, according to Friday’s data.Excluding energy and fresh food, consumer prices rose 3.3 percent, compared with April’s 3.0 percent.”Since I’m a temp worker, my salaries have remained stagnant for years, and I see no sign of change in the years ahead,” Chika Ohara, 52, told AFP on a Tokyo street. “But prices are going up nonetheless and I feel the impact,” she said.  – Cash handouts -To help households combat the cost of living, Ishiba has pledged cash handouts of 20,000 yen ($139) for every citizen, and twice as much for children, ahead of the election.The 68-year-old leader’s coalition was deprived of a majority in the powerful lower house in October as voters vented their anger at rising prices and political scandals.It was the worst election result in 15 years for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has governed Japan almost continuously since 1955.The Bank of Japan has been tightening monetary policy since last year as inflation crept up but worries about the impact of US tariffs on the world’s number four economy has forced it to take a slower approach. Economists predicted a growth slowdown ahead.Earlier this week it kept interest rates unchanged and said it would taper its purchase of government bonds at a slower pace.”Policy flip-flops and delayed pass-through from producers to consumers mean inflation will slow only gradually in the coming months,” said Stefan Angrick of Moody’s Analytics.”This will keep a sustained pickup in real wages out of reach, and with it a meaningful uptick in consumption.”Factors behind the rice shortages include an intensely hot and dry summer two years ago that damaged harvests nationwide.Since then some traders have been hoarding rice in a bid to boost their profits down the line, experts say.The issue was made worse by panic-buying last year prompted by a government warning about a potential “megaquake” that did not strike.Intensifying fighting between Iran and Israel was also adding upward pressure on energy prices, posing a further risk to the Japanese economy.

Europe’s ambition to be a world player in decarbonised transportation arguably depends on sourcing lithium abroad, especially in South America.Even the bloc’s broader energy security and climate goals could depend on securing a steady supply of the key mineral, used in batteries and other clean energy supply chains.But Europe has run into a trio of obstacles: lack of money, double-edged regulations and competition from China, analysts told AFP.China has a major head start.It currently produces more than three-quarters of batteries sold worldwide, refines 70 percent of raw lithium and is the world’s third-largest extractor behind Australia and Chile, according to 2024 data from the United States Geological Survey.To gain a foothold, Europe has developed a regulatory framework that emphasises environmental preservation, quality job creation and cooperation with local communities. It has also signed bilateral agreements with about 15 countries, including Chile and Argentina, the world’s fifth-largest lithium producer.But too often it fails to deliver when it comes to investment, say experts.”I see a lot of memoranda of understanding, but there is a lack of action,” Julia Poliscanova, director of electric vehicles at the Transport and Environment (T&E) think tank, told AFP.”More than once, on the day that we signed another MoU, the Chinese were buying an entire mine in the same country.”The investment gap is huge: China spent $6 billion on lithium projects abroad from 2020 to 2023, while Europe barely coughed up a billion dollars over the same period, according to data compiled by T&E.- Lagging investment -At the same time, the bottleneck in supply has tightened: last year saw a 30 percent increase in global demand for lithium, according to a recent report from the International Energy Agency (IEA).”To secure the supply of raw materials, China is actively investing in mines abroad through state-owned companies with political support from the government,” the IEA noted.China’s Belt and Road Initiative funnelled $21.4 billion into mining beyond its shores in 2024, according to the report.Europe, meanwhile, is “lagging behind in investment levels in these areas”, said Sebastian Galarza, founder of the Centre for Sustainable Mobility in Santiago, Chile.”The lack of a clear path for developing Europe’s battery and mining industries means that gap will be filled by other actors.”In Africa, for example, Chinese demand has propelled Zimbabwe to become the fourth-largest lithium producer in the world.”The Chinese let their money do the talking,” said Theo Acheampong, an analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations.By 2035, all new cars and vans sold in the European Union must produce zero carbon emissions, and EU leaders and industry would like as much as possible of that market share to be sourced locally.Last year, just over 20 percent of new vehicles sold in the bloc were electric. “Currently, only four percent of Chile’s lithium goes to Europe,” noted Stefan Debruyne, director of external affairs at Chilean private mining company SQM. “The EU has every opportunity to increase its share of the battery industry.”- Shifting supply chains -But Europe’s plans to build dozens of battery factories have been hampered by fluctuating consumer demand and competition from Japan (Panasonic), South Korea (LG Energy Solution, Samsung) and, above all, China (CATL, BYD).The key to locking down long-term lithium supply is closer ties in the so-called “lithium triangle” formed by Chile, Argentina and Bolivia, which account for nearly half of the world’s reserves, analysts say. To encourage cooperation with these countries, European actors have proposed development pathways that would help establish electric battery production in Latin America.Draft EU regulations would allow Latin America to “reconcile local development with the export of these raw materials, and not fall into a purely extractive cycle”, said Juan Vazquez, deputy head for Latin America and the Caribbean at the OECD Development Centre.But it is still unclear whether helping exporting countries develop complete supply chains makes economic sense, or will ultimately tilt in Europe’s favour. “What interest do you have as a company in setting up in Chile to produce cathodes, batteries or more sophisticated materials if you don’t have a local or regional market to supply?” said Galarza.”Why not just take the lithium, refine it and do everything in China and send the battery back to us?”Pointing to the automotive tradition in Mexico, Brazil and Argentina, Galarza suggested an answer. “We must push quickly towards the electrification of transport in the region so we can share in the benefits of the energy transition,” he argued.But the road ahead looks long. Electric vehicles were only two percent of new car sales in Mexico and Chile last year, six percent in Brazil and seven percent in Colombia, according to the IEA.The small nation of Costa Rica stood out as the only nation in the region where EVs hit double digits, at 15 percent of new car sales.