Business

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Central Bank is set to join the U.S. Federal Reserve in making a jumbo interest rate hike Thursday as it tries to stamp out record inflation — although it risks worsening a recession that economists say is bearing down on Europe.

The meeting of the bank’s governing council is not about whether to raise rates for the 19 countries that use the euro currency, but by how much: between half a percentage point or three-quarters of a point, analysts say. The bank made its first increase in 11 years at its last meeting in July, raising rates by a half-point when it usually changes by only a quarter-point.

The ECB, which once predicted no rate increases at all this year, has torn up its road map in the face of record inflation of 9.1% last month, which has been driven by skyrocketing prices for natural gas and lasted much longer than expected. Inflation is far above the bank’s goal of 2% considered healthiest for the economy.

The central bank’s rationale for an increase of three-quarters of a point would be that “failing to act today would lead to larger moves and higher costs in the future,” said Frederik Ducrozet, head of macroeconomic research at Pictet Wealth Management.

The price of natural gas — used to generate electricity, heat homes and run factories — has jumped more than tenfold as Russia has throttled back deliveries as tensions mount over the war in Ukraine. European politicians call it blackmail over their support for Kyiv.

The resulting inflation is making everything from groceries to utility bills more expensive, creating a cost-of-living crisis that will only worsen as many economists predict the eurozone sinking into recession at the end of this year and into 2023.

At her last news conference in July, ECB President Christine Lagarde said that under the bank’s baseline economic forecast, “there is no recession, neither this year nor next year. Is the horizon clouded? Of course it is.”

Raising interest rates is the typical central bank antidote for higher inflation. Higher rates influence the cost of credit throughout the economy, making it more expensive to borrow, consume and invest, thus dampening the demand for goods. The problem is that inflation is not coming so much from demand, but from the supply side of the economy — oil and natural gas costs — which the ECB can do little about directly.

The ECB is behind other central banks in raising interest rates, and analysts say it is now concerned its credibility as an inflation-fighter is at stake, opening the possibility that rates will go up faster than expected even a few weeks go.

Its benchmark is 0.5% for lending to banks. The Fed’s main benchmark is 2.25% to 2.50% after several large rate hikes, including two of three-quarters of a point. The Bank of England’s key benchmark is 1.75%.

A top ECB official, Isabel Schnabel, said last month that “determination” was better than “caution” which threatens to allow inflation to get baked into people’s expectations for prices and wages. That’s when it would be much harder to control.

Decisive action now offered the chance to snuff out excess inflation “even at the risk of lower growth and higher unemployment,” Schnabel, a member of the six-member executive board that runs the bank day to day, said Aug. 27 at a Federal Reserve symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Price stability is the bank’s primary mandate under the European Union treaty.

The ECB’s action would come “even at the cost of inflicting further short-term pain on households, workers and companies,” said Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg bank. “However, the ECB has a good reason to be more aggressive.”

Otherwise, bringing down ingrained inflation “in the future could be even more costly,” he said.

Higher interest rates would help support the euro’s exchange rate against the dollar by increasing demand for euro-denominated investment holdings. The euro’s recent slide to under $1 — driven by soaring energy costs and dampening economic prospects — raises inflation because it makes imported goods more expensive.

Some think the central bank is overreacting.

“There is a major risk that this determined approach by the ECB will not only lead to lower growth and employment than now, but lower than needed to tame inflation,” wrote Erik F. Nielsen, group chief economics adviser at UniCredit Bank.

“Increasing concern about their reputation” could lead the ECB — and possibly the Fed as well — to overdo the monetary tightening, he added.

“We still find it hard to see how aggressive rate hikes can bring headline inflation down in the eurozone,” said Carsten Brzeski, chief eurozone economist at ING bank. “The economy is far from overheating and will almost inevitably fall into a winter recession, even without further rate hikes.”

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By Jonathan Saul, Nigel Hunt and Pavel Polityuk

KYIV (Reuters) – Too few ships are arriving in Ukraine to quickly clear mountains of grain built up over months of war despite a U.N.-backed sea corridor, threatening to drive up global food prices and leave the country’s cash-strapped farmers struggling to plant crops.

President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday triggered fears that Russia could withdraw support for the sea corridor after he accused Kyiv of using it to export to the European Union and Turkey rather than poor nations that most need the food, particularly in Africa.

Even if the agreement holds, the dangers of sending ships into the heavily mined Black Sea, along with a lack of large vessels and the exclusion of a major port, means volumes transported are well below Ukraine’s goal of doubling farm exports to at least 6 million tonnes by October.

“For the moment, we do not send our ships to Ukrainian ports because we don’t believe it is safe,” Alexander Saverys, chief executive of Belgian headquartered shipping group CMB, which shipped from Ukraine prior to the war, told Reuters.

“The situation on the ground is still very volatile and there is a clear danger to our seafarers’ lives. There is also a real risk of being stuck in port.”

The sea corridor was facilitated by the United Nations and Turkey in July. According to the latest data from the Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) in Istanbul, which oversees the deal, some 2 million tonnes of grain – mainly corn – has been exported since the first ship sailed on Aug 1.

At the current rate of exports, it would take around six months to ship the rest of the grain left over from last year’s harvest through the three ports included in the pact – Odesa, Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi – with the help of rail exports, according to Reuters’ calculations.

By then, another mountain of grain will have built up from the current harvest, including 20 million tonnes of wheat and Ukraine’s corn crop which is expected to total around 30 million tonnes.

Unable to sell, farmers do not have the money to invest in their fields, meaning winter wheat planting is on track to be about a third below last year, said Denys Marchuk, deputy chair of the Ukrainian Agrarian Council.

That could extend a global food crisis which the U.N. initiative had sought to mitigate. Food prices – which spiked after Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion – eased following the agreement, but Ukraine’s wheat has still not been reaching its traditional clients in Africa at anywhere near normal volumes.

Somalia, which has directly received just one 28,500 tonne cargo of wheat under the agreement according to U.N. data, is entering a famine caused by years of drought made worse by the surge in global food prices, the United Nations said on Monday.

Dmitry Skornyakov, chief executive of Ukraine farm company HarvEast, said the sea corridor was “not game changing” in part because prices being paid for grain in Ukraine were not high enough to make massive exports immediately viable.

As a result, he said, his company was cutting its planted wheat area and drilling no barley or rye this year.

“We will definitely see less wheat and if we wait until spring and the situation remains as it is we will see a dramatic decrease in corn,” he said.

SHIPS TOO SMALL

Ukraine’s farming minister Mykola Solsky told Reuters last week that agricultural exports could rise to 6 million-6.5 million tonnes in October, double the volume seen in July.

Ports in Ukraine, a top 5 global grain exporter before the war, used to ship about 5-6 million tonnes of grain per month, according to analysis from logistics platform project44.

“Ukraine would require mammoth shipping capacity to make up for lost time,” said Josh Brazil, vice-president for global supply chain insights at project44. Reaching previous shipment levels would require four 50,000 tonnes vessels every day, he said.

Many of the vessels departing Ukraine are much smaller.

Data from maritime and commodities data platform Shipfix, shows an average cargo size of around 20,000 tonnes.

Alex Stuart-Grumbar, of Shipfix, said successful journeys made under the agreement so far could provide momentum for shipments to accelerate. However, at current cargo sizes, approximately a thousand voyages would be required clear the backlog, he said.

Larger ships carrying over 60,000 tonnes of grains, known as panamaxes, which would have traded Black Sea routes, have been redeployed to other regions including North and South America. It would take weeks to reposition them as grain export seasons there are underway, shipping industry sources say, with a big crop in Brazil tying up many vessels.

“We are, at the moment, unable as yet to position any of our assets in the Black Sea and therefore are unable to look at this business,” Khalid Hashim, managing director of leading Thai listed dry bulk shipping company Precious Shipping, told Reuters.

MYKOLAIV UNDER FIRE

The grains initiative excludes Mykolaiv, the country’s second-largest grain terminal according to 2021 shipments data, hampering its ability to restore exports to pre-invasion levels.

Grain silos in Mykolaiv were hit by Russian shelling of the city on Aug. 31, underscoring the dangers.

Some marine insurers have provided coverage to enable grains to set sail from Ukraine’s ports, but shipping companies are still very concerned.

“It is one thing to be insured against a calamity, it is another to put our crew and our ship potentially in harm’s way,” said CMB’s Saverys, whose group has a dry bulk division.

U.S. listed Genco, another leading dry bulk shipping company, said it was looking at how to go about working in Ukraine.

“There are challenges with insurance, most importantly keeping our crew safe and there are a lot of other logistics issues in terms of the convoys and load times,” Genco’s chief executive and president John Wobensmith told Reuters.

“We are not quite there yet,” he said.

Even when last year’s crop has been shipped, it will take a number of weeks to clean port silos in preparation for the arrival of this year’s harvest, an important step to limit the threat posed by pests.

Viktor Vyshnov, deputy head of Ukraine’s Shipping Administration, said more use of the corridor was needed to bring down insurance costs but acknowledged that the war was constraining shipowners.

“Some of them are still afraid for their ships,” he said.

The bottlenecks have raised the cost of even getting harvest to the ports and storage silos, an issue farming minister Solsky acknowledged was hindering exports.

“Our main and biggest problem…is that our demand for logistics is several times higher than the supply,” he said.

(Reporting by Jonathan Saul and Nigel Hunt in London and Pavel Polityuk in Kyiv; Additional reporting by Ana Mano and Roberto Samora in Sao Paulo; Editing by Veronica Brown and Frank Jack Daniel)

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CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s Parliament on Thursday enshrined in law the government’s elevated target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 43% below 2005 levels by the end of the decade.

The Senate passed legislation supporting the target in a vote of 37 to 30 even though several senators who supported it wanted a more ambitious 2030 target.

The center-left Labor Party government officially committed Australia to the 43% target after it came to power for the first time in nine years at May elections. But entrenching it in law has made it more difficult for any future government to reduce the target.

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said the Senate vote provided certainty to clean energy investors while strengthening transparency and accountability in Australia’s carbon reduction processes.

“The message to investors is that Australia is open for business,” Bowen told Parliament.

The conservative opposition party voted against the bill. The opposition has advocated since 2015 a target of reducing emissions by between 26% and 28%.

Independent senator David Pocock insisted on several amendments touching on transparency and accountability before he supported the bill.

These were soon passed by the House of Representatives, where the government holds a majority. The government holds only 26 of the 76 Senate seats.

Greens party senators supported the 43% ambition although their proposed amendments to increase the target to at least 75% and ban future Australian coal and gas projects were defeated.

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(Reuters) – Melrose Industries, the turnaround specialist that owns British engineer GKN, said on Thursday it plans to separate GKN Automotive and GKN Powder Metallurgy businesses from the group, and list the new holding company.

GKN, which supplies parts to carmakers including Volkswagen, components to aircraft such as the Eurofighter Typhoon and made Spitfires during the Second World War, was taken over by Melrose in 2018 for 8 billion pounds ($9.21 billion).

($1 = 0.8684 pounds)

(Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)

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By Stephen Nellis

(Reuters) -Apple Inc on Wednesday showed a trio of new Apple Watches, including a new Watch Ultra model aimed at extreme sports, testing its user base’s willingness to keep snapping up new products amid a weakening global economy.

The Watches made their debut at an event called “Far Out” at Apple’s Cupertino, California, headquarters that has analysts expecting that it will add the ability to send emergency messages from iPhones using satellite connectivity.

Apple said the Ultra Watch model will have its largest battery yet and a more rugged case and controls designed to be operated while wearing gloves.

The new Watches include an upgraded budget model called the SE and a Series 8 Watch with crash detection and low-power mode for 36 hours of battery life.

Apple said the new Series 8 watch has a temperature sensor that will work in conjunction with its previously released cycle tracking app to retroactively detect when a person has begun ovulating. The company emphasized the privacy approach of its cycle tracking. Privacy and reproductive health data has become a focus for tech companies in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that ended a constitutional right to abortion in the United States.

Apple said it does not have the key to decrypt health data such as cycle tracking.

But while accessories like the Apple Watch have driven incremental sales from Apple’s existing user base, the iPhone remains the bedrock of its business with 52.4% of sales in its most recent fiscal year.

Analysts expect a family of iPhone 14 models with incremental upgrades – slightly better cameras, processor chips and, critically for Apple’s bottom line, prices $100 or more higher than last year’s models.

To be sure, the world’s most valuable listed company will also likely keep some older or less advanced models at lower prices, and to date Apple’s relatively affluent fan base has shown more willingness to keep spending despite high inflation. But the new models will be Apple’s sales anchor during holiday shopping seasons in Western markets during a turbulent period. “Apple is not immune to economic weakness,” Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi wrote in note to clients.

This year’s iPhones may have the ability to send emergency messages through a satellite internet connection when WiFi and mobile networks are not available. The messaging functions would likely be rudimentary, and other companies are working on similar functions. SpaceX founder Elon Musk said last month T-Mobile will use its satellites to connect phones directly to the internet.

Bob O’Donnell of TECHnalysis Research said that the peace of mind from being able to send emergency messages could spur Apple users to upgrade their phones for the satellite feature.

“Even though it’s not something you do every day, it’ll change your perspective on what you do with your phone,” he said.

Some analysts believe Apple might give a preview of that future by showing a mixed-reality headset on Wednesday. The device is expected to have cameras that pass-through view of the outside world to the wearer while overlaying digital objects on the physical world. Analysts do not expect the device to go on sale until next year at the earliest.

An early preview would be rare for Apple, which keeps its product plans secret until just before devices hit the market. A rival headset called Project Cambria is in the works from Meta Platforms Inc, which is spending billions of dollars on the project.

But in order to have compelling apps for a new headset, Apple might need to give developers time to become familiar with it. “Developing for a new and radically different type of platform is going to take people a lot longer,” O’Donnell said.

(Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Peter Henderson and Lisa Shumaker)

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WASHINGTON (AP) — A closely watched experimental drug for Lou Gehrig’s disease got an unusual second look from U.S. regulators on Wednesday, following intense pressure to approve the treatment for those with the fatal illness.

Patients and their families have rallied behind the drug from Amylyx Pharma, launching an aggressive lobbying campaign and enlisting members of Congress to push the Food and Drug Administration to grant approval.

The FDA has approved only two therapies for the disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which destroys nerve cells needed for basic functions like walking, talking and swallowing. The more effective of the two drugs extends life by several months.

In a rare move, the FDA convened a second meeting of neurology advisers who narrowly voted against the company’s drug in March. The panel was reviewing new statistical analyses from Amylyx and planned to vote again on whether to recommend approval. The FDA is not required to follow’s the group’s guidance.

An internal review by FDA scientists posted ahead of the meeting struck a negative tone, concluding that the company’s updated analysis was not “persuasive” and provided “no new data.” On the other hand, the FDA’s instructions to the panel stressed the need for regulatory flexibility when considering drugs for deadly diseases.

A final FDA decision is expected later this month.

Dr. Billy Dunn, FDA’s neurology review director, opened the meeting by noting the “concerns and limitations” with Amylyx’s data, while emphasizing the need for new options for patients.

“We are highly sensitive to the urgent need for the development of new treatments for ALS,” Dunn said. “We have not made any final decisions on the approvability of this application.”

Dunn also noted that a larger study being conducted by Amylyx could provide “more definitive results” of the drug’s effectiveness by 2024.

The ALS drug review is being closely watched as an indicator of FDA’s flexibility in reviewing experimental medications for the terminally ill and its ability to withstand outside pressure.

“We’re here because there’s a lot of pressure,” said Diana Zuckerman of the nonprofit National Center for Health Research, which analyzes data and conducts medical research. “FDA is going the extra mile by saying you can have another meeting, but the company responded by giving them no new data.”

Amylyx conducted one small, mid-stage trial of its drug that showed some benefit in slowing the disease, but was plagued by missing data and other problems, according to FDA reviewers.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts, company says follow-up data gathered after the study showed the drug extended life. Patients who continued taking the drug survived about 10 months longer than patients who never took the drug, according to a new company analysis.

But FDA scientists said in their review that the new approach “suffers from the same interpretability challenges” as the original study.

On Wednesday, the FDA will again hear from patients and advocacy groups, such as I AM ALS, which has lobbied for more than two years to make the drug available.

“We have a drug that the entire ALS community is behind. Patients, clinicians, researchers all support this because of what we’ve seen in data from the trial,” said I AM ALS co-founder Brian Wallach, speaking through an interpreter. “That’s not the case with every drug.”

Amylyx’s medication comes as a powder that combines two older drugs: one prescription medication for liver disorders and a dietary supplement used in traditional Chinese medicine. Wallach and some other ALS patients already take the dietary supplement.

Hanging over the review is FDA’s controversial approval of the Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm last year, which was reviewed by the same agency scientists and outside advisers.

In that case, the FDA disregarded the overwhelmingly negative vote by its outside advisers, three of whom resigned over the decision. The FDA approval — which followed irregular meetings with drugmaker Biogen — is under investigation by congressional committees and federal inspectors.

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Follow Matthew Perrone on Twitter: @AP_FDAwriter

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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SANTIAGO (Reuters) -Chile’s central bank raised its inflation expectations on Wednesday to 11.4% from 10.8% in its quarterly monetary policy report, reinforcing bets of more rate hikes to come to combat rising prices.

“This greater inflationary persistence requires a more contractionary monetary policy – in nominal and real terms – than that anticipated in the previous report,” it said.

The adjustment comes at a time in which real wages are continuing to shrink, job creation has slowed down and the remaining liquidity of the 2021 stimulus measures has been exhausted, it added.

“By the start of 2024 we will see a return of figures closer to the goal,” it said.

The bank also revised upward its economic growth forecasts for 2022 to 1.75-2.25% from 1.5-2.25%.

For 2023, however, it predicted a contraction of 0.5-1.5%, from a previous estimate in a range of zero to a 1.0% drop.

Meanwhile, it estimated that copper prices would average $4.00 per pound this year, down from the $4.25 it had previously forecast.

The bank said that the current account deficit should decline in coming quarters, in line with adjusted spending and a more favorable savings-investment balance compared to last year.

It said private consumption had continued to fall from the high levels reached in 2021.

Stripping out seasonal effects, the bank said consumption had fallen 2.4% quarter-on-quarter, a larger drop than expected.

It added that forecasts did not take into account the result of Sunday’s referendum which overwhelmingly rejected a proposed new constitution.

Chile’s central bank raised its benchmark interest rate to 10.75% on Tuesday and said the monetary policy rate is “near the maximum level considered in the central scenario” in the report.

(Reporting by Fabian Cambero; Writing by Valentine Hilaire; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Elaine Hardcastle)

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By Julie Gordon and David Ljunggren

OTTAWA (Reuters) – The Bank of Canada hiked interest rates to their highest level in 14 years on Wednesday, as expected, and signaled its most aggressive tightening campaign in decades was not yet done as it battles to tame inflation.

The central bank, in a regular rate decision, hiked its policy rate to 3.25% from 2.50%, matching analyst forecasts and hitting a level not seen since April 2008. Rates are now above the BoC’s neutral range, meaning that for the first time in about two decades monetary policy is likely to restrict growth.

“Given the outlook for inflation, the Governing Council still judges the policy interest rate will need to rise further,” the central bank said in a statement after delivering its fourth consecutive outsized hike. “As the effects of tighter monetary policy work through the economy, we will be assessing how much higher interest rates need to go to return inflation to target.”

The Bank of Canada leads its advanced-economy peers in policy tightening, having raised its policy rate by 300 basis points since March from a record low 0.25%, and it does not yet appear to be done.

“It does feel as though the bank is preparing the market for the possibility that rates will need to keep moving higher for more than one or two more meetings,” said Andrew Kelvin, chief Canada strategist at TD Securities.

“I think they are trying to keep as many options as open as possible,” he added.

The Bank of Canada, like many of its peers, faces intense criticism for downplaying hot inflation as “transitory” last year and not acting swiftly enough as price increases gathered steam.

The front-runner to lead Canada’s opposition Conservatives, Pierre Poilievre, has promised to fire central bank Governor Tiff Macklem if he’s elected prime minister and to replace him with someone “who will fight inflation.”

Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland defended the central bank to reporters on Wednesday, saying it had the mandate, tools and experience to tackle the price gain problem.

SOARING PRICES

Inflation eased to 7.6% in July from 8.1% in June, but the decline was due to a drop in gasoline prices, with the core measures continuing to move higher, the central bank said.

“Surveys suggest that short-term (inflation) expectations remain high. The longer this continues, the greater the risk that elevated inflation becomes entrenched,” the central bank said.

Money markets are betting on two more quarter-percentage-point increases this year to lift the policy rate to 3.75% in December.

Economists noted the possibility of a 50-basis-point hike in October followed by a standard 25-basis-point increase in December, opening the door to a policy rate of 4.00% by the end of the year, though much will hinge on the path of inflation and employment over the coming months.

“There’s a fairly high risk that they hike rates at each of the next two meetings,” said Doug Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets. “We’ll have to see whether those are just small hikes or larger, and I think a lot of that will depend on what happens to headline and core inflation in the next few months.”

The Canadian dollar was trading 0.1% higher, at 1.3145 to the greenback, or 76.07 U.S. cents, after touching its weakest level in nearly eight weeks at 1.3208 before the BoC’s policy announcement.

(Reporting by Julie Gordon and David Ljunggren in Ottawa; additional reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa, Fergal Smith in Toronto and Steve Scherer in Vancouver; Editing by Andrea Ricci, Paul Simao and Leslie Adler)

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By Stephen Nellis

(Reuters) -Apple Inc on Wednesday showed a trio of new Apple Watches, including a new Watch Ultra model aimed at extreme sports and diving, testing its user base’s willingness to keep snapping up new products amid a weakening global economy.

The Watches made their debut at an event called “Far Out” at Apple’s Cupertino, California, headquarters that has analysts expecting that it will add the ability to send emergency messages from iPhones using satellite connectivity.

The Ultra has a bigger battery to last through events like triathlons and better waterproofing and temperature resistance to operate in outdoor environments, as well as better GPS tracking for sports.

The new Watches include an upgraded budget model called the SE and a Series 8 Watch with crash detection and low-power mode for 36 hours of battery life.

The Series 8 with cellular will start at $499 and the SE will start at $299 with cellular. The Ultra, which includes cellular in its base model, will start at $799 and be available Sept. 23.

Apple said the new Series 8 watch has a temperature sensor that will work in conjunction with its previously released cycle tracking app to retroactively detect when a person has begun ovulating. The company emphasized the privacy approach of its cycle tracking. Privacy and reproductive health data has become a focus for tech companies in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that ended a constitutional right to abortion in the United States.

Apple said it does not have the key to decrypt health data such as cycle tracking.

But while accessories like the Apple Watch have driven incremental sales from Apple’s existing user base, the iPhone remains the bedrock of its business with 52.4% of sales in its most recent fiscal year.

Analysts expect a family of iPhone 14 models with incremental upgrades – slightly better cameras, processor chips and, critically for Apple’s bottom line, prices $100 or more higher than last year’s models.

Apple’s stock was up 0.3% about half an hour into the presentation, in line with the start of the event.

To be sure, the world’s most valuable listed company will also likely keep some older or less advanced models at lower prices, and to date Apple’s relatively affluent fan base has shown more willingness to keep spending despite high inflation. But the new models will be Apple’s sales anchor during holiday shopping seasons in Western markets during a turbulent period. “Apple is not immune to economic weakness,” Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi wrote in note to clients.

This year’s iPhones may have the ability to send emergency messages through a satellite internet connection when WiFi and mobile networks are not available. The messaging functions would likely be rudimentary, and other companies are working on similar functions. SpaceX founder Elon Musk said last month T-Mobile will use its satellites to connect phones directly to the internet.

Bob O’Donnell of TECHnalysis Research said that the peace of mind from being able to send emergency messages could spur Apple users to upgrade their phones for the satellite feature.

“Even though it’s not something you do every day, it’ll change your perspective on what you do with your phone,” he said.

Some analysts believe Apple might give a preview of that future by showing a mixed-reality headset on Wednesday. The device is expected to have cameras that pass-through view of the outside world to the wearer while overlaying digital objects on the physical world. Analysts do not expect the device to go on sale until next year at the earliest.

An early preview would be rare for Apple, which keeps its product plans secret until just before devices hit the market. A rival headset called Project Cambria is in the works from Meta Platforms Inc, which is spending billions of dollars on the project.

But in order to have compelling apps for a new headset, Apple might need to give developers time to become familiar with it. “Developing for a new and radically different type of platform is going to take people a lot longer,” O’Donnell said.

(Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Peter Henderson and Lisa Shumaker)

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By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A U.S. judge said Rio Tinto Plc must face an investor lawsuit accusing the Anglo-Australian mining giant of concealing delays and huge cost overruns at a Mongolian copper and gold mine owned by Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd, in which Rio Tinto has a majority stake.

In a 134-page decision made public on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman in Manhattan said funds advised by Pentwater Capital Management LP, Turquoise’s largest minority shareholder with about a 10% stake, may pursue a proposed class action on behalf of Turquoise shareholders from July 2018 to July 2019.

The judge dismissed some claims against Rio Tinto and various executives, and all claims against Montreal-based Turquoise. His decision is dated Sept. 2.

Pentwater accused Rio Tinto and Turquoise of fraudulently assuring that the $5.3 billion Oyu Tolgoi mine was “on plan” and “on budget,” even as it was falling up to 2-1/2 years behind schedule and coming in as much as $1.9 billion over budget.

Shareholders of Turquoise said their investments lost close to three-quarters of their value as the truth became known.

In letting Chicago-based Pentwater seek to hold Rio Tinto liable for some of Turquoise’s statements, Liman cited claims that the companies had an “extraordinarily close relationship,” and that Rio Tinto had “near total control” over the mine.

“Plaintiffs do sufficiently allege that Rio knew of delays or cost overruns shortly before the class period and, instead of trying to fix them or disclose them to investors, attempted to silence those who spoke out about them,” Liman wrote.

Rio Tinto had no immediate comment. Turquoise and its lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Pentwater’s lawyer Salvatore Graziano declined to comment.

Earlier this month, Rio Tinto agreed to pay about $3.3 billion for the 49% of Turquoise it does not already own.

Turquoise owns 66% of the Oyu Tolgoi mine, and Mongolia owns the rest.

In January, Rio Tinto and Mongolia settled a long dispute over the mine’s economic benefits, in an accord that waived $2.4 billion of debt owed by Mongolia’s government.

The case is In re Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd Securities Litigation, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 20-08585.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler)

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