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DOHA (Reuters) – Cathay Pacific Airways, battered by strict quarantine rules that have led to a 98% fall in passenger numbers, is preparing to bring back more planes to rebuild Hong Kong’s hub status as restrictions ease, the airline’s chief executive said.

“We have about one-third of our passenger fleet still parked in the desert, not being utilised,” Cathay Chief Executive Augustus Tang told Reuters on the sidelines of an airline industry gathering in Doha. “We are making preparations for them gradually coming back ahead of the curve.”

Rival Singapore Airlines has seen a surge in demand since Singapore’s quarantine rules eased. It was back at 61% of pre-COVID-19 capacity in May, filling 78.2% of seats in its best month since the start of the pandemic.

Cathay, by contrast, operated only 4% of its pre-COVID capacity in May and filled 60.5% of its seats.

The need for crew members on passenger flights to quarantine in a hotel for three days after flying to destinations outside mainland China means it has few frequencies to offer potential transit passengers.

Passengers heading to Hong Kong also face a week of hotel quarantine on arrival, limiting demand.

Tang said it was encouraging that Hong Kong had gradually been reducing the quarantine time required, which once was as high as three weeks for passengers from destinations including the United States and Britain.

“It’s moving in the right direction, and the momentum is gathering and so we are pretty optimistic that we are going to see more and more of this opening up,” he said.

Cathay has 45 passenger destinations back in operation at present, up from 30 at the start of the year, and plans for up to 70 to be available by the end of the year as demand improves, he said. That compares to the 108 passenger destinations it operated before the pandemic.

(This story has been updated to correct the last paragraph to 45 passenger destinations instead of 45 passenger aircraft)

(Reporting by Jamie Freed, editing by Deepa Babington)

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Qatar to Become Largest LNG Exporter Worldwide butCannot Replace Russian Gas for Europe

The Gulf country partners with Italian energy giant ENI totake on the world’s biggest natural gas field

QatarEnergy and Italian energy multinational Eni will partner inthe expansion of the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG)project, under a deal signed at the state-owned Qatari company’sheadquarters in Doha on Sunday.

QatarEnergy, which operates all oil and gas activities in Qatar,including exploration, production, refining, transport, andstorage, will own 75% of the new joint venture company, whileEni will own 25%.

The joint venture will hold a 12.5% interest in the entire NorthField East project, the world’s biggest natural gas field.

The $28.7 billion North Field East project, launched byQatarEnergy in the summer of 2019, is under construction. Itwill significantly enhance Qatar’s gas export capacity from thecurrent 77 million tons per year to 110 million tons per year.

The project will also focus on minimizing carbon emissions anddamage to the environment.

Europe is seeking to diversify its energy sources amid thesanctions placed on Russia after it invaded Ukraine. In addition,the European Union is trying to reduce its use of carbon-intensive coal.

Qatar, which has the third-largest natural gas reserves afterRussia and Iran, is partnering with international companies toexpand its production and export capacity. This will position theGulf state as the world’s largest LNG exporter.

“It is a strategic move for Eni, which expands Eni’s presence in the Middle East and gains access to a world-leading LNG producer,” the company said in a statement.

Amal Hamidallah, executive director of the Arab GulfFoundation, explained to The Media Line that the expansion wasplanned years ago but since the energy crisis hit Europe, Qatarhas helped Britain with extra supplies and announced acooperation deal with Germany.

“This explains why Italy and other EU companies want to beinvolved in this project,” she said.

Francesco Sassi, a researcher in energy geopolitics and marketsat Ricerche Industriali ed Energetiche, a research center andconsultancy based in Bologna, Italy, told The Media Line that inthe future Qatar will be able to add considerable quantities ofLNG to Europe’s supply.

He added, however, that for now, its capacity to increase exports is rather limited.

Hamidallah noted that filling the gap left by the reduction in theRussian gas supply to Europe is “not practically possible” rightnow, quoting Qatar’s Energy Minister Saad Sherida al-Kaabi.

Hamidallah said this is due to three main reasons.

First, Qatar’s current gas capacity can’t replace the 40% of EUnatural gas imports that came from Russia, she explained.

Second, continued Hamidallah, the transportation of the gas isan issue. “There are no gas pipelines from Qatar to Europe, soQatar’s gas would have to be shipped to Europe in liquefiedform,” she added.

And third, long-term contracts with partners such as those in Asia, mainly South Korea, Japan, and China, which are the main buyers of Qatari LNG, must be taken into account.

“Diverting cargoes from those long-term customers may incurcompensation claims from those buyers,” said Hamidallah.

Sassi added that Qatar’s strategic decision several years ago toheavily invest in the expansion of gas production, when themarket was oversupplied, will likely provide it with the abilityto choose whichever market suits its export plans.

On this issue, he said, “As things stand, I consider the Asianpartners much more reliable in commercial terms compared tothe EU ones.”

Right now, continued Sassi, “the overall point may be better formulated as: Are European countries ready to compete with Asian buyers in terms of pricing indexation and timing in order to secure Qatar’s LNG?”

The Asian buyers have been loyal buyers over the years, whilein the past, Europe avoided long-term contracts with the Gulfcountry, Hamidallah pointed out.

In the past, EU countries rejected the long-term deals that Qatarseeks for its energy due to the costs and carbon emissions, butthe Ukraine conflict has probably forced a change in attitude,she explained.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Sunday theconflict in Ukraine could last years, Hamidallah said.

Sassi added that by the time sanctions on Russia are lifted, “theworld’s energy order will be rather different compared to the onewe have been used to.

“Importers will have to struggle to find a new balance betweensecurity of supply and energy affordability,” he said.

Energy interdependence, and especially regarding gas, is the lastbridge standing of the EU-Russia relationship, he explained.

“When it will be politically viable, and it may take much timefor this, countries in Europe will attempt to cross this bridgeagain and a new interest in Russia’s competitive supplies couldemerge,” Sassi said.

One thing is for sure, Hamidallah said, the EU and leadingworld economies will need to redouble their efforts and joinforces to find alternative sources of LNG and reduce the overalldemand for natural gas moving forward toward the transition toclean energy.

Liquefaction of natural gas is energy-intensive, she pointed out,which emits carbon and that offsets climate benefits.

Rather than rush to secure gas supplies, “the internationalcommunity would do better to speed up the pace of energytransition as this is the only viable long-term answer to thecurrent world crisis,” Hamidallah said.

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers are finally sending to Gov. Gavin Newsom a hot potato of a bill that would bar police from making arrests on a charge of loitering for prostitution, nine months after the measure passed the Legislature, the author of the bill announced Monday.

Democratic Sen. Scott Wiener and other supporters said arrests for loitering with the intent to engage in prostitution often rely on police officers’ perceptions and disproportionately target transgender, Black and Latino women.

Critics see it as a further erosion of criminal penalties that tie the hands of police on quality-of-life issues like shoplifting and car burglaries. Greg Burt, a spokesman for the California Family Council, and other opponents fear it’s part of an eventual effort to decriminalize prostitution.

“This bill seems to be perfect if you want sex trafficking to even increase in California,” he said. “This bill is really going to affect poor neighborhoods — it’s not going to affect neighborhoods where these legislators live.”

The bill would not decriminalize soliciting or engaging in sex work. It would allow those who were previously convicted or are currently serving loitering sentences to ask a court to dismiss and seal the record of the conviction.

The measure has passed both legislative chambers, but Wiener took the unusual step of stopping the bill from going to Newsom after the Assembly approved the measure in September with no votes to spare. More than two dozen of his fellow Democrats in the Assembly and Senate either voted no or declined to vote.

He wanted time, Wiener said then, “to make the case about why this civil rights bill is good policy … and why this discriminatory loitering crime goes against California values.”

But in the nine months since lawmakers acted, concerns about crime, homelessness and the perception that major California cities are becoming more unsafe have become more acute, providing fodder for political campaigns heading into the November election.

Among the bill’s supporters is San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, who voters just recalled from office in mid-term after critics mounted a campaign labeling him as soft on criminals.

Newsom, a Democrat running for reelection after easily beating back a recall last year, has said more needs to be done to address homelessness and shoplifting. Newsom’s spokespeople did not immediately comment on Wiener’s bill.

Burt believes lawmakers waited to send it to Newsom until after the governor defeated the recall and safely made it through the June 7 primary election.

The bill is sponsored in part by groups supporting gay and transgender rights, and Wiener said he waited to send the measure to Newsom until Pride Month, which celebrates the LGTBQ community.

“It is more important than ever to get rid of a law that targets our community,” said Wiener, who is gay. “Pride isn’t just about rainbow flags and parades. It’s about protecting the most marginalized in our community.”

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the nation’s largest such agency, and the 75,000-member Peace Officers Research Association of California are among the opponents. Both say repealing it will hinder the prosecution of those who commit crimes related to prostitution and human trafficking and make it harder to identify and assist those being victimized.

In a statement to lawmakers, the sheriff’s department said the law is “often used to keep prostitutes from hanging around public places, business and residential communities, which can breed crime and drug use.”

While the intent is good, the unintended consequences will be to benefit sex buyers, the department said.

But Wiener said the loitering law “essentially allows law enforcement to target and arrest people if they are wearing tight clothes or a lot of makeup.” Similar legislation became law in New York last year, and Wiener cast his bill as part of a larger movement to end discrimination against and violence toward sex workers.

The debate split sex workers and advocates, with the American Civil Liberties Union of California supporting it and the nonpartisan National Center on Sexual Exploitation opposing it.

Once it formally reaches his desk, Newsom will have 12 days to sign or veto the measure.

Two other related measures already are law.

A bill passed in 2016 bars arresting minors for prostitution, with the intent that they instead be treated as victims. A 2019 bill bars arresting sex workers if they are reporting various crimes as a victim or witness. The same law bans using possession of condoms as reason for an arrest.

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SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China stood pat on its benchmark lending rates for corporate and household loans, as expected, on Monday, with global central banks’ rate increases making it tough for Beijing to stimulate a weak domestic economy by lowering rates.

Markets widely believe that Chinese policymakers are wary of risks that the yuan will depreciate and capital outflows will be triggered if they embark on further monetary easing to underpin a COVID-19-hit economy at a time when other major economies are tightening their rates policies.

The one-year loan prime rate (LPR) was kept at 3.70%, and the five-year LPR was unchanged at 4.45%.

“Perhaps there is some reluctance in loosening monetary policy to support economic activity, which could reflect some caution in moving in the opposite direction to other central banks, particularly the Federal Reserve,” said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management.

“It seems a matter of time, however, before there are larger liquidity injections and measures to boost credit.”

Central banks across Europe raised interest rates last week, some by a level that shocked markets, in the wake of the Fed’s 75 basis point hike to combat high inflation.

“While the PBOC has little to fear from a weaker currency – the renminbi remains extremely strong – the last thing it wants is to have to defend against a sharp, potentially destabilising sell-off,” economists at Capital Economics said in a note earlier.

“That could plausibly happen if it lowered rates now when almost every other major central bank has turned much more hawkish.”

Divergent Sino-U.S. policies have wiped out China’s yield advantage in April, triggering a record monthly tumble in the yuan. And a deeper inversion of U.S. and Chinese government-bond yields could revive such depreciation pressure on the Chinese currency.

About 90% of traders and analysts in a Reuters survey last week expected China to keep both rates unchanged.

China lowered the five-year LPR, the benchmark reference rate for mortgages, by an unexpectedly wide margin last month, in a bid to revive the ailing housing sector to prop up the economy.

Most new and outstanding loans in China are based on the one-year LPR. The five-year rate influences the pricing of mortgages.

(Reporting by Winni Zhou and Brenda Goh; Editing by Kim Coghill and Muralikumar Anantharaman)

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By Kevin Buckland

TOKYO (Reuters) – The Japanese yen remained under pressure on Monday, weakening toward a 24-year low after the Bank of Japan on Friday bucked the trend in a week of massive central bank tightening to renew its commitment to ultra-easy policy.

The euro was steady despite French President Emmanuel Macron losing an absolute majority over the weekend.

The U.S. dollar paused for breath following a volatile week that saw it retreat sharply from a two-decade high against major peers. However, it recovered half of that by the end of last week as investors continue to assess the outlook for U.S. monetary policy and the risk of recession following the Federal Reserve’s biggest rate increase since 1995.

The dollar index, which measures the currency against the yen, euro and four other major peers, was flat at 104.70, consolidating below the 105.79 high from Wednesday, a level not seen since late 2002.

The greenback rose 0.21% to 135.25 yen, heading back toward Wednesday’s peak of 135.60, the highest level since October 1998.

The BOJ on Friday bucked a wave of tightening that included the Fed, Bank of England and even a shock half-point hike from the Swiss National Bank, while also resisting attacks from bond market speculators testing the monetary authority’s commitment to its 25 basis point tolerance band around the zero percent target for the 10-year Japanese government bond yield.

By contrast, the Fed followed a 75 basis-point rate hike mid-week by stating in its twice-yearly monetary policy report to Congress on Friday its “unconditional” commitment to fighting inflation, despite rising risks of recession.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell testifies before the Senate and the House on Wednesday and Thursday.

“The market was gearing up for a BOJ capitulation (but) got exactly the opposite,” sending the yen tumbling, National Australia Bank senior foreign-exchange strategist Rodrigo Catril wrote in a client note.

In contrast the Fed’s message of continued aggressive inflation fighting “could not be clearer,” and the dollar has “regained its mojo” as a result, he said.

The euro ticked up 0.03% to $1.04935, despite French President Macron losing control of the National Assembly in legislative elections on Sunday, a major setback that could throw the country into political paralysis.

Sterling slipped 0.09% to $1.2209.

The dollar lost 0.11% to 0.96845 Swiss franc.

The Australian dollar was 0.03% lower at $0.6934.

Leading cryptocurrency bitcoin slid 3.81% to $19,769.52, heading back toward last week’s low of $17,592.78, a level not seen since late 2020.

(Reporting by Kevin Buckland; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)

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By Josh Ye

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Internet and gaming giant NetEase delayed the rollout of its video game Diablo Immortal in China three days ahead of its official launch, a move that comes just after the game’s official account on Weibo was banned from making new posts.

China-based NetEase, which was set to release the game on Thursday, did not provide a new launch date, but said on Sunday it wanted to make changes such as improvements to the game-play experience and conduct “multiple optimization adjustments”.

The company did not address the social media ban in the statement and it was unclear what triggered the decision. NetEase also did not respond to a Reuters’ request for comment.

Co-developed by NetEase and Activision Blizzard, Diablo Immortal is one of the most-anticipated games this year and its China launch is being closely watched to gauge Beijing’s attitude towards the country’s $46-billion video games market that was hit by sweeping regulatory crackdowns last year.

The company received a gaming license from Chinese regulators for the game last February, before authorities months later rolled out new rules and halted issuances of new game licenses for almost nine months. The nod had garnered attention as the Diablo franchise focuses on slaying demons and witches — themes seen to jar with Chinese regulators’ dislike of games with violent or religious content.

Diablo Immortal was already released outside of China on June 2, and as per app-tracking platform App Magic, it has earned over $24 million during the first two weeks since the rollout. The China launch was expected to give the title another boost as the Asian country would be the game’s biggest market.

The title had recorded pre-registrations from over 15 million users last week, according to NetEase.

Shares of the company slid more than 9% on Monday.

(Reporting by Josh Ye; editing by Uttaresh.V)

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(Reuters) – Apple Inc workers in Maryland voted on Saturday to join a union, becoming the first retail employees of the tech giant to unionize in the United States.

More than 100 workers in Towson near Baltimore “have overwhelmingly voted to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers,” the union said on its website.

The local workers, forming the Coalition of Organized Retail Employees, “have the support of a solid majority of our coworkers,” they wrote in a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook.

“This is something we do not to go against or create conflict with our management,” they wrote.

An Apple spokesperson, responding to Reuters request for comment, said by email the company had “nothing to add at this time.”

Unionization efforts are gaining momentum at some large U.S. corporations, including Amazon.com Inc and Starbucks Corp.

Apple workers in Atlanta who were seeking to unionize withdrew their request last month, claiming intimidation.

Some current and former Apple workers last year began criticizing the company’s working conditions online, using the hashtag #AppleToo.

(Reporting by Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat in Bengaluru; Editing by William Mallard)

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By Ann Saphir

(Reuters) -Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller on Saturday became the latest U.S. central banker to pledge a whatever-it-takes approach to fighting inflation, three days after the Fed raised interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point and signaled more hikes to come.

“If the data comes in as I expect, I will support a similar-sized move at our July meeting,” Waller told a Society for Computational Economics conference in Dallas. “The Fed is ‘all in’ on re-establishing price stability.”

A surge in inflation, which is at its highest level in 40 years, has made hawks of nearly all Fed policymakers, only one of whom dissented earlier this week against what was the central bank’s biggest rate increase in more than a quarter of a century.

Policymakers currently expect to raise the Fed’s benchmark overnight interest rate, now in a range of 1.50%-1.75%, to at least 3.4% in the next six months. A year ago, the majority thought the rate would need to stay near zero until 2023.

On Friday, the Fed called its fight against inflation “unconditional,” and Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic, who had been its most dovish policymaker, declared “we’ll do whatever it takes” to bring inflation back down to the central bank’s 2% target.

Inflation, as measured by the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index, is running at more than three times that level.

“That’s the most important thing I’m worried about,” Waller said on Saturday, adding that moving rates quickly up to the neutral level and into restrictive territory is necessary to slow demand and put a check on inflation.

That monetary tightening will likely drive unemployment, now at 3.6%, to between 4% and 4.25%, or possibly higher, Waller said, “but my goal is just to slow the economy.” Rising worries that Fed rate hikes will cause a recession, he said, “are a bit overblown.”

Waller also said there are limits to how fast the Fed can move: markets would have a “heart attack” if the central bank raised rates by a full percentage point in a single move.

RISK OF OVERSHOOT

Speaking at the same event in Dallas, former Fed Vice Chair Donald Kohn blamed high inflation in part on a decision to delay the tightening of policy that he traced to a framework the U.S. central bank adopted in 2020. That framework ruled out raising rates to preempt inflation triggered by falling unemployment.

Waller, however, argued that it was the Fed’s overly specific promises about when it would end its massive asset purchases, implemented in 2020 to shelter the economy from pandemic-related fallout, that were at fault.

Structural changes to the economy mean there is a “decent chance” the Fed will in the future need to again slash its policy rate to zero and buy bonds to fight even a typical recession, he said.

Waller said, next time, he would support less restrictive promises around the end of bond purchases and more clarity around not just when the Fed would start to tighten policy but also how fast. If the Fed says it will not start raising rates until the labor market is at full employment, as it did in the recent cycle, markets should be primed to understand that borrowing costs will be pushed up very quickly once rates start to rise.

Kohn, for his part, urged some caution once rates are high enough to start slowing inflation, warning that the Fed risks overshooting on its goals.

“It requires judgment and confidence to know when to back off,” Kohn said.

(Reporting by Ann SaphirEditing by Paul Simao)

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SYDNEY (Reuters) – The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) said a fire that ripped through a New South Wales power station on Saturday will not affect electricity supply, already snarled by an energy crisis in the country’s east.

Power supply in Australia’s heavily populated east has been stretched since mid-May as around 25% of the market’s 23,000 megawatt (MW) of coal-fired capacity has been offline for maintenance or unplanned outages. The situation has been exacerbated by coal supply disruptions and surging global coal and gas prices.

AEMO, which manages electricity and gas systems and markets across Australia, said on Friday there was enough electricity supply to meet forecast demand over the weekend, easing the immediate concern of potential east-coast blackouts.

Late on Saturday, the agency said on Twitter it was aware of a “substation fire” at the Tallawarra power station, at Yallah, a suburb of Wollongong, a city about 80 km (50 miles) south of Sydney, but said the blaze was not expected to further strain power supply.

“We would like to reassure customers in (New South Wales) that this will not impact the electricity supply,” AEMO said.

The blaze resulted from mechanical failure in a redundant transformer, fire authorities said, with more than 60 firefighters working to bring it under control.

More than 10,000 litres (2,600 gallons) of oil caught fire, and it would likely take several days to extinguish the fire, news website Nine reported.

On Wednesday, AEMO suspended the national electricity market, taking control over power supply and pricing, an unprecedented step backed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who said it was needed to curb “gaming” of the system.

Since then, coal-fired generators have brought 1,900 MW of capacity back on line, the Australian Energy Council has said, reducing blackout risks.

(Reporting by Samuel McKeith in Sydney; Editing by William Mallard)

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By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) – A wealthy person has bid a record $19 million to eat lunch with Warren Buffett, in the 21st and final time that the billionaire businessman auctioned a private lunch to benefit a San Francisco charity.

The winning bid at the eBay auction, which ended on Friday, far surpassed the previous record of $4.57 million paid in 2019 by cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun.

Proceeds benefit Glide, a nonprofit in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district that helps the poor, homeless or those battling substance abuse. Glide offers meals, shelter, HIV and hepatitis C tests, job training and children’s programs.

This year’s winner chose to remain anonymous. An eBay spokeswoman said the lunch was the most expensive item ever sold on the company’s website to benefit charity.

Buffett, 91, the chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway Inc, raised about $53.2 million for Glide in the 21 auctions, which began in 2000.

“It’s been nothing but good,” Buffett said in a statement. “I’ve met a lot of interesting people from all over the world. The one universal characteristic is that they feel the money is going to be put to very good uses.”

No auctions were held in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Buffett began supporting Glide after his first wife, Susan, introduced him to the charity, where she had been volunteering.

Susan Buffett died in 2004.

Buffett has pledged to give away nearly all of his fortune. Buffett was worth $93.4 billion on Friday, ranking seventh worldwide, according to Forbes magazine.

This year’s auction winner and up to seven guests will join Buffett at the Smith & Wollensky steakhouse in Manhattan.

Buffett will talk about almost anything, but not where he may invest next.

Berkshire owns dozens of companies including the BNSF railroad, Geico car insurance, energy, manufacturing and retail businesses, and stocks such as Apple Inc and Bank of America Corp.

Buffett still owns nearly 16% of the Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate, despite having donated more than half of his shares since 2006, including $4 billion on June 14.

According to Glide, these bidders have won its auctions:

2000: Pete Budlong, $25,000

2001: Jim Halperin and Scott Tilson, $20,000

2002: Jim Halperin and Scott Tilson, $25,000

2003: David Einhorn, Greenlight Capital, $250,100

2004: Jason Choo, Singapore, $202,100

2005: Anonymous, $351,100

2006: Yongping Duan, California, $620,100

2007: Mohnish Pabrai, Guy Spier, Harina Kapoor, $650,100

2008: Zhao Danyang, Pure Heart Asset Management, China,

$2,110,100

2009: Courtenay Wolfe, Salida Capital, Canada, $1,680,300

2010: Ted Weschler*, $2,626,311

2011: Ted Weschler*, $2,626,411

2012: Anonymous, $3,456,789

2013: Anonymous, $1,000,100

2014: Andy Chua, Singapore, $2,166,766

2015: Zhu Ye, Dalian Zeus Entertainment Co, China,

$2,345,678

2016: Anonymous, $3,456,789

2017: Anonymous, $2,679,001

2018: Anonymous, $3,300,100

2019: Justin Sun, $4,567,888

2020-2021: No auctions held

2022: Anonymous, $19,000,100

* later became a Berkshire Hathaway portfolio manager

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Additional reporting by Jahnavi Nidumolu in Bengaluru; Editing by David Gregorio, Clarence Fernandez and Frances Kerry)

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