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Briefing
i x-head of Uber unit declared bankruptE
Anthony Levandowski, ex-head of Uber’s self-
driving unit that later became Waymo, has declared
bankruptcy after being told to pay $179m related to
his alleged theft of secrets from Google.— PAGE 11i ussia and Turkey agree Syria truceR
Russia and Turkey, which back opposing sides in the
Syrian war, announced a ceasefire in the province of
Idlib as part of a deal that solidifies recent gains by
Bashar al-Assad.— PAGE 2; EDITORIAL COMMENT, PAGE 8i SA leads car-emissions race in EuropeP
Just two months into the EU’s
new CO2 regime, Peugeot owner
PSA, one of the most electric-
shy carmakers, and BMW are
leading efforts to cut emissions,
pulling ahead of VW.— PAGE 14i arnier outlines Brexit talks difficultiesB
Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, warned of
“very, very difficult” areas of disagreement with the
UK after the first round of talks on the EU’s future
relationship in Brussels.— PAGE 3; NOTEBOOK, PAGE 8i ohner explores staying at Credit SuisseR
The Credit Suisse chairman has privately sounded
out investors several times on extending his term
beyond 2021, despite repeatedly pledging to quit
next year after ousting Tidjane Thiam.— PAGE 12i nter Milan shoots for global supportersI
Inter Milan aims to return to the top of European
football by winning fans and securing revenues far
beyond its home country and continent, says Steven
Zhang, the 28-year-old owner of the club.— PAGE 13i BI Cards flotation strongly subscribedS
The State Bank of India’s credit card group is going
public, seeking to raise $1.4bn, in one of the country’s
few billion-dollar flotations in years, defying a
bearish mood as India’s economy slows.— PAGE 12Datawatch
Gillian Tett
Global epidemic exposes the dark
side of gig working— OPINION, PAGE 9
FRIDAY6 MARCH 2020 WORLD BUSINESS NEWSPAPER EUROPE
World Markets
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Prices are latest for edition Data provided by MorningstarANNA NICOLAOU —NEW YORKJames Murdoch s investing part of hisi
wealth in start-ups aimed at combating
fake news via an initiative eingb
launched weeks after he criticised his
father’s news outlets for their coverage
of climate change.Lupa Systems, Mr Murdoch’s holding
company, has partneredBetaworks, an
early investor in social media,to fund an
accelerator for start-ups to tackle disin-
formation and foster a “more sustaina-
ble news ecosystem”.
Since the break-up of his family’s ent-
ertainment empire, Mr Murdoch has
charted his own course, promoting env-
ironmental causes and distancing him-
self from the conservative politics of his
fatherRupert Murdoch’s news brands.
After stepping down last year as chief
executive of21st Century Fox, the mediatycoon’s younger son has used the $2bn
he received from the break-up o launcht
Lupa and assemble a portfolio of com-
panies, acquiring stakes inVice Media
and the Tribeca Film Festival.
Mr Murdoch’s partnership with Beta-
works is aimed at another cause in
which hebelieves: fighting disinforma-
tion online. Lupa and Betaworks are
ready to pour millions into the effort.
They aim to find10 to 20 early-stage
start-ups to fund in the next year and
invest $100,000 in each.
The accelerator programme,Betalab,
aims to build softwarefor authenticat-
ing videos or people and identifydeep-
fakes, disinformation and trolls. It will
include workshops and events to
encourage start-up activity in the sector.
Mr Murdoch said media content en-g
erated or manipulated by algorithms
was on course to “open new possibilitiesfor storytelling but also to undermine
our collective relationship with truth
and reality”. Betalab would “create a
platform from which we can begin to
learn how to navigate the blurred reality
of our synthetic and natural worlds”.
Ben FitzGerald, a partner at Lupa,
said: “The economic argument for cre-
ating disinformation is clear. It’s inex-
pensive and you can generate a massive
impact.” e and Mr Murdoch had beenH
concerned for a “number of years”.
Friction in the Murdoch family sur-
faced in January as bushfires tore
through Australia. In a rare public
rebuke, James and his wife Kathryn said
News Corp’s coverage reflected its
“ongoing denial” of global warming.
Mr Murdoch funded an initiative last
year at the Center for a New American
Security, a think-tank, to curb regimes
that use technology toerode democracy.Murdoch son wages war on fake news
after rebuke for father’s media outlets
© THE FINANCIAL TIMES LTD 2020
No: 40,341★
Printed in London, Liverpool, Glasgow, Dublin,
Frankfurt, Milan, Madrid, New York, Chicago, San
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North Macedonia Den
Approximately
three-quarters of
UK people back
the quarantining
of cities and towns
if a large number
of coronavirus
cases are found
there. Of the
countries in the
survey, Vietnam is
the most likely to
agree with being
quarantined.Isolation
Percentage who think quarantine is ...
... an overreaction
... correct given the risks Vietnam
UK
Russia
Australia
France
US
Japan
Germany
ItalySource: Ipsos Mori ( Feb )Afghan retreat
Others will pay the price for US
fatigue— EDWARD LUCE, PAGE 4
Elevator pitch
How Thyssenkrupp sealed Europe’s
buyout deal of the year— P AGE 13
JAMES POLITI AND AIME WILLIAMS
WASHINGTON
CLIVE COOKSON— LONDON
A senior US official has hit out at coun-
tries including Germany, Russia and
Turkey, that have rushed to introduce
export controls to limit trade in medical
supplies as they respond to the corona-
virus outbreak.
Peter Navarro, the White House’s
trade and manufacturing adviser, told
the Financial Times that the moves
showed the US was “alone” in confront-
ing the outbreak and would have to
reduce its dependence on global medical
supply chains to “defend our citizens”.
“Just as in the H1N1 flu pandemic of
2009, actions by strategic competitors
and putative allies alike once again
demonstrate that in a global public
health emergency, the US is alone,” he
said.
“Such behaviour is precisely why it is
important for the Trump administra-
tion to bring home its manufacturing
capabilities and supply chains for essen-
tial medicines.”
The US government has been encour-
aging companies to ratchet up domestic
production of medical supplies. Wash-
ington has not so far proposed any
export controls in response to the crisis.
The administration’s concern over
coronavirus has grown in recent days, as
the number of cases in the US has risen
to 149 people and 10 deaths.
Mr Navarro’s comments follow moves
this week by Germany, Russia and Tur-
key to introduce restrictions on over-
seas sales of protective equipmentincluding masks and respirators, and by
India to limit exports of certain drugs
and pharmaceutical ingredients. Other
countries such as France have moved to
stockpile protective equipment but
have notimposed export restrictions.
While the purpose of the measures is
to avoidshortages, they could alsolead
to a protectionist spiral that affects the
global effort to fight the virus.
Martin Chorzempa, research fellow at
the Peterson Institute of International
Economics think-tank in Washington,
said: “Each country may be doing what
it thinks is best for itself but the damage
to the complex, interconnected supply
chains that have consistently kept goods
cheap and in good supply could be
severe and irreversible.”
Public health officials, including theWorld Health Organization, and trade
experts have warned that hoarding
might prevent supplies from reaching
the most-needed areas and deter com-
panies from boosting production.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the
WHO director-general, said this week
that governments should ease curbs on
thedistribution of medical supplies.
Yesterday he said the WHO was con-
cerned that some nations had not taken
the virus “seriously enough” and prepa-
rations had to be led by “the head of
state or government or their deputy”.
New Wuhan cases age 2p
Race to find a vaccine age 7p
Philip Stephens age 9p
Lex age 10p
Airlines to lose $113bn age 11p
Marketspages 19 & 20US hits out over export barriers
for coronavirus medical supplies
3 Germany and Turkey in line of fire 3 Nation ‘alone’ to face outbreak 3 WHO urges action
Two-man race
Warren pulls
out of contest
The chance of the US appointing its first
female president came to an end yester-
day when Elizabeth Warren walked
away from the Democratic presidential
campaign, setting up a two-man race
between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders
for the party’s nomination.
The senator, pictured in Massachu-
setts yesterday announcing her decision,
followed the lead of Michael Bloomberg,
the former New York City mayor, who
quit on Wednesday.Earlier Ms Warren,
whose signature plan was a 2 per cent
tax on all wealth above $50m, had been
seen as a credible contender to take on
President Donald Trump in November.
The way is now clear for Mr Biden to
challengerival Mr Sanders for that post.
News & analysis age 4p
CJ Gunther/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Some countries
have introduced
restrictions on
overseas sales
of equipment
such as masks
and respirators
Paul Yeung/BloombergMARCH 6 2020 Section:FrontBack Time: 3/20205/ - 19:07 User: nick.miller Page Name:1FRONT USA, Part,Page,Edition:EUR , 1, 1