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BERLIN — Germany's antitrust regulator said on Tuesday it has opened an investigation into Google over anti-competitive practices, wielding a new law that has already been used to scrutinise other US tech giants.

The Federal Cartel Office will investigate European units of Google in Germany and Ireland, as well as its parent company, Alphabet, in California, it said in a statement.

The investigation will probe whether Google is considered to be "of paramount significance for competition across markets" due to the breadth of its digital products, Cartel office head Andreas Mundt said.

"Google's business model relies to a very large extent on processing data relating to its users," Mundt said. "Due to its established access to data relevant for competition, Google enjoys a strategic advantage."

A key question in the probe was "whether consumers wishing to use Google's services have sufficient choice as to how Google will use their data", he said.

Google spokesman Ralf Bremer said the tech giant would cooperate fully with the investigation.

"People choose Google because it's helpful, not because they're forced to, or because they can't find alternatives," he said, adding that German consumers are offered "simple controls to manage their information and limit the use of personal data".

Under the amendment to Germany's competition law passed in January, the watchdog said it now has more power to "intervene earlier and more effectively" against big tech companies, rather than simply punishing them for abuses of their dominant market position.

The Federal Cartel Office said last week it is examining whether Amazon has "an almost unchallengeable position of economic power", having already launched two traditional abuse control proceedings.

If so, it too could be deemed of "paramount significance", Mundt said last week, adding that the regulator could "take early action against and prohibit possible anti-competitive practices by Amazon".

The watchdog has also employed its new powers to widen the scope of an investigation into Facebook over its integration of virtual reality headsets.

The German reform coincided with new EU draft legislation unveiled in December aimed at curbing the power of the internet behemoths that could shake up the way Silicon Valley can operate in the 27-nation bloc.

The push to tighten legislation comes as big tech companies are facing increasing scrutiny around the globe, including in the United States, where Google and Facebook are facing antitrust suits.

Germany and France have also joined calls from the United States to impose a global minimum corporate tax of at least 15 per cent, a move which targets huge multinationals like Amazon and Google.

Critics have repeatedly warned that many of the world's biggest companies use tax havens or used loopholes little to no tax, far less than some individuals.

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple's online marketplace would become a "toxic" mess if the iPhone maker were forced to allow third-party apps without reviewing them, chief executive Tim Cook told a high-stakes trial on Friday challenging the company's tight control of its platform.

Cook, the last scheduled witness in the case brought by Fortnite maker Epic Games, offered a robust defence of Apple's procedures for reviewing and approving all the apps it offers for iPhone and iPad users.

"We could no longer make the promise... of privacy, safety and security," without full control of the marketplace, Cook said under questioning from Apple Attorney Veronica Moye in federal court in California.

Cook said Apple's review process helps keep out malicious software and other problematic apps, helping create a safe place for consumers.

Without this review, the online marketplace "would become a toxic kind of mess," he said.

"It would also be terrible for the developer, because the developer depends on the store being a safe and trusted place."

Cook's testimony caps a high-profile trial which opened earlier this month in which Apple is accused of abusing a monopoly on its marketplace by creating a "walled garden" that squeezes app makers.

Epic, maker of the popular Fortnite video game, is seeking to force Apple to open up the marketplace to third parties seeking to circumvent Apple's procedures and commissions of up to 30 per cent.

Apple booted Fortnite from its App Store last year after Epic dodged revenue sharing with the iPhone maker.

'Not about money' 

Under cross-examination, Cook sparred with Epic lawyer Gary Bornstein about the profitability of the App Store.

Cook disputed Epic's contention that its profit margin on apps was some 80 per cent, but financial details were not disclosed in court due to confidentiality concerns.

The Apple executive said the proprietary payments system challenged by Epic was about convenience for consumers, more than about profits.

"We always put the user at the centre of everything we do," Cook said. "It has nothing to do with money."

During his testimony, Cook defended Apple's policy of barring apps directing consumers to other platforms to purchase subscriptions or credits for games and other services.

"It would be akin to Best Buy advertising that you can go across the street to the Apple Store to buy an iPhone," he said.

But District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, in a series of harsh questions for Cook at the end of his testimony, suggested that Apple's cut is too high even if reduced to 15 per cent after the first year.

"It does appear to be disproportionate," the judge told Cook. "After that first interaction.. the developer is keeping those customers, Apple is just profiting from them."

Cook retorted quickly, "I see it differently," and then added: "We are creating the entire amount of commerce on the store and we are doing that by getting the largest audience there."

Apple does not allow users of its popular devices to download apps from anywhere but its App Store, and developers have to use Apple's payment system, which takes its cut.

The Epic lawyer also questioned Cook about Apple's arrangement with Google to be the default search engine for the iPhone maker's Safari browser, another area scrutinised by antitrust officials.

Cook acknowledged that Google pays for this position but added that Apple made the arrangement "in the best interest of the user".

The case in Oakland comes with Apple feeling pressure from a wide range of app makers over its control of the App Store, which critics say represents monopolistic behaviour.

The European Union has formally accused Apple of unfairly squeezing out music streaming rivals based on a complaint brought by Sweden-based Spotify and others, which claim the California group sets rules that favour its own Apple Music.

A recently formed Coalition for App Fairness, which includes both Spotify and Epic, have called for Apple to open up its marketplace, claiming its commission is a "tax" on rivals.

Closing arguments in the bench trial in California were expected soon, with the judge expected to rule within several weeks.

LONDON — The Group of Seven wealthy countries on Friday agreed to end state financing of coal-fired power plants by the end of this year, and to "mostly de-carbonise" electricity supplies in the 2030s.

Ahead of a leaders meeting in Britain next month, G-7 countries' climate and environment ministers also reaffirmed their commitment to limit keep temperature rises below 1.5ºC by 2050, following a two-day virtual meeting.

Scientists say any increases beyond that will trigger uncontrollable climate change.

"Recognising that continued global investment in unabated coal power generation is incompatible with keeping 1.5ºC within reach, we stress that international investments in unabated coal must stop now," the ministers said.

UK lawmaker Alok Sharma, who is president-designate of the COP26 UN climate summit to be held in Glasgow in November, said the consensus was "a clear signal to the world that coal is on the way out".

The move follows a recommendation from the International Energy Agency earlier this week that all future fossil fuel projects must be scrapped if the world is to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and limit warming to 1.5ºC.

German Environment Minister Svenja Schulze called the agreement "an important step forward" that gave credibility to industrialised nations to urge others to follow suit.

Her French counterpart, Barbara Pompili, said it "sets the stage for a radical transition towards clean energy", hailing Japan, which had resisted, for getting on board.

The G-7 countries — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States and Britain — are home to major carmakers, and further agreed to "significantly accelerate" the shift away from petrol in the transport industry within the decade.

Fossil fuels should also be mostly phased out from G-7 countries' electricity supplies by the 2030s.

The grouping reiterated that it aimed to eliminate "inefficient fossil fuel subsidies" by 2025 and encouraged all countries to follow suit. 

Meanwhile, it vowed to "champion" new global biodiversity targets, including conserving or protecting at least 30 per cent of global land and at least 30 per cent of the global ocean by 2030 to halt, and reverse biodiversity loss.

Nations around the world committed under the 2015 Paris accord to keeping the global temperature increase to under 2ºC and ideally closer to 1.5ºC by 2050.

However, many of the largest emitters have so far failed to do so and countries have not even agreed on a unified rulebook governing how the Paris agreement works in practice. 

Sharma said earlier this month that the upcoming COP summit — the biggest climate talks since the Paris talks — were "the last hope" of realistically keeping to the targets.

All G-7 nations now have 2030 emissions reduction targets, aligned with 2050 net zero aims.

The German government recently raised the ambition on its emissions reduction targets after a landmark ruling by the country's top court declared a flagship climate protection law "insufficient".

Under the new targets, the government expects to slash emissions by 65 per cent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, going further than the current 55 per cent reduction target.

Germany is also aiming to be carbon neutral by 2045, five years earlier than previously planned.

Environmental activists broadly welcomed the commitments struck Friday, but urged wealthy countries to produced more detailed plans and timeframes.

"The commitment on ending international coal funding is a real positive and leaves China isolated globally with its ongoing international financing for the most polluting fossil fuel," said Rebecca Newsom, of Greenpeace UK.

"Unfortunately though, too many of these pledges remain vague when we need them to be specific and set out timetabled action."

Nick Mabey, chief executive of the E3G climate think-tank, said the agreements provided "real momentum" ahead of COP26, pinpointing the deals around investment in coal and other fossil fuels as particularly significant.

"It puts the burden on any fossil fuel development now to prove that it's 1.5ºC compatible," he told the BBC.

LONDON — British retail sales surged last month as non-essential stores reopened from virus lockdown, sparking a boom in clothing demand, data showed on Friday.

Sales by volume soared 9.2 per cent in April from March as Britain's economy cranked back into action.

"Retail sales volumes grew sharply... reflecting the effect of the easing of coronavirus restrictions," the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.

Demand for clothing rocketed by almost 70 per cent, aided by good weather as consumers splashed their cash on new outfits after one year of lockdowns.

Easing travel restrictions prompted a similar spike in demand for motor fuel.

"Pent-up demand built up during lockdown continues to be released as the reopening of non-essential retail offered the public a welcomed opportunity to visit many of their favourite shop," said Helen Dickinson, head of the British Retail Consortium.

"Improved weather during April meant greater sales of fashion, particularly in outerwear and knitwear, as the public renewed their wardrobe and made plans to meet friends and family outdoors."

Overall sales rocketed 42.4 per cent compared with April last year, which was the first full month of the initial UK lockdown at the start of the crisis.

Online sales boomed during lockdowns as consumers were forced to shop via their smartphones and computer screens, soaring by 56 per cent compared to April 2019 before the pandemic struck.

Britain is exiting lockdowns at a gradual pace, allowing the economy to further recover from pandemic fallout.

At the same time, analysts are fearful that reopening economies will spark a global inflationary spike.

British inflation soared last month to 1.5 per cent, the highest level since the early stages of the pandemic, separate data showed earlier this week.

Dose of retail therapy 

"Retailers were in dire need of a spring sales boost after a long dark winter of lockdowns and the grand reopening delivered just that," said Susannah Streeter, analyst at stockbroker Hargreaves Lansdown.

"Shoppers indulged in a major dose of retail therapy, after being banned from browsing the racks for months."

Non-essential retailers reopened for business from April 12 in England and Wales and from April 26 in Scotland.

Lifting the stay-at-home order started in early March, while pubs, restaurants and cafes reopened last month — alongside non-essential retail — but had been limited to outdoor dining and drinking.

"The prospect of being able to go out once more and frequent bars and restaurants, saw consumers splashing the cash on the latest fashions," Streeter said.

The UK economy began to recover strongly at the end of the first quarter, despite only minor easing of lockdowns.

Gross domestic product jumped 2.1 per cent in March, although by not enough for the UK economy to avoid contracting by 1.5 per cent in the first quarter.

The government plans to lift most virus restrictions from June 21.

HONG KONG — Asian markets were mixed in early trade on Thursday after minutes showed some Federal Reserve officials contemplating a wind-down of its vast monetary easing measures, while optimism remained buoyed by the outlook for the economic recovery.

Bitcoin stabilised after Wednesday's wild gyrations that saw it collapse almost a third in one day before recovering most of its losses.

Global equities have soared after hitting their pandemic nadir in March last year, thanks to central bank largesse and mind-boggling government spending measures, with recent gains also helped by the rollout of vaccines and easing of lockdown measures.

But investors have for months grown increasingly concerned that the blockbuster bounceback expected in the world economy will fan inflation as the stimulus mixes with cashed-up consumers who have been unable to spend finally being let loose.

Data suggests those fears are coming true as recent inflation readings in several countries beat forecasts, with supply shortages and a low base effect from last year compounded by companies hiking wages to attract workers.

The Fed has repeatedly insisted that it sees the upward pressures as transitory and that prices will stabilise next year, adding that it will maintain its ultra-easy policies and record low interest rates until unemployment has been tamed and inflation is running consistently hot.

However, with the economy well on the recovery track, minutes from the Fed's April meeting released Wednesday indicated some board members consider the time may soon come to at least begin discussing the bank's position.

"A number of participants suggested that if the economy continued to make rapid progress toward the committee's goals, it might be appropriate at some point in upcoming meetings to begin discussing a plan for adjusting the pace of asset purchases," the minutes said.

 'Surprise' 

Analysts pointed out that the meeting came before figures showed US inflation rocketed more than estimated in April, meaning the worries of those hawkish board members may have since been heightened.

"First they taper, then everyone starts the countdown until the rise with interest rates," said OANDA's Edward Moya. "Treasury yields climbed higher as the Fed's minutes show hawks are starting to emerge as the outlook for asset purchases is no longer unanimous.

"Now it is various participants that think it will be some time before further progress is made with their goals."

Still, US markets ended lower but well off their earlier lows as investors took comfort that the change in policy would not likely be immediate.

Asia fluctuated. Tokyo ended slightly higher, and Sydney and Wellington added more than one per cent, while Singapore, Bangkok and Jakarta also rose.

Hong Kong dropped as it reopened after a midweek holiday to play catch-up with Wednesday's global losses, as Shanghai, Seoul, Taipei, Manila and Mumbai also retreated.

London, Paris and Frankfurt all rose at the open.

"It was a surprise to hear the talk about Fed tapering," Joyce Chang, of JP Morgan Global Research, told Bloomberg TV.

"The market had been thinking there might be a couple of months before you really saw this particular issue come into focus." Still, she said the outlook remained upbeat for the global economy as it emerges from last year's crisis.

Bitcoin edged up in Asian trade to sit back above $40,000, having endured a rollercoaster Wednesday after China signalled a new crackdown on the cryptocurrency before Elon Musk gave his crucial support on Twitter.

The digital unit was sent crashing from $45,000 to almost $30,000 at one point -- less than half its record high reached last month -- in reaction to Beijing's warning that it would not be allowed for transactions. But Tesla tycoon Musk later tweeted a diamond and open hands emoji many took as a sign his car giant would not sell.

BEIJING — Bitcoin plunged below $39,000 for the first time in more than three months on Wednesday after China said cryptocurrencies would not be allowed in transactions and warned investors against speculative trading in them, despite the country powering most of the world's mining.

The comments sent the unit diving more than 10 per cent and dealt it another blow soon after being battered by comments from tycoon Elon Musk and his Tesla car company.

Trading in cryptocurrencies has been banned in China since 2019 to prevent money laundering as leaders try to stop people from shifting cash overseas. The country had been home to around 90 per cent of the global trade in the sector.

In a statement, three state-backed industry associations said "cryptocurrency prices have skyrocketed and plummeted, and cryptocurrency trading speculation activities have rebounded".

The price fluctuations "seriously violate people's asset safety and disrupt normal economic and financial order", said the statement, which was posted to social media by the People's Bank of China.

The notice warned consumers against wild speculation, adding that the "losses caused by investment transactions are borne by the consumers themselves", since Chinese law offers no protection to them. 

It reiterated that providing cryptocurrency services to customers and crypto-based financial products was illegal for Chinese financial institutions and payment providers.

Linghao Bao, analyst at Trivium China, said despite the ban Chinese investors can still find ways to buy cryptocurrencies through illegal vendors.

"There will always be a way to circumvent regulations," he said. "The point of this order is to tell financial institutions to up their game to detect these crypto-related transactions."

Bitcoin tumbled on Wednesday from $45,600 to $38,570, its lowest since early February, and well off the record high of $64,870 seen last month. It later edged back above $40,000 but analysts have warned it could test as low as $30,000.

"This is the latest chapter of China tightening the noose around crypto," Antoni Trenchev, managing partner and co-founder of London-based crypto lender Nexo, said.

'Here to stay' 

Adam Reynolds, of Saxo Markets, added that avoiding use of cryptocurrency, which can be transferred out of the country, is "essential to maintaining capital controls" in China. 

Bitcoin has had a torrid few days. It took a heavy hit at the start of the week after Musk appeared to suggest Tesla was planning to sell its huge holdings of the unit. And that came days after the electric car giant said it would halt using it in transactions because of environmental concerns.

"Elon Musk started the ball rolling," Germany-based crypto analyst Timo Emden said.

 "It will take some time for them to recover from this shock."

Mining cryptocurrency is a hugely energy-intensive process requiring large amounts of electricity in giant data centres.

China, which powers nearly 80 per cent of the global cryptocurrency trade, relies on a particularly polluting type of coal, lignite, to power some of its mining.

"If bitcoin was a country, it would use around the same amount of electricity a year to mine as Switzerland does in total," Deutsche Bank analysts said in a note.

However, some Chinese enthusiasts remained unfazed.

"This has happened before and it happens every year... Crypto is here to stay," said trader and ex-tech industry worker Zeng Jiajun. 

The Hong Kong Bitcoin Association tweeted: "It is customary for the People's Bank of China to ban bitcoin at least once in a bull cycle."

China is in the midst of a wide-ranging regulatory crackdown on its fintech sector, whose biggest players — including Alibaba and Tencent — have been hit with big fines after being found guilty of monopolistic practices.

The central bank has also sought to promote its own heavily regulated digital yuan, which it is testing across the country in pilot schemes.