In capital letters and with an exclamation mark, “FAKE NEWS!” may have been popularised by Donald Trump in hundreds of his tweets but the concept has existed for centuries.
For the US president the term refers to what he claims are lies masquerading as news in the mainstream “Fake News Media”.
Generally, it means “false news released in the media with full knowledge of the facts,” says French communications expert Pascal Froissart, from University of Paris 8.
This existed long before Trump became the 45th president of the United States in 2017 and way ahead of the emergence of social media.
Here are some examples through history.
Dubious Byzantine ‘anecdota’
Early versions of fake news are found in the sixth-century “Anecdota” of prominent Byzantine scholar and writer Procopius, says Harvard University historian Robert Darnton.
Known as “Secret History” in English, these texts contain “dubious information” on the purported behind-the-scenes scandals of the reign of Emperor Justinian, Darnton says.
They were kept secret until Procopius’s death and contrasted with his official writings about the ruler.
Pharaonic fibs
French researcher Francois-Bernard Huyghe finds traces of fake news even further back in time, during the period of the Egyptian pharaohs before the birth of Christ.
For example, Ramses II’s claimed victory over the Hittite people at the battle of Kadesh towards 1274 BC, which is celebrated in bas-reliefs and Egyptian texts, was in reality a “semi-defeat”, he says.
The real success was “that of propaganda, of the sculptors and scribes,” Huyghe says.
Half-true ‘libelles’
In 18th century France “libelles” were short satirical or controversial texts that mixed truth and fiction in an “early form of fake news,” historian Robert Zaretsky, from the University of Houston, told AFP.
One item published in London in 1771, concerning scandals in the French court, even warned readers that some of the content is “at the very most plausible” and some an “obvious falsity”.
Rags, fabrications
Sold in the streets of France during the same period, “canards” were popular newssheets that often carried made-up news, for example, reporting around 1780 the capture of an imaginary monster in Chile.
The word has moved into the English language to mean an unfounded rumour or story.
Elaborate hoaxes designed to sell newspapers emerged in the US press in the 19th century.
The New York Herald, for example, gave in 1874 an account of a bloody escape of wild animals from the Central Park Zoo but wrapped up with: “Of course the entire story given above is a pure fabrication.”
It is around this time the term “fake news” seems to have appeared, says US journalist Robert Love in the Columbia Journalism Review.
It was a period “when a rush of emerging technologies intersected with newsgathering practices during a boom time for newspapers,” he says.
Operation INFEKTION
During the Cold War a calculated Soviet tactic was the “deliberate spreading of false information to influence opinion and weaken an enemy”, in this case the West, according to Huyghe.
An emblematic case was the KGB’s Operation INFEKTION, aimed at making people believe that HIV/AIDS was a biological weapon created in US army laboratories.
It started with the publication in an obscure Indian newspaper in 1983 of an anonymous letter making such claims, which were eventually spread more widely.
Media hoaxed
In late 1989, as the communist regime of Nicolae Ceausescu tottered in Romania, images were published of mutilated bodies dug from mass graves near the town of Timisoara.
They were said to be victims of the regime’s security forces. The pictures went around the world, galvanising public opinion against Ceausescu who was executed by the end of the year.
But the corpses turned out to be of people who had died from illness or accidents before the unfolding revolution.
The repetition of false reports by other media was what Huyghe called an “autointoxication” in his 2016 book on disinformation, “La Desinformation: Les Armes du Faux”. — AFP

Rising global oil supply, driven by crude giants Saudi Arabia and Russia, may come under pressure as key producers face disruptions, the International Energy Agency said Thursday.
The IEA welcomed in its July report last month’s agreement between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia to open the taps in order to bring prices down from multi-year highs.
But it pointed to supply disruptions in Libya after a string of attacks on infrastructure.
It also highlighted continuing unrest in Venezuela and a drop in Iranian exports after President Donald Trump announced he was pulling the United States out of the landmark nuclear deal reached in 2015.
“The large number of disruptions reminds us of the pressure on global oil supply,” the IEA said.
“This will become an even bigger issue as rising production from Middle East Gulf countries and Russia, welcome though it is, comes at the expense of the world’s spare capacity cushion, which might be stretched to the limit.”
The IEA report was published a day after both main oil contracts were sent into freefall by worries over a stronger dollar and the impact of the global trade war on demand.
The selling was also fanned by Libya’s resumption Wednesday of oil exports from its eastern production heartland after a showdown between the war-torn country’s rival authorities.
Even though Libyan exports have resumed, the IEA remains worried for the future.
“At the time of writing, the situation seemed to be improving, but we cannot know if stability will return,” it said.
“The fact that so much production is vulnerable is clearly a cause for concern.”
– Saudi Arabia output soars –
Also worrisome was the unabating unrest in Venezuela, which has sent output from the Latin American oil giant crashing in recent weeks.
And while Iran has yet to feel the full impact of renewed US sanctions, the IEA fears there could be “an even steeper reduction than the 1.2 million barrels per day seen during the previous round of sanctions”.
Iraq, which is also chronically restive, does not have spare capacity either, leaving most of the job of hiking OPEC production to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.
“We see no sign of higher production from elsewhere that might ease fears of market tightness,” the IEA said.
Saudi Arabia and Russia opened their taps ahead of a key Vienna meeting in June where OPEC and Moscow agreed to up output in order to bring prices down.
“Already in June the two key producers lifted output by more than 500,000 barrels per day between them,” the IEA said.
“Saudi Arabia’s sharp increase allowed it to overtake the US and reclaim its position as the world’s second largest crude producer, and if it carries out its intention to produce at a record rate near 11 million barrels per day this month, it will challenge Russia,” it added.
But they alone cannot carry the burden of keeping the oil market stable.
“Despite higher output in June, OPEC oil supply was down 700,000 barrels per day compared to a year ago, with Venezuela lower by nearly 800,000 barrels per day, Angola by 210,000 barrels per day and Libya by 130,000 barrels per day,” the IEA said.
“Even so, global oil output was 1.25 million barrels per day higher than a year ago as rampant US output underpinned healthy non-OPEC growth.”
— AFP

Asian markets on Thursday recovered from the previous day’s hammering, oil prices bounced and the dollar extended a rally on the back of expectations the US is better prepared to deal with a trade war with China.
While investors remain on edge about a damaging standoff between the world’s two economic superpowers, there are hopes the two sides will avoid an escalation despite Donald Trump threatening tariffs on a further $200 billion of Chinese goods.
The optimism helped bargain buying Thursday, with Tokyo ending more than one percent higher and Hong Kong adding 0.6 percent.
Shanghai jumped 2.2 percent as the Chinese central bank set the struggling yuan’s US dollar fix at a strong level in a bid to soothe concerns about its recent sell-off, while the official Xinhua news agency in a commentary said the country’s equity market fluctuations were controllable.
The remarks suggested leaders were ready to step in if needed, analysts said.
Sydney, Singapore, Seoul and Taipei were also deep in positive territory.
However, Stephen Innes, head of Asia-Pacific trading at OANDA, warned “we are little more than a headline away from another risk-off episode” and added that markets would likely remain volatile for some time.
“The prospects of another round of US tariffs directed at China have resurrected fears that the trade skirmish between Washington and Beijing could escalate with some investors now fearing a full-blown global trade war could be a reality,” he said.
“But the most damning signal is that dialogue… is pretty much non-existent and with a diplomatic solution appearing more unlikely as the days go by markets will remain on the defensive.”
Japan’s Nikkei has been given an extra nudge by a weaker yen, which helps exporters.
Despite the currency’s popularity as a safe haven in times of turmoil, the yen is at a six-month low against the dollar, which is getting support from the robust US economy.
Settlement hopes
While most other countries are seeing improvement, data shows the US is surging as jobs creation picks up and wages rise. News that producer price inflation hit a more than six-year high in June added to expectations the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates again soon, in turn strengthening the dollar.
The strong readings coming out of Washington suggest the US is in a much stronger position to fight a trade war with China, which is battling slowing growth and a crippling debt mountain among other things.
But Marito Ueda, senior dealer at FX Prime, said there are also hopes for a China-US deal to avoid a trade war.
“Even though concerns remain over US-China trade frictions, the dollar remains stronger (against the yen) as traders believe there will be a political settlement at some point to avoid an all-out trade war,” he told AFP.
The US unit was also up against the euro and most other high-yielding currencies.
On oil markets both main contracts edged up after being sent into freefall Wednesday — Brent dived around six percent and WTI shed about five percent — by worries about the stronger dollar and the impact of a trade war on demand.
The selling was fanned by news that major producer Libya had resumed exports from four eastern ports following a disruption caused by clashes in the war-torn country.
In Hong Kong, Chinese telecoms equipment maker ZTE cruised 25 percent higher as it moved a step closer to having US sanctions lifted by signing an agreement to put $400 million in escrow to cover any future violations.
The move comes after it agreed to pay a $1 billion fine and make the escrow placement in return for the lifting of a seven-year ban on US firms selling to it, which had put in on the edge of collapse.
In early European trade London and Paris each added 0.2 percent and Frankfurt gained 0.3 percent.
Key figures at 0810 GMT
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.2 percent at 22,187.96 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng: UP 0.6 percent at 28,480.83 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: UP 2.2 percent at 2,837.66 (close)
London – FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 7,609.98
Dollar/yen: UP at 112.33 yen from 112.01 yen
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1686 from $1.1700 at 2045 GMT
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3214 from $1.3205
Oil – West Texas Intermediate: UP 31 cents at $70.69 per barrel
Oil – Brent Crude: UP $1.20 at $74.60 per barrel
New York – Dow: DOWN 0.9 percent at 24,700.45 (close)
— AFP

Shares in Chinese telecoms equipment maker ZTE surged more than 25 percent in Hong Kong on Thursday after the company moved a step closer to having a painful US purchase ban lifted.
The firm had been forced to halt operations and was on the verge of collapse after Washington announced a seven-year ban on US companies selling it crucial parts owing to its handling of a sanctions violation.
However, as a favour to Chinese President Xi Jinping, US President Donald Trump ordered the Commerce Department to ease the penalties and replace it with an order to pay a $1 billion fine and put $400 million in an escrow account to cover any future penalties for violations.
It was also ordered to replace its board of directors and retain outside monitors.
On Wednesday ZTE signed an escrow agreement, meaning the sanctions could be lifted as soon as Thursday.
The news sent shares in the firm 25.13 percent higher in Hong Kong to end at HK$13.94. Still, it is sharply down from the HK$25.60 it was at before trading was suspended after the sanctions were announced in April.
ZTE was pushed to the brink by the initial penalty, which came after US officials said it had failed to take action against staff who were responsible for violating trade sanctions against Iran and North Korea. It was fined $1.2 billion last year for those violations.
Trump’s decision to step in was seen as an olive branch by the president as trade war tensions started to mount, making it a key element in the spat between Washington and Beijing.
However, despite the agreement US lawmakers are working to reinstate the ban, accusing Trump rewarding a company that has repeatedly broken US law and engaged in espionage. — AFP

Indonesia will take a majority stake in one of the world’s biggest gold and copper mines, the government said Thursday, as it moves to claw back control of its natural resources.
State-owned mining firm Inalum is to assume a 51 percent interest in the Grasberg mine under an agreement to be signed later in the day, President Joko Widodo said.
Indonesia currently holds just under 10 percent of the mine, which is owned and operated by a unit of US-based Freeport-McMoRan.
Freeport is expected to continue operating the vast complex in the jungles of Papua province — and keep the remaining ownership stake.
Widodo did not reveal financial details of the agreement, which he said came after “very difficult, intense” negotiations.
“This is a leap forward,” he told reporters. “It’s a done deal, we just need to sign it.”
The deal means more tax and royalties revenue for the government, he added.
Ministers were set to hold a news conference about the deal later in the day.
The announcement comes after more than a year of see-saw negotiations over the future of Freeport’s operations in the Southeast Asian nation.
The company and Indonesia’s government have sparred over the ownership of Grasberg and its social and environmental impact, including how the firm manages mine waste known as tailings.
The mine is a frequent flashpoint in Papua’s struggle for independence from Indonesia and has fuelled resentment over how much locals benefit from the region’s rich resources.
Papua, on the western half of New Guinea island, has been the scene of a simmering independence insurgency since it was annexed by Jakarta in the late 1960s.
Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto has a joint venture agreement with Freeport for about 40 percent of Grasberg’s production.
Rio Tinto has previously said it would be willing to sell its interest in the complex, with earlier reports pegging a potential deal at around $3.5 billion.
Foreign firms have been ordered to comply with new mining ownership rules launched by Widodo — who is seeking re-election next year — aimed at exercising more domestic control of Indonesia’s resources.
Despite sitting atop some of the world’s most abundant natural resources, successive governments have failed to take advantage of its vast riches, with critics blaming badly thought-out and nationalistic policies that make the country an uncertain place to invest.
A series of regulatory changes from the government in recent years have caused jitters among miners, with some foreign firms choosing to exit Indonesia rather than deal with such an unpredictable environment. — AFP

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.
Syrian state media: Israeli missiles target army in Quneitra province
Israeli aircraft fired several missiles targeting Syrian army positions in Quneitra province and air defenses thwarted the attack, Syrian state media said. The attack near Hader at the frontier of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights caused only material damages, state news agency SANA cited a military source as saying.
After Trump’s spending demands, NATO summit turns to Afghanistan
NATO leaders will try on Thursday to move beyond Donald Trump’s demands for higher defense spending, and focus on ending the long war in Afghanistan, in the second day of a summit in Brussels underscored by transatlantic tensions. On a trip that will also take the U.S. president to Britain and to Helsinki to meet Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Trump spent the first day of the NATO summit lambasting allies for failing to spend the targeted 2 percent of GDP on defense and accused Germany of being a prisoner to Russian energy.
For Putin, Helsinki talks with Trump a win before he even sits down
For U.S. President Donald Trump, a summit with Vladimir Putin risks a political backlash at home and abroad. For the Russian president, however, the fact the summit is even happening is already a big geopolitical win. Despite Russia’s semi-pariah status among some Americans and U.S. allies, the Kremlin has long been trying to arrange a summit, betting that Putin and Trump will get on well and stop a sharp downwards spiral in bilateral ties.
Trade and tea with queen for Trump in a Britain in ‘turmoil’
U.S. President Donald Trump flies into Britain on Thursday for talks with the leader of the United States’ closest ally in Europe, and tea with Queen Elizabeth, set against a backdrop of protests and what he described as the country’s turmoil over Brexit. Fresh from a NATO summit where Trump chided Germany and other European nations for failing to contribute enough to defense spending, British Prime Minister Theresa May is hoping his trip will boost the close ties between their two nations and help forge a future free trade deal.
Nobel winner Malala slams Trump’s child separation policy
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai described as “cruel” a policy launched by U.S. President Donald Trump to separate children of illegal immigrants from their families, during her first visit to South America to promote girls’ education. More than 2,300 children were separated from their parents after the Trump administration began a “zero tolerance” policy on illegal immigrants in early May, seeking to prosecute all adults who cross the border illegally from Mexico into the United States. Trump stopped separating families last month following public outrage and court challenges.
Israeli sirens sound over Golan frontier with Syria, Jordan: Israeli military
Israeli air defense sirens sounded on Wednesday on the Golan Heights frontier with Syria and the nearby Jordanian border, the Israeli military said. The military, which has been on high alert as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces advance against rebels near the Golan and Jordan, did not say what triggered the sirens.
How could Iran disrupt Gulf oil flows?
The commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said last week that Tehran would block all exports through the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf if countries heed U.S. calls to stop buying Iranian oil from November. A fifth of global oil consumption passes through the Strait from Middle East crude producers to major markets.
Setting out vision for future ties, Britain’s May presses Brexit plans
British Prime Minister Theresa May will set out a blueprint on Thursday for what her government calls “a principled and practical Brexit”, putting at its core a plan for a free trade area for goods that has angered many in her party. May is pressing on with her Brexit plan, shrugging off the resignations of two senior ministers and the anger of euroskeptic lawmakers in her Conservative Party who have accused her of betraying her pledge of a clean break with the EU.
End of presidential immunity among plans of Mexico’s new leader
Mexico’s president-elect, leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, on Wednesday sketched out his legislative priorities for the next government, including measures to end presidential immunity and curb compensation for high-earning public sector officials. Lopez Obrador, who takes office on Dec. 1, also reaffirmed that his own presidential salary would be slashed and that privileges and perks for top officials would be scaled back.
El Salvador government rejects court ruling as political attack
El Salvador’s government said on Wednesday a Supreme Court ruling that seeks to compel testimony from the president over the disappearance of a diplomat nearly 30 years ago in the run-up to the country’s bloody civil war was a political attack. The court said on Tuesday that President Salvador Sanchez Ceren, a 74-year-old former guerrilla leader, must testify over the kidnapping of a South African diplomat in 1979. — Reuters

Banners calling the Philippines a “province of China” mysteriously appeared on bridges in Manila on Thursday, sparking fury on social media on what was the second anniversary of Manila’s victory over Beijing in a landmark arbitration case.
The terms “province of China” and “South China Sea” trended prominently on Twitter, while news reports of the sudden appearance of the red tarpaulin banners along key thoroughfares generated thousands of shares and comments on Facebook.
No group claimed responsibility for the banners, which feature English and Chinese characters and a Chinese flag flanked by dragons. City authorities were seen removing some of them, which were spotted in at least five locations.
Emojis denoting anger or surprise dominated comments on social media next to pictures of the signs, which say “Welcome to the Philippines, Province of China”.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled two years ago that China had no historic title over the waters of the South China Sea and it had breached the Philippines’ sovereign rights by blocking its fishermen and building artificial islands in its Exclusive Economic Zone.
“NOT FUNNY”, former solicitor general and chief lawyer for the Philippine case, Florin Hilbay, posted on his social media accounts.
Some users accused the political opposition of making the signs to discredit the government’s warming ties with China.
Other chided the government for not challenging China’s assertiveness in the South China Sea. “This is too much. The country was sold off,” one Facebook user said.
The two countries have a bitter history of disputes over maritime sovereignty, but under President Rodrigo Duterte, who took office just two weeks before the Hague ruling, Manila has taken a conciliatory approach and wants China’s loans, trade and investments.
Duterte frequently praises Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and in February caused a stir when he jokingly offered the Philippines to Beijing as a province of China.
The Philippines scored an “own goal” in its failure to press China to implement the arbitration ruling, opposition party Akbayan said.
During an event to mark the anniversary of the ruling, Vice President Leni Robredo, who was elected separately to Duterte, said Filipinos should peacefully protest against the government’s inaction.
Duterte’s spokesman, Harry Roque, called the banners “absurd” and said it was likely the government’s political enemies were behind them.
China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. — Reuters

The Philippines will begin negotiations on a free trade agreement with the United States in September, its ambassador to Washington said on Thursday, in a bid to expand market access for its agricultural products.
Jose Manuel Romualdez told reporters the first round of talks will be held in Washington and would likely focus on labour, intellectual property and agriculture as Manila looks to boost exports to foreign markets.
“It’s just the start and this will take some time, maybe one or two years,” Romualdez said, adding the Philippines has a $5.4 billion trade surplus with the United States in 2016, one of the country’s top trading partners.
Romualdez said a free trade agreement with the world’s largest economy was likely to be approved given that the Philippines is a much smaller U.S. trading partner than China and Europe, which have become targets of the Trump administration’s “America First” trade agenda.
Trade tensions between Washington and China have escalated after U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, threatened 10 percent tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods.
Annual two-way trade of goods and services between the Philippines and its long-term ally totaled $27 billion in 2016, according to the Office of U.S. Trade Representative. It would be Washington’s second FTA with a Southeast Asian country after Singapore.
Initial talks on the Philippines-United States FTA were held in November after President Rodrigo Duterte met with U.S Donald Trump during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Manila.
About 75 percent of Philippine exports to the United States already enter the American market duty-free, but Manila wants to gain market access for its garments and textiles, wristwatches and agricultural products, including top export carrageenan and seaweed. — Reuters

Most U.S. businesses operating in China oppose the use of tariffs in retaliation for the challenges they face, from an uneven playing field to poor protection of intellectual property rights, a survey showed on Thursday.
Almost 69 percent of the 434 respondents to the annual China Business Climate Survey of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai opposed tariffs, while just 8.5 percent backed them, the body said.
“Resolving these challenges in an equitable manner is essential for the United States and China to have a healthy long-term commercial relationship that brings benefits to both our peoples,” it said in a statement on the survey results.
The survey, conducted between April 10 and May 10, reflects the mix of key concerns and realities for American businesses in China at a time of heightened uncertainty as the Trump administration raises the ante in its trade war with Beijing.
U.S. President Donald Trump has accused China of unfair trade practices that give its firms an advantage, while hobbling American companies and creating an outsized trade deficit for the United States.
On Tuesday, the office of the U.S. Trade Representative said it would impose 10 percent tariffs on an extra $200 billion worth of Chinese imports, from food products to tobacco, chemicals, coal, steel and aluminum.
The survey showed that while U.S. companies continue to face challenges in China, 34 percent of respondents felt Chinese government policies toward foreign companies had improved, up from 28 percent last year.
The number of companies that felt policies had worsened for foreign firms fell to 23 percent from 33 percent, although 60 percent of respondents felt China’s regulatory environment lacked transparency, on par with last year.
Insufficient intellectual property rights protection and the need to get licences were the top two regulatory challenges, although slightly fewer companies found both to be a hindrance in the 2018 poll, compared with that of 2017.
To force greater market access, 42 percent of respondents favoured investment reciprocity, up from 40 percent last year. But the number opposing it also grew, to 16 percent, from 9 percent last year. The number of those unsure fell to 31 percent from 44 percent.
“Despite the relative optimism our members feel guarded about the future,” AmCham said in its statement.
Concerns such as government favouritism for domestic firms and pressure on U.S. ones in strategically important sectors to transfer technology were “stoking demand for reciprocity in the U.S.-China trading relationship, even if our members generally oppose the use of retaliatory trade tariffs,” it added.
The biggest operational challenge of all was rising costs, an issue confronting more than 95 percent of respondents, the poll showed. More than 85 percent of respondents saw domestic competition as a challenge.
The proportion of companies expecting to be profitable was basically flat, at about 77 percent, but firms signalled they were pulling back slightly on investment.
The survey showed 53 percent of companies increased investment in 2017, down from 55 percent the year before, highlighting a trend of reduced investment growth since a 2012 peak, when 74 percent of respondents said they had boosted investment in China. — Reuters