NEW YORK (AFP) ― No.3 U.S. mobile carrier Sprint is considering a bid for rival T-Mobile, a move that could shake up the wireless market, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.The report, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, said the deal could be worth more than $20 billion. But it also said the plan could be scuttled if it faces opposition from regulators.Sprint in July closed a deal which allowed Japan’s SoftBank to take a controlling stake for $21.6 billion, after a bidding war

Dec. 15, 2013

DUBLIN (AP) ― Ireland’s three-year bailout ordeal ends this weekend, a victory in its battle against bankruptcy. But while the government is ready to finance itself without aid, the Irish can’t yet escape what has become Europe’s longest-running austerity program. The Irish faced ruin in 2010, when the runaway cost of a bank-bailout program begun two years earlier destroyed the country’s ability to borrow at affordable rates. To the rescue came fellow European nations and the International Monet

Dec. 15, 2013

Stanley Fischer, said to be the leading candidate for the No. 2 job at the Federal Reserve, offers crisis-fighting experience and a dose of skepticism about efforts to shape expectations on the outlook for interest rates. The former Bank of Israel governor, though a newcomer to the Fed, also brings continuity and strong academic credentials: As a professor of economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he taught Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, whose term ends in January, and European Centr

Dec. 12, 2013

MUMBAI (AFP) ― Finnish giant Nokia, facing a reported $3.4 billion Indian tax claim, asked in court Tuesday to be allowed to transfer an Indian factory to U.S. giant Microsoft under the sale of its mobile phone business.The Finnish company asked the Delhi High Court to lift a stay on transfer of its assets so it can hand over the manufacturing plant in Chennai under the $7.2-billion deal to sell its mobile phone operations to the U.S. tech giant.Nokia has offered to pay a minimum deposit of 22.5

Dec. 11, 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) ― U.S. regulators have taken a major step toward reining in high-risk trading on Wall Street, banning the largest banks from trading for their own profit in most cases.It took three years to write and adopt the Volcker Rule, one of the most critical changes to financial laws in the wake of the 2008 banking crisis.The Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Office of the Compt

Dec. 11, 2013

BRUSSELS (AFP) ― The head of the International Monetary Fund warned Europe Tuesday that it was too early to declare victory over its crippling economic crisis and urged fresh efforts to enact much-needed reforms.Speaking in the European Parliament, Christine Lagarde noted the Europe Union had made some progress in tackling the crisis that has brought the economy to its knees but stressed: “Looking past the headlines, there are clearly signs that not all is well.”“Can we actually argue that the c

Dec. 11, 2013

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― The U.S. Treasury sold its last shares in General Motors on Monday, ending the dramatic rescue of the auto giant at the height of the financial crisis five years ago.The Treasury took a loss of more that $10 billion on the $49.5 billion bailout, but said that saving the U.S. auto industry, the jobs of millions of auto workers and the pensions of many retirees was worth it.The 2008 rescue, highly controversial at the time, “helped stabilize the auto industry, and prevent anothe

Dec. 10, 2013

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― American Airlines and US Airways merged Monday to create the new American Airlines, the world’s largest airline, after overcoming concerns that it will hurt competition and raise travelers’ costs.AMR Corporation, the former parent of American Airlines, and US Airways Group announced in a statement they had completed the deal after AMR emerged from bankruptcy protection.The new American Airlines Group is a goliath, providing nearly 6,700 daily flights to more than 330 destinati

Dec. 10, 2013

Twitter on Thursday announced the appointment of its first woman board member in a gender breakthrough at the globally popular one-to-many messaging service.Twitter, which recently made a stellar debut on the New York Stock Exchange, said in a 'tweet' that proven London publishing executive Marjorie Scardino has been named as the eighth board member of the San Francisco-based company."Thank you," 66-year-old Scardino said in a message fired off at her @marjscar Twitter account. "There couldn't b

Dec. 10, 2013

BEIJING (AFP) ― Chinese inflation slowed to 3 percent in November to snap two months of acceleration in consumer prices, official figures showed Monday, well under the government’s target for the year.Analysts saw the result as largely positive for the world’s second-largest economy, signaling no imminent need for authorities to tighten monetary policy. The annual rise in the consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, compared with an increase of 3.2 percent recorded in October, the Nation

Dec. 9, 2013

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe urged companies to increase wages faster than gains in the cost of living to break the legacy of 15 years of deflation, and praised Toyota Motor Corp. and Hitachi Ltd. for pledging to help. “What we want is for wages to rise more than prices,” Abe said in an interview in the prime minister’s official residence in Tokyo. “We want to enter a virtuous cycle as quickly as possible,” where economic growth propels corporate profits, employers raise compensation and w

Dec. 9, 2013