The Korea Herald

Eurozone economy ‘still fragile’: Draghi

PARIS (AP) ― European Central Bank head Mario Draghi said the eurozone economy is still fragile and the bank is willing to use “all available instruments” to keep market interest rates from rising and hurting a fledgling recovery. He said the bank would even consider offering a third round of cheap, long-term loans to banks. The money injection would boost the flow of credit in the economy, hopefully helping growth in the 17-country currency bloc. “We view this recovery as weak, as fragile, as u

Oct. 3, 2013

Eurozone economy ‘still fragile’: Draghi

Xi makes historic speech in Indonesia

JAKARTA (AP) ― Chinese President Xi Jinping made history in Indonesia on Thursday by becoming the first foreign leader to address the democratic country’s Parliament, using the platform to call for greater cooperation with Southeast Asia’s biggest economy and the region as a whole.China “is ready to work together with Indonesia and other ASEAN countries to make the two sides share the same prosperity (and) stick together through thick and thin so that we can become good friends and good neighbor

Oct. 3, 2013

Moody's ups Philippines rating to investment grade

Moody's Investors Service on Thursday became the third major credit rating agency to upgrade the Philippines to investment grade, citing its robust economy, political stability and improved governance.Moody's said it raised the rating by one notch to Baa3 from Ba1. It also assigned a positive outlook to the rating, which means there's a possibility of it being upgraded again in the future.Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings raised the country's credit rating earlier this year, reducing borrowing

Oct. 3, 2013

Apple becomes world’s top brand

Apple has unseated Coca-Cola as the world’s No. 1 brand, as the company founded by Steve Jobs is a leader in design and performance, according to a study of the Top 100 brands by Interbrand Corp. Apple Inc.’s brand value jumped 28 percent to $98.3 billion and Google Inc.’s rose in second place at $93.3 billion. The Coca-Cola Co. name slipped from the top spot after 13 years to third place at $79.2 billion. “Every so often, a company changes our lives ― not just with its products, but with its et

Oct. 1, 2013

Toyota chairman calls for more hybrids in U.S.

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Toyota chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada challenged automakers Monday to step up sales of hybrids in the United States, calling them “a long bridge” into future vehicles.“Today I wish to call on the industry to sell five million hybrids in the U.S. by the end of 2016,” Uchiyamada, who pioneered the Prius, said in remarks before the Economic Club of Washington, D.C.Uchiyamada forecast that hybrid vehicles would play a larger role than understood at the moment in the development of au

Oct. 1, 2013

Toyota chairman calls for more hybrids in U.S.

Domestic investors can curb capital flow volatility: IMF

Emerging markets can better resist capital flow volatility by taking measures to encourage their residents to invest abroad in good times and repatriate the funds when needed, according to a study by the International Monetary Fund. Countries where a surge of capital inflows was offset by domestic residents’ purchase of foreign assets fared better during the global financial crisis as international investors pulled out, the IMF said in a chapter of its World Economic Outlook released Monday. Tha

Oct. 1, 2013

U.K. unveils work for benefits plan

MANCHESTER, England (AFP) ― Britons who are out of work for several years will be forced to carry out community work to receive state unemployment payments, finance minister George Osborne announced on Monday.Speaking at the annual party conference of Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative party, Chancellor of the Exchequer Osborne also pledged to run a surplus by cutting spending.He further announced that the Conservative-led coalition with the Liberal Democrats would freeze fuel duty unti

Oct. 1, 2013

Japan P.M. to hike sales tax to curb debt

Japan's prime minister vowed Tuesday to press ahead with a sales tax hike seen as crucial to shrinking a huge national debt, although critics fear it would derail a budding economic recovery.The move marks a big political gamble for Shinzo Abe -- previous hikes have proved career-ending for his predecessors -- with the 59-year-old leader later Tuesday expected to spell out details of a stimulus package aimed at softening the blow.The tax increase ends months of uncertainty about whether Abe woul

Oct. 1, 2013

Nigeria signs $1.3 bn power plant deal with China

Nigeria has announced two major initiatives aimed at improving its woeful electricity supply, entering a $1.3 billion power plant deal with China and on Monday handing over state power assets to private investors.The privatization of most of state electricity firm PHCN has long been in the works in Africa's most populous nation, where blackouts occur multiple times daily despite the country's status as the continent's largest oil producer.Those taking over assets include Seoul-based Korea Electr

Oct. 1, 2013

China mobile brands boost Wistron, FIH as Sony falters

As Nokia Oyj and Sony Corp. stumble, the companies that supply their factories have suffered. Now, those suppliers are finding relief from a new quarter: Chinese brands with growing appeal to domestic buyers. Five of the top six mobile-phone brands in China ― the world’s largest handset market ― are domestic. Only Samsung Electronics Co. still outsells them, while Apple Inc. dropped to seventh place in the second quarter and neither Nokia nor Sony was in the top 10, according to researcher Canal

Sept. 30, 2013

China mobile brands boost Wistron, FIH as Sony falters

Siemens CEO cuts 15,000 jobs to catch up with General Electric

Siemens AG’s new Chief Executive Officer Joe Kaeser will cut more jobs than initially planned to boost earnings after the failure to catch up with rivals General Electric Co. and ABB Ltd. cost his predecessor the job. The company will eliminate 15,000 jobs, representing 4 percent of its 370,000 workers worldwide, and a third of the cuts will come in the German home market, Siemens spokesman Oliver Santen said by phone Sunday. He declined to give more regional details. Siemens, Europe’s largest e

Sept. 30, 2013

Siemens CEO cuts 15,000 jobs to catch up with General Electric

Abe bets it’s different this time with first tax rise since 1997 recession

It’s different this time. The four most dangerous words in markets, according to former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers. With Japan set to raise its sales tax for the first time since 1997, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s political future rides on a different outcome than last time ― when the nation slid into a recession and the premier lost his job. To avoid a spending slump, Abe, 59, is poised to unveil a stimulus plan to counter the 3 percentage point bump in the sales levy. “Abe must know

Sept. 30, 2013

Abe bets it’s different this time with first tax rise since 1997 recession

Japan industrial production falls

TOKYO (AFP) ― Japan’s industrial production fell by a sharper-than-expected 0.7 percent on-month in August, official data showed Monday.The latest reading came after a revised rise of 3.4 percent registered in the previous month, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.It was also lower than a drop of 0.4 percent economists had expected on average.“Industrial production shows signs of picking up at a moderate pace,” the ministry said in its monthly survey, leaving its verdict un

Sept. 30, 2013

Vietnam opens door to foreign investors

Vietnam’s premier pledged to subject state-owned companies to competition and allow greater foreign ownership of banks as the government seeks to revive growth and join a key trade agreement. Over the next five years, Vietnam’s state companies will focus on areas such as infrastructure that “the private sector cannot or does not want to invest in,” Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said in an interview in New York. The government plans to devalue the dong as much as 2 percent by the end of the year

Sept. 30, 2013

China inaugurates Shanghai trade zone in finance reform push

Citigroup Inc. and Bank of China Ltd. announced they will participate in Shanghai’s free trade zone, the 11-square-mile experiment in more relaxed financial and investment controls that was inaugurated today. The two banks were among the first to announce their participation in the zone, which opens Oct. 1 with the aim of creating a more efficient and open economic system, Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said at an opening ceremony. The area is a testing ground for free-market policies that Premie

Sept. 29, 2013

France threatens Google over data protection breaches

PARIS (AFP) ― France’s data protection watchdog said Friday it would take action against U.S. giant Google for failing to comply with national privacy guidelines.The issue of data protection has gathered steam worldwide following revelations by Edward Snowden, a former contractor with the National Security Agency, that the U.S. had a vast, secret program called PRISM to monitor Internet users.France’s CNIL said Google had failed to comply with data protection guidelines within a three-month dead

Sept. 29, 2013

Smartphone cameras put pressure on Canon, Nikon

The global camera business, centered in Japan, is headed for a shakeout. With industry revenue falling to the lowest level in a decade amid surging smartphone sales, Nikon Corp., the world’s No. 2 camera maker, has cut prices to lure consumers. Market leader Canon Inc. may follow suit to keep pace, according to UBS AG, putting pressure on smaller producers and possibly leading them to retreat from the business. “There are too many players,” said Ryosuke Katsura, an analyst at UBS in Tokyo. “It’s

Sept. 29, 2013

Smartphone cameras put pressure on Canon, Nikon

Cameron plans married couples tax break

U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron plans to give married couples a tax break, he said before the start of his Conservative Party’s annual conference Monday. Cameron’s relationship with Conservative lawmakers this year has been characterized by a series of unprecedented defeats, with record numbers refusing to back his legislative program and then a smaller number voting against his call for action in Syria. The policy made public Saturday by the prime minister has been regularly called for by som

Sept. 29, 2013

Japan leader gambles on sales tax hike

TOKYO (AFP) ― Japanese premier Shinzo Abe’s long-awaited decision this week on whether to hike sales taxes is a major political gamble that proved career-ending for his predecessors, analysts say.Since sweeping December elections on a ticket to kickstart the world’s third-largest economy, the prime minister launched an unprecedented policy blitz ― dubbed Abenomics ― which appears to be taking hold as the economy expands while the stock market roars.Abe underscored that early success with an upbe

Sept. 29, 2013

Microsoft CEO Ballmer bids tearful goodbye

Steve Ballmer ended up in tears in his last company meeting held on Friday after a rock-concert-style sendoff topped with a dance performance, marking the end of his 33-year career at Microsoft.　Ballmer referred to Microsoft as “the best company in the world,” spotlighting the company‘s focus on “doing more” in comparison to rivals such as Apple, Amazon and Google. Despite expressing his regret for Microsoft’s late entry into the smartphone business, Ballmer said he believes in the company’s pot

Sept. 29, 2013