EU probes telecom giants over Internet services

BRUSSELS (AFP) ― European Union antitrust officials this week launched surprise investigations of several telecom firms suspected of abusing their positions in Internet services, including Orange, Deutsche Telekom and Telefonica.The European Commission said in a statement that its antitrust officials had made the “unannounced inspections” on Tuesday on suspicions the companies had abused a dominant market position.The companies, which wholesale Internet access to smaller rivals, are suspected of

July 12, 2013

Microsoft reboots with sweeping reorganization

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ― Microsoft Corp. has decided its entire business needs a new operating system.CEO Steve Ballmer is restructuring the company to cope with a quickening pace of technological change that has left the world’s largest software maker a step behind its two biggest rivals, Apple and Google.In an effort to catch up, Microsoft is dismantling a management structure that separated the company into sometimes disjointed divisions and hatching a more cohesive product lineup. The new set up

July 12, 2013

U.S. stocks surge after Fed assurance on stimulus

The U.S. stock market surged to an all-time high Thursday after the Federal Reserve chairman said the central bank will keep supporting the economy.The Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor's 500 jumped. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note continued to decline as investors bought bonds. Stocks that benefit most from a continuation of low interest rates, such as homebuilders, notched some of the biggest gains.In a speech late Wednesday after U.S. markets had closed, Fed Chairman Ben

July 12, 2013

US judge: Apple colluded to raise e-book prices

Apple Inc. milked the popularity of its iTunes store to form an illegal cartel with publishers to raise electronic book prices, a federal judge decided in a case swayed by the words of the late Steve Jobs.Wednesday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan sided with government regulators' contention that Apple joined five major book publishers to gang up on Amazon.com in a price-fixing conspiracy that caused consumers to pay more for electronic books.Determined to protect one of

July 11, 2013

Bernanke: US economy still needs Fed's stimulus

Chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday that the U.S. economy still needs help from the Federal Reserve's low interest rate policies.Bernanke told the National Bureau of Economic Research that because unemployment remains high and inflation is below the Fed's target, the policies are still necessary. He also said the economy is also being held back by higher taxes and federal spending cuts.``If you put all of that together, you can only conclude that highly accommodative monetary policy for the for

July 11, 2013

China trade falls in new sign economy fading

BEIJING (AP) ― China’s trade declined abruptly in June in a new sign of weakness in the world’s second-largest economy. Exports fell by 3.1 percent compared with a year earlier and imports contracted by 0.7 percent, customs data showed Wednesday. Both were below private sector forecasts of growth in the low single digits. China’s economic growth has slowed this year and is expected to fall further due to weak global demand and an effort by the Chinese central bank to cool a credit boom. New comm

July 10, 2013

BlackBerry chief seeks patience with turnaround

WATERLOO, Ontario (AP) ― Research In Motion CEO Thorsten Heins pleaded for patience Tuesday as the company faces questions about its growth and survival. BlackBerry shares were hammered last month after the company’s financial results fell short of expectations. Heins told shareholders that BlackBerry is in the second stage of its turnaround. Stage three, he said, includes profitability. “We are still in the midst of a major, complex transition of this company, and like most of these transformat

July 10, 2013

S&P downgrades Italy on effects of recession

Ratings agency Standard and Poor's on Tuesday downgraded the sovereign rating of crisis-hit Italy by one notch to 'BBB' on worries over the country's ability to resist effects of a dilapidating recession."The rating action reflects our view of a further worsening of Italy's economic prospects coming on top of a decade of real growth averaging minus 0.04 percent," it said.The agency also lowered its gross domestic product growth forecast for Italy in 2013, to negative 1.9 percent, compared with a

July 10, 2013

U.S., EU open tough talks on trade, spying

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Landmark U.S.-EU trade talks opened in Washington Monday as the two sides also discussed U.S. spying activities that infuriated Europeans and threatened to hold up what could be the world’s largest free-trade deal.In the wake of disclosures that the United States has not only been vacuuming up huge quantities of phone and Internet data but also snooping on its allies, European officials gathered at the Department of Justice to discuss the super-secret National Security Agency’

July 9, 2013

China's June inflation rises to 2.7 percent

China's inflation rose in June but was well below the government's target in a sign of weak demand amid an economic slowdown.Consumer prices rose 2.7 percent over a year earlier, up from May's 2.1 percent gain but below the 3.5 percent official target for the year, the government reported Tuesday. The June figure was driven by a 4.9 percent rise in food costs.Pressure for prices to rise is relatively low in China because of weak demand, excess production capacity in many industries and lower cos

July 9, 2013

Greece approved to get next rescue loan payments

Greece secured a much-needed 6.8 billion euros ($8.7 billion) in rescue loans Monday after squeaking by an inspection from its international creditors, who are demanding it slash thousands of civil servant jobs and government spending.Experts from the European Central Bank, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund said Greece's finances are improving, although they warned that it is making reforms too slowly and that the outlook for its economy, which has been in recession since 20

July 9, 2013