Most Popular
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Dongduk Women’s University halts coeducation talks
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Defense ministry denies special treatment for BTS’ V amid phone use allegations
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OpenAI in talks with Samsung to power AI features, report says
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Russia sent 'anti-air' missiles to Pyongyang, Yoon's aide says
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Two jailed for forcing disabled teens into prostitution
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Trump picks ex-N. Korea policy official as his principal deputy national security adviser
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S. Korea not to attend Sado mine memorial: foreign ministry
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South Korean military plans to launch new division for future warfare
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Kia EV9 GT marks world debut at LA Motor Show
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Gold bars and cash bundles; authorities confiscate millions from tax dodgers
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Retailers join Bangladesh safety plan
NEW YORK (AP) ― Some of the world’s largest retailers have agreed to a first-of-its-kind pact to improve safety at some of Bangladesh’s garment factories following a building collapse that killed more than 1,100 workers in the country last month.The move comes just days shy of a deadline imposed by workers’ rights groups that said they would hold street protests and otherwise increase pressure on clothing brands that did not sign the agreement by Wednesday.H&M, a trendy Swedish chain that’s the
May 14, 2013
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Cyprus gets first aid as Greece cash backed
Cyprus received its first emergency aid payment and Greece won approval of 7.5 billion euros ($9.7 billion) of rescue loans. Cyprus received 2 billion euros Monday and will get as much as 1 billion euros more in June as the Mediterranean island’s 10 billion-euro aid package was activated, the European Stability Mechanism, the euro area’s permanent backstop fund, said in a statement. The release came as finance ministers from the 17 euro countries wrangled over banking policy and economic remedie
May 14, 2013
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Euro ministers urge troubled Slovenia to act
BRUSSELS (AP) ― European finance ministers on Monday urged Slovenia to move swiftly in addressing the problems in its banking sector and get its public finances under control in a bid to avoid the nation from becoming the bloc’s sixth member to require a bailout. “The Slovenian government has to take swift and decisive action,” said Jeroem Dijsselbloem, who chairs the meetings of finance ministers from the 17 European Union countries that use the euro. “First and foremost Slovenia has to restore
May 14, 2013
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Bangladesh to raise wages for garment workers
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) ― Bangladesh’s government plans to raise the minimum wage for garment workers, a Cabinet minister said Sunday, after the deaths of more than 1,100 people in the collapse of a factory building focused international attention on the textile industry’s dismal pay and hazardous working conditions. A new minimum wage board will issue recommendations for pay raises within three months, Textiles Minister Abdul Latif Siddiky said. The Cabinet will then decide whether to accept tho
May 13, 2013
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EU to thrash out tax clampdown
BRUSSELS (AFP) ― As tens of millions languish on the dole with EU austerity blamed for deepening recession, finance ministers will switch their focus Tuesday from bailout negotiations to the pursuit of a trillion-euro annual tax-fraud bounty.European Union governments are looking to ready a package that will scrap national banking secrecy laws, and are called to overcome holdout opposition from Austria after Luxembourg said it would loosen its policies at a May 22 summit of leaders on the issue.
May 13, 2013
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G7 says Japan playing by currency rules
AYLESBURY, England (AP) ― Finance leaders from the Group of Seven leading industrial economies say Japan’s stimulus policies are directed at boosting its economy out of a two-decade period of stagnation, not an attempt to drive down its currency to make Japan’s exports more competitive. At the conclusion of a two-day meeting of leading financial representatives from the G7 countries ― the U.S., Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Canada and the U.K. ― host British Treasury chief George Osborne said t
May 12, 2013
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Alibaba billionaire resigns as CEO
HANGZHOU, China (AFP) ― Alibaba chief Jack Ma stepped down Friday before a potential initial public offering as the Chinese online retail giant announced a $294 million stake purchase in digital mapping firm AutoNavi.Alibaba, the world’s largest online retailer, said it bought a 28 percent stake in Nasdaq-listed AutoNavi, its second big purchase in as many weeks.The deal follows Alibaba’s $586 million purchase of an 18 percent stake in China’s dominant microblog provider Sina Weibo, a separate t
May 12, 2013
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IMF: Monetary easing could drive asset bubble
TOKYO (AP) ― International Monetary Fund officials say they are watching carefully for signs that massive flows of cash unleashed in world markets by unprecedented monetary easing might lead to asset bubbles, or to overheating in some emerging markets. “There is a risk of overheating of domestic economies, so we have to pay close attention to this risk,” said IMF Deputy Managing Director Naoyuki Shinohara. “There are some warning signals, but it is not up to the level to ring alarm bells,” he sa
May 12, 2013
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G7 smooths divisions over growth, deficit reduction
AYLESBURY, England (AFP) ― The Group of Seven advanced economies on Saturday appeared to smooth over U.S.-European differences on how to balance deep austerity measures with ways to support fragile growth.G7 finance ministers and central bankers also pledged their commitment to tackling tax evasion during two days of talks in the English countryside, British Finance Minister George Osborne said.The United States has put pressure on European nations to scale back their spending cuts amid fears th
May 12, 2013
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G-7 to discuss ways to 'nurture recovery'
LONDON (AP) -- The role of central banks in shoring up the global economic recovery is set to be a key point of discussion among top financial officials from the world's seven leading economies when they gather in the UK this weekend.The Japanese yen's continuing weakness is also expected to come under discussion now that the dollar has breached the 100 yen mark for the first time in a little over four years.In a statement Friday ahead of the Group of Seven's two-day meeting at a country house a
May 10, 2013
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Obama takes new shot at unleashing jobs growth
MANOR, Texas (AFP) ― U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday launched yet another effort to pressure Congress to act on his plans to invest in education and innovation to create a new generation of high-paying jobs.Obama flew to Texas to highlight school and industry programs seen as a model method of firming up sluggish growth and taking aim at unemployment, which remains at 7.5 percent more than four years into his presidency.He argued that his policies had cleared away the “rubble” of the wor
May 10, 2013
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Japan posts biggest current-account surplus in year as yen falls
Japan’s current-account surplus rose in March to the highest level in a year as a depreciating yen boosted repatriated earnings and brightened the outlook for the nation’s exports. The excess in the widest measure of trade was 1.25 trillion yen ($12.4 billion), the Ministry of Finance said in Tokyo today. That exceeded the 1.22 trillion yen median estimate of 23 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The yen breached 100 per dollar for the first time in four years in New York trading yesterday a
May 10, 2013
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Dollar surges, tops 100 yen first time in 4 years
The dollar surged on Thursday against major currencies, topping the 100-yen level for the first time in four years, helped by new jobs data adding to confidence in the US economy.The dollar jumped to 100.55 yen at 2100 GMT, up from 99.01 late Wednesday, in a long-expected move above the 100 threshold as the Bank of Japan pumps out more liquidity to wrench the Japanese economy from a deflationary hole.The dollar has gained more than 30 percent on the yen since it bottomed out at 77 yen late last
May 10, 2013
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Sony back in black
Sony is back in the black for its fiscal fourth quarter, recording a 93.9 billion yen ($948 million) profit, with big help from a weaker yen that boosts overseas earnings. The Japanese electronics and entertainment company also dragged itself back to profit for the fiscal year ended March 31, following four straight years of red ink. It reported Thursday annual earnings of 43 billion yen, a reversal from a loss of 457 billion yen the previous year -- the worst in the company's nearly seven-decad
May 9, 2013
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Gold declines on ETF withdrawals, falling commodities
Gold fell after the biggest advance in almost two weeks as SPDR Gold Trust holdings extended the longest streak of declines and other commodities dropped after China’s producer prices retreated more than forecast.Holdings in the world’s largest exchange-traded fund fell 0.6 percent to 1,051.47 metric tons yesterday, the 22nd day of declines and the lowest since March 2009, according to figures on the company’s website. Bullion climbed 1.5 percent yesterday, the most since April 25, on signs of i
May 9, 2013
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Coke goes global with anti-obesity push
NEW YORK (AP) ― Coca-Cola says it will make lower-calorie options and clear calorie labeling more widely available around the world, intensifying a push against critics who say its drinks pack on the pounds. The Atlanta-based company, which makes Sprite, Fanta and Minute Maid, already offers diet drinks in most markets. But there’s no consistency in their availability, particularly in emerging markets such as China and India. Coca-Cola also said Wednesday that it would support programs that enco
May 9, 2013
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China's April inflation rises to 2.4 percent
China's inflation rose slightly in April amid concern about the strength of its economic recovery. Consumer prices rose 2.4 percent over a year earlier, up from March's 2.1 percent gain, data showed Thursday. That still is well below the government's target of 3.5 percent for the year. Inflation is forecast to rise gradually as a shaky economic recovery boosts consumer demand. But mixed signals about factory activity, which slowed in April, and doubts about the strength of trade have raised ques
May 9, 2013
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U.N.: Global youth unemployment rate is rising
Youth unemployment is likely to rise globally to 12.8 percent by 2018, wiping out gains made in the recent economic recovery, the U.N.'s labor office said Wednesday.As of last year, some 12.4 percent of people aged 15 to 24 worldwide were unemployed, up from 12.3 percent in 2011, according to a report published by the International Labor Organization, which is based in Geneva.In six of 10 developing countries surveyed, more than 60 percent of the young people were either unemployed or trapped in
May 9, 2013
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Enron's Skilling could see 10-year sentence cut
Convicted ex-Enron Corp. CEO Jeffrey Skilling's more than 24-year prison sentence for his role in the once mighty energy giant's collapse could be reduced by as many as 10 years if a federal judge approves an agreement reached Wednesday between prosecutors and defense attorneys.Under the agreement, which Justice Department officials say includes a previous court-ordered reduction of as much as nine years, Skilling's original sentence will be reduced to somewhere between 14 and 17.5 years. The ag
May 9, 2013
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Japan pulls back on denials of WWII sex slavery
Japan has acknowledged that it conducted only a limited investigation before claiming there was no official evidence that its imperial troops coerced Asian women into sexual slavery before and during World War II.A parliamentary statement signed Tuesday by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe acknowledged the government had a set of documents produced by a postwar international military tribunal containing testimony by Japanese soldiers about abducting Chinese women as military sex slaves. That evidence ap
May 9, 2013
