The Korea Herald

Lowest holiday sales growth since 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) ― U.S. holiday retail sales this year were the weakest since 2008, when the nation was in a deep recession. In 2012, the shopping season was disrupted by bad weather and consumers’ rising uncertainty about the economy. A report that tracks spending on popular holiday goods, the MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse, said Tuesday that sales in the two months before Christmas increased 0.7 percent, compared with last year. Many analysts had expected holiday sales to grow 3 to 4 percent

Dec. 26, 2012

Obama to fly home early

HONOLULU (AP) ― President Barack Obama will cut short his traditional Christmas holiday in Hawaii, planning to leave for Washington on Wednesday evening as he and lawmakers consider how to prevent the economy from going over the so-called “fiscal cliff.” Obama was expected to arrive in Washington early Thursday, the White House said Tuesday night. First lady Michelle Obama and the couple’s two daughters will remain in Hawaii.In the past, the president’s end-of-the-year holiday in his native stat

Dec. 26, 2012

Grand bargain shrinks as deadline nears

The deal that seems possible to fix the U.S. budget is getting smaller and smaller. Five days before a deadline that would trigger more than $600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts that could cause a U.S. recession, Congress will return Thursday amid calls for action in the Senate. The politics of progress there are easier than in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, which balked last week at Speaker John Boehner’s plan for tax increases on income above $1 million. Still,

Dec. 26, 2012

China pledges rural reforms to boost incomes

China said it will give farmers better land protection, higher incomes and improved public services to help close the gap with urban areas and narrow the rich-poor divide. The government will ensure farmers earn “reasonable returns” from planting crops and increase agricultural subsidies, the official Xinhua news agency reporte, citing an annual central rural work conference. The goals, which include increasing rural incomes by at least as much as those in urban areas, reflect the new leadership

Dec. 24, 2012

China pledges rural reforms to boost incomes

Senators bicker over ‘fiscal cliff’ blame

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Senators bickered Sunday over who’s to blame for lurching the country toward a year-end “fiscal cliff,” bemoaning the lack of a deal days before the deadline but bridging no differences in the debate. With the collapse Thursday of House Speaker John Boehner’s plan to allow tax rates to rise on million-dollar-plus incomes, Sen. Joe Lieberman said “it’s the first time that I feel it’s more likely we’ll go over the cliff than not,” meaning that higher taxes for most Americans and

Dec. 24, 2012

China shows off its new high-speed rail

BEIJING (AFP) ― China on Saturday showed off the final link of the world’s longest high-speed rail route set to begin whisking passengers from Beijing to Guangzhou next week in a third of the time currently required.The much anticipated opening of high-speed passenger service from Beijing to Guangzhou, a distance of 2,298 kilometers is scheduled to begin Wednesday, officials said.Travelling at an average speed of 300 kilometers per hour, the new line will slash the time it takes to travel by rai

Dec. 23, 2012

U.S. consumer spending up in Nov.

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Consumers spent and earned more in November, reflecting a rebound from the disruptions caused by Superstorm Sandy. The Commerce Department said Friday that consumer spending rose 0.4 percent compared with October. Personal income jumped 0.6 percent, the biggest gain in 11 months. Economists noted that the spending and income growth in November was a healthy sign for the economy, especially in the midst of anxiety and uncertainty from the stalemate in Washington over the fiscal

Dec. 23, 2012

Greece set to return to growth in 2014: ECB’s Asmussen

FRANKFURT (AFP) ― The Greek economy is likely to start growing again in 2014, a top European Central Bank official said in a newspaper interview released Friday.“Greece will probably be able to show economic growth again in 2014,” ECB executive board member Joerg Asmussen told the regional daily Rheinische Post in a pre-release of an interview to published in the newspaper’s Saturday edition.“Those who at the beginning of the year had predicted that Greece would leave the euro area were complete

Dec. 23, 2012

Greece set to return to growth in 2014: ECB’s Asmussen

Obama scales back pitch to avoid ‘cliff’

WASHINGTON (AP) ― President Barack Obama has scaled back his ambitions for a sweeping budget bargain with Republicans. Instead, he’s calling for a limited measure sufficient to prevent the government from careening off the “fiscal cliff” in January by extending tax cuts for most taxpayers and forestalling a painful set of agency budget cuts.In a White House appearance Friday, Obama also called on Congress to extend jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed that would otherwise be cut off for

Dec. 23, 2012

IMF urges full EU banking union over crisis

BERLIN (AP) ― The International Monetary Fund urged the European Union Thursday to step up its efforts to stabilize the bloc’s financial system by swiftly moving toward a fully integrated banking sector. The 27-country group still faces great challenges “with continuing banking and sovereign debt crises”, the IMF said, adding that it needs a comprehensive region-wide solution as its banks are so heavily interconnected. In its first financial stability assessment for the bloc, the IMF welcomed th

Dec. 21, 2012

House GOP puts off vote on ‘Plan B’

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Confronted with a revolt among the rank and file, House Republicans abruptly scrapped a vote Thursday night on legislation allowing tax rates to rise for households earning $1 million and up, complicating attempts to avoid a year-end “fiscal cliff” that threatens to send the economy into recession.The legislation “did not have sufficient support from our members to pass,” Speaker John Boehner conceded in a brief statement. At the same time he challenged President Barack Obama a

Dec. 21, 2012

Protests as Spain passes crisis cutbacks

Spanish lawmakers passed 39 billion euros' ($52 billion) worth of austerity measures Thursday, prompting fresh protests by demonstrators angry at cuts to pay and public services.The government says the tough cuts in the 2013 budget are needed to fix the public finances of the eurozone's fourth-biggest economy, stricken by the collapse of a construction boom in 2008.After the lower house of Congress dominated by the conservative governing Popular Party voted through the budget, hundreds of demons

Dec. 21, 2012

ECB says will take Greek bonds as collateral

FRANKFURT (AFP) ― The European Central Bank said on Wednesday that it will begin accepting Greek bonds as collateral for central bank loans again, at a discount, a move that will give a boost to eurozone banks still holding the risky instruments.“Marketable debt instruments issued or fully guaranteed by the Hellenic Republic and fulfilling all other eligibility criteria shall again constitute eligible collateral for the purposes of Eurosystem credit operations, subject to special haircuts,” the

Dec. 20, 2012

Obama, Boehner clash over fiscal cliff

WASHINGTON (AP) ― President Barack Obama and the top Republican in Congress swapped barbed political charges on Wednesday yet carefully left room for further negotiations on an elusive deal to head off year-end tax increases and spending cuts that threaten the U.S. economy.Republicans should “peel off the war paint” and take the deal he’s offering, Obama said sharply at the White House. He buttressed his case by noting he had won re-election with a call for higher taxes on the wealthy, then adde

Dec. 20, 2012

Obama, Boehner clash as cliff edge approaches

President Barack Obama and the top Republican in Congress swapped barbed political charges yet carefully left room for further negotiations on an elusive deal to head off year-end tax increases and spending cuts that threaten the U.S. economy.Republicans should “peel off the war paint” and take the deal he's offering, Obama said sharply at the White House on Wednesday. He buttressed his case by noting he had won re-election with a call for higher taxes on the wealthy, then added pointedly that t

Dec. 20, 2012

Japan’s trade deficit widens 37.9% in Nov.

TOKYO (AFP) ― Japan’s trade deficit in November expanded 37.9 percent on-year to $11.3 billion, a record for the month, official data showed Wednesday, in a worrying sign for the world’s third-largest economy.The trade shortfall came to 953.4 billion yen, marking the fifth straight month of deficit and a widening from a year-earlier deficit of 691.2 billion yen.Overall, exports fell 4.1 percent while imports edged up 0.8 percent.Shipments to key trader partner China tumbled 14.5 percent, marking

Dec. 19, 2012

Japan’s trade deficit widens 37.9% in Nov.

Toyota fined $17.4 million for not reporting flaws

Toyota Motor Corp., the company that has paid the most in fines to the U.S. auto-safety regulator, agreed to pay a $17.4 million civil penalty for delaying reports of a vehicle defect. The new fine stems from a June recall for Lexus RX 350s and RX 450h vehicles where the accelerator pedal could catch on the driver’s side floor mat, causing it to stick and accelerate when the driver didn’t intend to. It’s Toyota’s second penalty since 2010 for delayed reporting of defects. “It’s critical to the s

Dec. 19, 2012

World Bank sets $900m aid program for Iraq

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― The World Bank announced Tuesday a $900 million support plan for Iraq aimed at helping the war-ravaged country better manage its human and vast oil resources.The World Bank’s four-year support for Iraq, through 2016, will focus on job creation, social inclusion and building stronger institutions, the institution said. The announcement came exactly one year after the last U.S. troops left Iraq, ending the nearly nine-year war that ousted dictator Saddam Hussein’s regime and lef

Dec. 19, 2012

East Asian growth to pick up in 2013

HONG KONG (AP) ― Growth in East Asia’s developing economies will pick up next year after China’s slowdown hits bottom but considerable risks remain, including the possibility of a sharp drop in investment growth in the world’s second-biggest economy, the World Bank said Wednesday. The Washington-based lender said in a report that the region will expand by 7.9 percent in 2013 after growing 7.5 percent this year. East Asia remained resilient despite the lackluster global economy and will contribut

Dec. 19, 2012

Cliff talks hit a lull with Boehner’s ‘Plan B’

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Just two weeks from an economy-threatening deadline, fiscal cliff talks hit a lull Tuesday as House Speaker John Boehner announced that Republicans would also march ahead with their own tax plan on a separate track from the one he’s been pursuing with President Barack Obama. The White House and leading congressional Democrats immediately rejected Boehner’s “Plan B,” which would extend soon-to-expire Bush-era tax cuts for everyone making less than $1 million but would not addres

Dec. 19, 2012

Cliff talks hit a lull with Boehner’s ‘Plan B’