Amazon unveils smartphone to take on Apple, Samsung

Amazon.com Inc. jumped into the smartphone market with a handset called Fire Phone that is closely tied to the Web retailer’s other services, ramping up competition with Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Amazon chief executive officer Jeff Bezos said at an event in Seattle Wednesday that Fire Phone, which is black with a rubber frame and 4.7-inch display, will give consumers direct access to other devices and services from the company. The handset features 3-D viewing and image-recognition

June 19, 2014

Exxon, BP evacuate Iraq workers

Exxon Mobil Corp. and BP Plc began removing employees in Iraq as militants continued a push toward Baghdad and a battle raged for control of the nation’s largest oil refinery. The evacuations come amid government and company assertions that Iraq’s output of almost 3 million barrels a day should remain unaffected by escalating sectarian tensions. Exxon has removed some workers from the West Qurna oil field as operations continue, according to a person familiar with the company’s Iraq operations.

June 19, 2014

China will avoid hard landing while limiting stimulus, Li says

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said that the nation will avoid a hard landing, while limiting the scale of any stimulus to support economic growth. “The Chinese government is adjusting its economic operations to ensure the minimum growth rate is 7.5 percent, the level to ensure job creation,” Li said in a speech at Mansion House in London Wednesday. Inflation won’t exceed 3.5 percent, he added, without specifying a time period for the prediction. China will have “medium to high-level” growth in the

June 19, 2014

Abe fails to shake firms’ addiction to cash

Japanese firms boosted their cash stockpile to a record in the first quarter, underlining challenges Prime Minister Shinzo Abe faces a year and a half into his drive to reflate the economy. Nonfinancial companies’ holdings of cash and deposits rose 4.1 percent to 232 trillion yen ($2.3 trillion) at the end of March, while they increased borrowing from private banks at the slowest pace since the final quarter of 2012, a Bank of Japan report showed Wednesday. Households kept more than half of thei

June 19, 2014

Stolen credit cards sold on YouTube

A review of content on Google Inc.’s YouTube service turned up dozens of videos selling stolen credit card data, according to an Internet-safety research group trying to shed more light on an $18 billion illicit industry. The group, called the Digital Citizens Alliance, accused YouTube of failing to block the videos while profiting from legitimate advertisements that run next to them. Doing a search for how to get valid 2014 credit card numbers yielded almost 16,000 results, according to a 13-pa

June 18, 2014

Apple reaches settlement in e-book price-fixing case

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Apple has reached an out-of-court settlement with a group of U.S. states who had accused it of conspiring with publishers to fix the prices of e-books.Eleven months after the U.S. Justice Department found Apple guilty of violating antitrust laws in its effort to push into the e-books business, the company reached a deal on Monday to settle the states’ class-action suit, which sought up to $840 million in actual and punitive damages, according to court documents.The details of

June 18, 2014

China, Britain sign $24b in trade deals

LONDON (AFP) ― Britain and China signed trade deals on Tuesday worth more than 14 billion pounds ($24 billion), during a visit to London by Premier Li Keqiang aimed at resetting economic and diplomatic ties.Links between Britain and China were strained after British Prime Minister David Cameron met exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, in 2012.But Li and Cameron said they were now focused on strengthening British and Chinese economic ties after concluding deals and holding talks at Ca

June 18, 2014

Japan May trade deficit shrinks 8.3%

TOKYO (AFP) ― Japan’s trade deficit narrowed in May as imports turned down for the first time in a year and a half, data showed Wednesday, but weaker shipments abroad helped keep the trade balance in the red.The figures ― which suggested the world’s number three economy was slowing ― reflected a fall-off in spending after sales taxes rose in April, a move seen as crucial to paying down a huge national debt but one that threatened to stall the nation’s budding economic recovery.The trade deficit

June 18, 2014

Siemens, Mitsubishi look to derail GE-Alstom deal

BERLIN (AP) ― Engineering giants Siemens of Germany and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan on Monday jointly offered to buy parts of France’s Alstom and start a long-term partnership, a move that could derail a competing bid by General Electric. Siemens AG said it is offering 3.9 billion euros ($5.3 billion) to acquire Alstom’s gas business entirely, including related service contracts. Mitsubishi would purchase a 10 percent stake of Alstom and inject 3.1 billion euros into the company. Strugg

June 17, 2014

IMF cuts U.S. growth forecast, issues warning

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― The International Monetary Fund on Monday slashed its forecast for the United States and urged policymakers to keep interest rates low and raise the minimum wage to strengthen growth in the world’s largest economy.The global crisis lender said in its annual report card on the U.S. economy that the country will likely grow only 2.0 percent this year, compared with the previous 2.8 percent estimate, blaming mainly the unexpected contraction in the first quarter.It said growth is

June 17, 2014

Oil topping $116 seen possible as Iraq conflict widens

Brent crude was projected by Wall Street analysts to average as much as $116 a barrel by the end of the year. Now, with violence escalating in Iraq, how far the price will rise has become anyone’s guess. The international benchmark surged above $114 on June 13 for the first time in nine months as militants routed the Iraqi army in the north and advanced toward Baghdad, threatening to ignite a civil war. The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, known as ISIL, has halted repairs to the pipeline f

June 16, 2014