The Korea Herald

Yahoo buying binge continues with Rockmelt deal

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) ― Yahoo on Friday said it bought social web-browsing startup Rockmelt, extending a buying spree started shortly after Marissa Mayer became chief last year.Yahoo did not disclose the financial terms of the deal, but technology news website AllThingsD valued the purchase at between $60 million and $70 million.“The team has built a simple and beautiful technology that combines social, personalization and discovery to help you not only find what you’re looking for, but also stumb

Aug. 4, 2013

Apple told to cut publishing ties

NEW YORK (AFP) ― The U.S. Department of Justice said Friday that tech giant Apple must cut ties with the five publishers with which it was found guilty of running an e-book price-fixing scheme.Last month, a U.S. district court in New York found Apple guilty of conspiring with publishers to fix book prices for readers using its iPad and iPhone devices.On Friday, Justice Department officials submitted to the court a plan for Apple to cut its existing ties to the publishers and to make it easier fo

Aug. 4, 2013

New York Times sells Boston Globe

New York Times Co., which put its Boston Globe newspaper up for sale this year, agreed to sell the publication to John Henry, owner of the Boston Red Sox baseball team, for $70 million in cash. The deal is $40 million short of the $110 million in pension liabilities said to be owed by the Globe properties collectively known as the New England Media Group, and is expected to close in 30 to 60 days. The sale also includes the Globe website, the Boston.com website, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette,

Aug. 4, 2013

Geithner to advise Obama on next Fed chair

President Barack Obama is consulting with former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on whom to nominate as the next chairman of the Federal Reserve, according to two people familiar with the matter. Obama has accepted, for the time, Geithner’s insistence on serving only as a counselor for who should get the job, instead of becoming a candidate for it, according to the people, who requested anonymity. Geithner has told current and former administration officials that neither he nor his wife, Car

Aug. 4, 2013

Geithner to advise Obama on next Fed chair

Europe-China solar panel trade dispute ends

The European Commission approved trade chief Karel De Gucht’s plan for curbs on Chinese solar panels, allowing import tariffs to be removed in three days in Europe’s largest dumping dispute. The commission, the European Union’s executive arm, Friday endorsed a negotiated settlement with China that sets a minimum price and a volume limit on EU imports of Chinese solar panels until the end of 2015. Chinese manufacturers that take part will be spared EU duties meant to counter below-cost sales, a p

Aug. 4, 2013

Europe-China solar panel trade dispute ends

U.S. auto sales accelerate to best July ...since 2006

CHICAGO (AFP) ― U.S. auto sales continued to accelerate, posting the best July performance since 2006 Thursday as consumers flocked to dealerships to replace ageing vehicles with new models at low interest rates.“Solid industry sales in July point to a stable market indicating a recovering economy,” said Bill Fay, group vice president at Toyota. “Consumer confidence also maintained elevated levels as evidenced by strong retail sales.”Total industry sales rose 14 percent from results in July 2012

Aug. 2, 2013

Google’s Motorola unveils Android smartphone

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) ― Motorola on Thursday introduced a keenly-anticipated Moto X smartphone in a move aimed at reviving the withered mobile device maker bought by Google for $12.5 billion.The Android-powered phone is the first Motorola smartphone created in collaboration with Google since the Internet titan completed its purchase of Motorola Mobility in May of last year.The Moto X, due for U.S. release in late August, could be a formidable foe in a global market dominated by Samsung, the leadin

Aug. 2, 2013

Google’s Motorola unveils Android smartphone

S&P 500 closes above 1,700 points for first time

Stocks roared back to record highs on Thursday, driven by good news on the economy.The Standard & Poor's 500, the Dow Jones industrial average and the Russell 2000 index set all-time highs. The S&P broke through 1,700 points for the first time. The Nasdaq hit its highest level since September 2000.The gains were driven by a steady flow of encouraging reports on the global economy.Overnight, a positive read on China's manufacturing helped shore up Asian markets. An hour before U.S. trading starte

Aug. 2, 2013

Ex-Goldman trader found liable in SEC case

A former Goldman Sachs trader who earned the nickname “Fabulous Fab” was found liable Thursday in a fraud case brought by federal regulators in response to the 2007 mortgage crisis that helped push the U.S. into recession.A jury reached the verdict at the civil trial in Manhattan federal court of Fabrice Tourre _ a French-born Stanford graduate described by Securities and Exchange Commission lawyers as the face of “Wall Street greed.” Tourre's attorneys portrayed him as a scapegoat in a downtur

Aug. 2, 2013

Toyota’s profits triple GM’s as Abe policies boosts exports

While Toyota Motor Corp. lost out to General Motors Co. in the number of vehicles sold last quarter for the first time since 2011, it won’t come in second by profit: Toyota probably earned $3 for every dollar at GM. The Japanese carmaker may report tomorrow that profit climbed 48 percent to 430.2 billion yen ($4.4 billion) in the quarter ended June, according to the average of four analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. By comparison, Detroit-based GM reported this week that net income fell 23

Aug. 1, 2013

Toyota’s profits triple GM’s as Abe policies boosts exports

China manufacturing activity increases in July

BEIJING (AFP) ― China’s manufacturing activity unexpectedly strengthened in July, the government announced Thursday, amid rising concerns the world’s second-largest economy is weakening overall.The official purchasing managers’ index rose to 50.3 last month from 50.1 in June, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.The result compared with a median forecast of 49.8 in a survey of 11 economists by Dow Jones Newswires.The index tracks manufacturing activity in China’s factories and workshop

Aug. 1, 2013

WH taps Raskin for No. 2 Treasury job

WASHINGTON (AP) ― President Barack Obama is nominating a member of the Federal Reserve board, Sarah Bloom Raskin, to the second-highest position at the Treasury Department.The White House said Wednesday that Obama has asked Raskin to serve as deputy Treasury secretary. If confirmed by the Senate she would succeed Neal Wolin, who has announced that he plans to leave Treasury at the end of August.Wolin was a key player in the administration’s effort to get Congress to pass a comprehensive overhaul

Aug. 1, 2013

Obama defends Summers to Dems

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Speaking up for a contentious former aide, President Barack Obama pushed back Wednesday against liberal Democrats who are urging the president not to pick Lawrence Summers to run the Federal Reserve. In a closed-door session with House Democrats, Obama offered what participants in the meeting described as a keen defense of Summers after being pressed by Rep. Ed Perlmutter of Colorado about his controversial consideration of Summers to replace the Fed’s outgoing chairman, Ben Be

Aug. 1, 2013

Bank of England facilitated sale of looted Nazi gold

The Bank of England facilitated the transfer of gold to Germany plundered from Czechoslovakia shortly before the outbreak of World War II, according to an archived history of the U.K. central bank. The document posted online by the central bank shows it received a request from the Bank for International Settlements on March 21, 1939, to transfer 5.6 million pounds of gold from its “No. 2” account to its “No. 17” account. “The bank ― although it was no business of theirs ― were fairly sure that t

Aug. 1, 2013

Bank of England facilitated sale of looted Nazi gold

‘Greece needs more money, debt relief’

Greece will probably need more money and debt relief from European countries in order to meet the objectives of its bailout program, according to a report by the International Monetary Fund staff. In a report discussed by the IMF board this week and released Wednesday, the fund’s staff said 4.4 billion euros ($5.8 billion) of financing has yet to be identified next year under the rescue package it finances with euro-area nations. In addition, a December commitment by Europeans to provide further

Aug. 1, 2013

Japan’s Sony, Sharp see brighter future as yen slides

TOKYO (AFP) ― Japan’s electronics giants Sony and Sharp on Thursday indicated better times ahead after announcing improved quarterly results thanks to an overhaul of their businesses and a weaker yen.Sony said it had swung back to a net profit of $35 million for the April-June quarter, reversing a year-earlier loss as it boosted its annual sales forecast. It also saw a small operating profit in its dented television business.And Sharp served up some rare good news, saying it had shrunk its net l

Aug. 1, 2013

Fed maintains bond-buying program

The U.S. Federal Reserve left unchanged near-zero interest rates and its massive bond-buying program on Wednesday, citing modest growth in the world‘s largest economy.Wrapping up a two-day policy meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee said it would continue to buy $85 billion in bonds per month to help tamp down longer term interest rates that have been supporting the economy, and especially the housing market recovery.The bond-purchase program has filled a gap in the Fed’s toolkit after the

Aug. 1, 2013

Summers at Fed prompts questions from concerned senators

The Senate’s second-ranking Democrat said he would “have a lot of questions” if former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers is chosen to replace Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke.Senator Richard Durbin’s comments in an interview at the Capitol reflect anxiety within the Senate that President Barack Obama may nominate Summers. Durbin is among 19 Democratic senators and one independent who signed a July 26 letter to the White House praising Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Janet Yellen and urgi

July 31, 2013

German jobless rate holds near two-decade low in July

Germany’s unemployment rate held near a two-decade low, potentially buoying support for the government before September elections, while the rate in the euro area stayed at a record high. The number of people out of work in Germany decreased by a seasonally adjusted 7,000 to 2.93 million in July and the adjusted jobless rate was unchanged at 6.8 percent, according to the Nuremberg-based Federal Labor Agency today. The rate in the 17-nation euro area was 12.1 percent in June, unchanged from a rev

July 31, 2013

EU clears Peugeot restructuring plan

BRUSSELS (AFP) ― The European Commission said Tuesday it has cleared a 7.5 billion euro ($9.9 billion) restructuring plan by struggling French auto giant Peugeot Citroen, including the state aid to back it.The Commission said French government aid to guarantee a bond issue of up to 7 billion euros by the company’s stricken finance arm conformed with EU competition rules.The bond guarantee is worth 486 million euros while another 85.9 million euros will go to fund more eco-friendly cars, adding u

July 31, 2013