WASHINGTON (AFP) ― IMF chief Christine Lagarde said Friday the looming “fiscal cliff” in the United States threatens the country’s international supremacy and the fragile global recovery.In an interview with BBC World News, Lagarde noted the U.S. fiscal cliff, a combination of severe tax increases and spending cuts due in January, would probably wipe out growth in the world’s largest economy. “The real issues are, in a way, the supremacy of the United States and its leadership role in the world,

Dec. 9, 2012

NEW YORK (AP) ― Apple CEO Tim Cook says the company will move production of one of its existing lines of Mac computers from China to the United States next year.Industry watchers said the announcement is both a cunning public-relations move and a harbinger of more manufacturing jobs moving back to the U.S. as wages rise in China.Cook made the comments in part of an interview taped for NBC’s “Rock Center,” but aired Thursday morning on “Today” and posted on the network’s website.In a separate int

Dec. 7, 2012

LONDON (AP) ― Starbucks bowed to mounting pressure over its tax affairs in Britain and revealed Thursday that it would pay about $16 million in each of the next two years.Having been slammed by the country’s lawmakers of “immorally” avoiding tax, Starbucks’ U.K. managing director Kris Engskov said the firm had agreed to pay more than required by law.“With the backdrop of these difficult times, in the area of tax, our customers clearly expect us to do more,” he told the London Chamber of Commerce

Dec. 7, 2012

ATHENS (AP) ― Greece’s unemployment rate rose to a new record of 26 percent in September, underscoring the economic plight in the country as it heads toward a sixth year of recession.The Greek Statistical Authority said Thursday that 1.295 million people ― more than one-fourth of the workforce in this nation of 10 million ― were recorded as unemployed in September. Unemployment rose from 25.3 percent the previous month and 18.9 percent a year earlier.Greek unemployment has surged to the highest

Dec. 7, 2012

HONG KONG (AFP) ― The Asian Development Bank on Friday cut its economic growth forecasts for the region, which has been dragged back by a continued slowdown in India despite positive data out of powerhouse China.The ADB lowered its 2012 growth forecast for developing Asia, which comprises 45 nations, marginally from 6.1 percent to 6.0 percent. It also revised downward the 6.7 percent growth outlook for 2013 to 6.6 percent.It is the second time the bank has slashed growth estimates for the region

Dec. 7, 2012

Laos has ratified its membership of the World Trade Organization, state media said on Friday, the latest step in the small Southeast Asian nation's 15-year effort to join the global body.The Laotian parliament on Thursday formally gave its approval, paving the way for the country's entrance to the 157-member organisation in early 2013, according to a report in the government mouthpiece Vientiane Times.It said most lawmakers "supported the government's decision to join the WTO, saying it was a go

Dec. 7, 2012

Apple shares suffered their worst decline in years Wednesday as selling momentum gained steam for the longtime tech star and world's largest company by value.Apple stock tumbled 6.43 percent to close at $538.79, and is now down some 23 percent from its record high earlier this year above $700.There has been no single catalyst for Apple losing its luster, although some analysts say it has lost its edge in innovation, and that its iconic iPhone and iPad are facing tougher competition.Another facto

Dec. 6, 2012

Standard & Poor's cut Greece's already junk-level debt rating to "selective default" Wednesday after the country launched an operation to buy back debt at a big discount.Greece was cut from CCC, the lowest level before default, S&P said, because its invitation to investors to sell back the Greek bonds they hold at discounts to face value "constitutes the launch of what we consider to be a distressed debt restructuring.""The offer, in our view, implies the investor will receive less value than th

Dec. 6, 2012

President Barack Obama and House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner spoke for the first time in days Wednesday in a telephone discussion over the fiscal cliff, following several days of political sparring over steps to prevent a looming year-end series of automatic tax increases and spending cuts.The call, disclosed by a Boehner spokesman, raises the possibility that negotiations will soon resume between the White House and congressional leaders to head off what some economists warn could b

Dec. 5, 2012

MADRID (AP) ― The number of people officially registered as unemployed in Spain has edged up toward 5 million as the country’s recession shows few signs of abating and its struggling banks await crucial bailout cash.Spain’s Labor Ministry said Tuesday that unemployment rose a monthly 74,296 in November, or 1.5 percent, to a record 4.9 million. The country’s unemployment rate is released separately and quarterly. It stood at 25 percent at the end of the third quarter, with the youth unemployment

Dec. 5, 2012

BRUSSELS (AFP) ― Plans to create a “banking union” across eurozone and European Union borders collapsed Tuesday amid intractable wrangling between Berlin, London and Paris.After four hours wrestling with deep problems in the design of an initial supervisory regime, Cypriot Finance Minister Vassos Shiarly, who is chairing the talks, announced that more time was needed and called a fresh gathering on Wednesday, Dec. 12.“It is only a question of a little bit more time perhaps before we can achieve

Dec. 5, 2012

BERLIN (AP) -- An international watchdog group says a new survey shows the countries worst hit by the European financial crisis are also seen as among the most corrupt in the European Union.Transparency International's annual Corruption Perceptions Index released Wednesday shows Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece with the lowest scores in western Europe.Where 0 is ``highly corrupt'' and 100 is ``very clean,'' Greece scored a 36, Italy 42, Portugal 63 and Spain, 65.By comparison, Denmark and Finla

Dec. 5, 2012