Most Popular
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Actor Jung Woo-sung admits to being father of model Moon Ga-bi’s child
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Wealthy parents ditch Korean passports to get kids into international school
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Trump picks ex-N. Korea policy official as his principal deputy national security adviser
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First snow to fall in Seoul on Wednesday
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Man convicted after binge eating to avoid military service
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S. Korea not to attend Sado mine memorial: foreign ministry
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Toxins at 622 times legal limit found in kids' clothes from Chinese platforms
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Korea to hold own memorial for forced labor victims, boycotting Japan’s
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Final push to forge UN treaty on plastic pollution set to begin in Busan
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Nvidia CEO signals Samsung’s imminent shipment of AI chips
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Nokia downgraded by S&P after Samsung pushes past
HELSINKI (AP) -- Standard and Poor's says it has downgraded Nokia's credit rating by one notch and warned that it may reduce it again unless it improves performance. Friday's downgrade comes after huge losses in the Finnish company's first quarter and a report that Samsung Electronics Co. has overtaken it as the world's largest maker of mobile phones. Last week, Nokia Corp. announced one of
April 27, 2012
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Ireland on track with deficit cuts: EU, IMF
DUBLIN (AP) ― Ireland is successfully cutting its deficits, bolstering its banks and pursuing job-creation strategies, its international bailout creditors said Thursday as they signaled support for a further round of loans.Ireland welcomed the verdict from the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund following the organizations’ latest 10-day review of Irish efforts to rein in runaway debts as part of the country’s 2010 bailout agreement.Ireland has already spent mor
April 27, 2012
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U.S. animal feed, beef safe from BSE: FDA
WASHINGTON (AFP) ―U.S. food safety authorities on Thursday called a new case of mad cow disease in California “atypical” and said they were confident in measures to prevent the disease from spreading via animal feed.The Food and Drug Administration sought to tamp down fears that the new case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy that surfaced Tuesday could herald a broader outbreak and disrupt the country’s huge trade in livestock and beef.“The FDA is confident in the effectiveness of the existing
April 27, 2012
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Geithner urges China to keep up reforms
Treasury secretary urges China to push forward with financial reforms ahead of Beijing visitSAN FRANCISCO (AP) ― Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called on China Thursday to move forward with economic reforms ahead of his meeting with leaders in Beijing. Geithner spoke about the state of China-U.S. relations and a host of other economic issues during a San Francisco event hosted by the Commonwealth Club of California. He and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are traveling to Beijing next wee
April 27, 2012
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S&P cuts Spain's long-term credit rating 2 notches
Standard & Poor's lowered Spain's long-term credit rating by two notches on Thursday, saying the country's budget problems are likely to get worse because of the weak economy. S&P reduced Spain's long-term sovereign credit rating to ``BBB+'' from ``A.'' The agency also lowered Spain's short-term rating and assigned a negative outlook, which suggests the possibility of another downgrade in the
April 27, 2012
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Deutsche Bank net profit falls to $1.85 billion in Q1
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- Lower investment banking revenues amid Europe’s debt crisis and a one-time writeoff pushed Deutsche Bank’s net profit down by a third to 1.4 billion euros ($1.85 billion) in the first quarter.The net profit figure compared to 2.1 billion euros in the same quarter a year ago. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected 1.66 billion euros.The company said revenues at the corporate and investment bank division, a key pillar of earnings, fell by 8 percent to 6.2 billion euros ($
April 26, 2012
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Britain slides back into recession
LONDON (AFP) ― Britain was back in recession Wednesday after its economy shrank in the first quarter while Prime Minister David Cameron said the country was being buffetted by the European downturn.Gross domestic product fell 0.2 percent between January and March, after a 0.3-percent drop in the fourth quarter of 2011, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.That technically placed Britain in recession, which is defined as two successive quarters of contraction, amid a broader dow
April 26, 2012
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IMF urges further Spain bank reforms
MADRID (AFP) ― The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday urged Spain to push further ahead with banking reforms aimed at stabilizing its troubled financial sector.IMF inspectors concluded Spain needs “to continue with and further deepen the financial sector reform strategy to address remaining vulnerabilities and build strong capital buffers in the sector,” it said in a report.The conservative government that came to power in December has continued a clean-up of the banking sector prompted by
April 26, 2012
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Apple’s squeeze hits phone companies, competitors
NEW YORK (AP) ― Apple is set to report another record quarterly profit on Tuesday, continuing the relentless string of results that’s made it the world’s most valuable company. Those profits don’t come out of thin air: A range of businesses ― from the company’s wireless carrier friends to its PC-making foes ― are seeing their profits melt away and flow to Apple’s bottom line. Apple’s success is good for the U.S. economy, and some businesses, like software developers and memory-chip makers, have
April 24, 2012
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Economy worsens U.S. Social Security’s finance
WASHINGTON (AP) ― High energy prices and an economy that has been slow to rebound are worsening Social Security’s finances, shortening the life of the trust funds that support program by three years, the government said Monday. Those trust funds will now run dry in 2033, according to a report issued by the trustees that oversee the massive retirement and disability program. Medicare’s hospital insurance fund is projected to run out of money in 2024, which is unchanged from last year. The trustee
April 24, 2012
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Sanctions lifting may revive Myanmar industry
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) ― Looking across a sea of young workers perched behind rows of buzzing sewing machines, factory owner Myint Soe has one main hope for Monday’s suspension of European sanctions on Myanmar ― the restoration of some of the 80,000 garment industry jobs lost here over the past 10 years. A complex web of Western trade embargoes imposed on the Southeast Asian nation since the late 1990s was supposed to punish its iron-fisted former military rulers for years of misrule and human rig
April 24, 2012
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Spain back in recession
MADRID (AP) ― Spain slipped back into recession as the country’s economy contracted for the second quarter in a row, the central bank said Monday.A Bank of Spain monthly report recorded that economic output shrank 0.4 percent in the first quarter of the year, following a 0.3 percent decline in the last quarter of 2011. A technical recession is commonly defined as two consecutive quarters of economic contraction.The news of recession comes as no surprise, however ― the new conservative government
April 24, 2012
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Europe’s debt fix falters, rattles markets
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) ― Europe’s plan to fix its debt crisis by imposing budget cuts frayed Monday. Heavy selling rocked financial markets, uncertainty gripped two governments, and the economic outlook darkened across the continent.The German stock market suffered its worst day in six weeks. In the United States, the Dow Jones industrial average lost more than 100 points.Across Europe, the debt crisis appeared at its most perilous point since December, when most of the continent united behind
April 24, 2012
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S&P downgrades Argentina's outlook after YPF deal
Standard & Poor's on Monday downgraded its credit rating outlook for Argentina from stable to negative, after Buenos Aires seized control of the country's largest oil company YPF."In our view, the recent government policies could increase risks to Argentina's macroeconomic framework, squeeze its external liquidity, and hinder medium-term growth prospects," the ratings agency said in a statement.As
April 24, 2012
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Energy crisis provokes Argentine YPF expropriation
BUENOS AIRES (AP) ― Less than a decade ago, Argentina was an exporter of oil and natural gas. Now the government has to spend billions of dollars to import fuel. This dramatic reversal of fortune is why Argentina, already a global financial rogue after its historic debt default, is willing to risk becoming even more of a pariah by seizing control of its leading oil company from Spanish hands, analysts say. President Cristina Fernandez infuriated Spain, its largest foreign investor, but elated ma
April 23, 2012
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Egypt terminates gas deal with Israel
CAIRO (AP) ― The head of the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company said Sunday it has terminated its contract to ship gas to Israel because of violations of contractual obligations, a decision Israel said overshadows the peace agreement between the two countries.The 2005 natural gas deal has become a symbol of tensions between Israel and Egypt since the uprising. For many Egyptians, it typifies the close relations the regime of deposed President Hosni Mubarak forged with Israel and how his associ
April 23, 2012
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Volvo says it plans to more than double car models in China
Volvo Car Corp., the Swedish carmaker owned by China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., said it plans to more than double its number of models to compete with Volkswagen AG’s Audi and BMW AG in the world’s largest automobile market. Volvo, which currently sells 6 models in China, is planning to introduce 10 new ones in the country within six years, including “bigger and more luxury high end” vehicles, as well as medium- to small-sized cars such as the V40 hatchback, Volvo said in an e-mail. The
April 22, 2012
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BOJ to forecast low inflation
TOKYO (AFP) ― The Bank of Japan will this week forecast that prices are set to rise less than one percent next fiscal year, a report said, boosting the chances of fresh easing measures to stimulate the economy.The bank is likely to predict inflation will be lower than the 1.0 percent target for the fiscal year starting in April 2013 in its twice-yearly report on Friday, public broadcaster NHK said.With Japan still mired in deflation, the BOJ would discuss whether additional monetary easing was n
April 22, 2012
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Google Chairman Schmidt earned $101m last year
Google Inc. Chairman Eric Schmidt was paid $101 million last year, including stock awards and options that vest over a four-year period, as he turned over control of the company to co-founder Larry Page. Schmidt, who was paid $313,219 in 2010, received $55.6 million in share awards and $38.1 million in options, the Mountain View, California-based company said Friday in a regulatory filing. The remaining $7.2 million came from Schmidt’s $937,500 salary and other compensation. Schmidt, 56, who wa
April 22, 2012
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Wal-Mart hushed up bribe Mexico network
New York Times reports that Wal-Mart sat silent about wide-scale bribery in MexicoNEW YORK (AP) ― Wal-Mart Stores Inc. hushed up a vast bribery campaign that top executives of its Mexican subsidiary carried out to build stores across that country, according to a published report. The New York Times reported Saturday that Wal-Mart failed to notify law enforcement officials even after its own investigators found evidence of millions of dollars in bribes. The newspaper said the company shut down it
April 22, 2012
