China’s inflation falls as food prices cool

BEIJING (AP) ― China’s stubbornly high inflation fell in October, giving Beijing room to stimulate the world’s No. 2 economy amid weak U.S. and European growth.Consumer prices rose 5.5 percent from a year earlier, down from September’s 6.1 percent, government figures showed Wednesday. Politically volatile food costs rose 11.9 percent but that was down from the previous month’s 13.4 percent.The decline gives China’s leaders the leeway to reverse interest rate hikes and other curbs imposed to cool

Nov. 9, 2011

GM could cut business with Saab

NEW YORK (AFP) ― General Motors said Monday it would stop supplying the 9-4X SUV model to Saab if the insolvent Swedish automaker is taken over by two Chinese firms.GM also said it would end technology-sharing licenses to Saab as well if the company is acquired by Chinese companies Pang Da and Youngman, though it would be willing to supply some components.“Although General Motors is open to the continued supply of powertrains and other components to Saab under appropriate terms and conditions, G

Nov. 8, 2011

Russia to boost trade with China: Putin

MOSCOW (AFP) ― Russia’s trade with China will be no less than $80 billion in 2011 and is going to quickly grow to $200 billion, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Monday while meeting China’s Wen Jiabao.“Last year our trade volume was $59 billion, and this year it’s already $53 billion in the first eight months, it will probably be no less than $80 billion for the year,” Putin told his Chinese counterpart.“We will quickly reach the level of $100 billion and $200 billion, as we planned,” he sa

Nov. 8, 2011

Zuckerberg: Apple’s Jobs advised on company focus

Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs advised him on how to sharpen his company’s focus and build the right management team for the world’s largest social network. “I had a lot of questions for him,” Zuckerberg said in an interview with Charlie Rose that’s due to air Tuesday. The topics included “how to build a team around you that’s focused on building as high quality and good things as you are.” Jobs, in the period before he died on Oct. 5,

Nov. 8, 2011

Olympus hid losses with Gyrus fees, takeovers

Olympus Corp. said it hid losses by paying inflated fees to advisers on the 2008 acquisition of Gyrus Group Plc, the first admission of wrongdoing from the Japanese camera and medical-equipment maker since accusations from its former chief executive officer surfaced four weeks ago. Executive Vice President Hisashi Mori was dismissed over his role in the cover-up, the Tokyo-based company said in a statement Tuesday. The stock plunged by the daily limit after an independent panel Olympus appointed

Nov. 8, 2011

Tokyo Exchange in takeover talks with Osaka: Nikkei

Tokyo Stock Exchange Group Inc. and Osaka Securities Exchange Co. have entered final takeover talks, forging a deal that would unite Japan’s largest bourse operators next year, Nikkei reported, without citing anyone.Tokyo Stock Exchange, which runs the main venue in the world’s third-largest equity market, would offer to buy between 50 percent and 66 percent of Osaka, according to the newspaper. Nikkei said Monday that Tokyo Stock Exchange would be valued 1.5 to 2 times more than Osaka, which ha

Nov. 7, 2011

Apple doles out $60m stock grants to execs

Apple Inc., seeking to retain its management team in the wake of former Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs’s death last month, gave $60 million restricted-stock grants to most of its senior vice presidents. Software executive Scott Forstall, hardware manager Bob Mansfield, Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer, marketing chief Phil Schiller, General Counsel Bruce Sewell and operations manager Jeff Williams each received 150,000 in restricted stock units, which vest between 2013 and 2016, acc

Nov. 6, 2011

CEO Corzine steps down at MF Global

WASHINGTON (AP) ― He set out to create a mini-Goldman Sachs. In the end, he built a mini-Lehman Brothers.Jon Corzine’s resignation Friday from the securities firm he led capped a week of high drama and swift failure.Less than a week ago, Corzine had expected to sell his firm, MF Global. By week’s end, it had collapsed into bankruptcy. And Corzine had hired a criminal defense lawyer in the face of an investigation of the firm by the FBI and federal prosecutors.MF Global’s collapse points to the r

Nov. 6, 2011

Papandreou wins confidence vote

ATHENS (AP) ― Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou survived a confidence vote early Saturday, calming a vicious revolt in his Socialist party with an emotional pledge to step aside if necessary and seek a cross-party government lasting four months to safeguard a new European debt agreement.Papandreou won the critical parliamentary confidence motion 153-145 after a week of drama in Athens that horrified Greece’s European partners, spooked global markets and overshadowed the Group of 20 summit i

Nov. 6, 2011

Former ‘60 Minutes’ commentator Andy Rooney dies

NEW YORK (AP) ― Andy Rooney, the curmudgeonly commentator who spent more than 30 years wryly talking about the oddities of life for the TV news magazine “60 Minutes,” died Friday night, CBS said. He was 92.Just a month ago, Rooney delivered his last regular essay on the CBS news magazine.CBS said he died Friday night in New York from complications from a recent surgery.Rooney, also a syndicated newspaper columnist, talked about what was in the news. But he was just as likely to use his weekly te

Nov. 6, 2011

‘Too soon’ to discuss China buying more EFSF, Zhu says

It’s “too soon” for China to discuss further bond purchases from Europe’s revamped rescue fund, Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao told reporters in Cannes, France, on the eve of a summit of world leaders. While there are proposals to bolster the European Financial Stability Facility, “there are no concrete plans yet so it’s too early to talk about further investments in these tools,” Zhu said Wednesday. Zhu said the rescue fund, already part of China’s portfolio, is an “important tool” to addre

Nov. 3, 2011