The Korea Herald

GM recalls 971,000 more cars

DETROIT (AP) ― General Motors is boosting by 971,000 the number of small cars being recalled worldwide for a defective ignition switch, saying cars from the model years 2008-2011 may have gotten the part as a replacement. The latest move brings the total number of cars affected to 2.6 million. The questionable handling of the problem, including GM’s admission that it knew the switches were possibly defective as early as 2001, has embarrassed the nation’s largest automaker. The recalls ― which ar

March 30, 2014

Another year, another $1 for Google co-founders

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ― Google paid co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin their customary $1 salaries last year while Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt’s compensation more than doubled to $19.3 million.Most of Schmidt’s raise stemmed from stock grants valued at $11.4 million. Google issued them to make up for an administrative error in the handling of another large award given to Schmidt in February 2011, according to regulatory documents filed Friday.If not for the mix-up, Schmidt’s pay package las

March 30, 2014

Another year, another $1 for Google co-founders

New silk road links China, Europe

FRANKFURT (AFP) ― One of the world’s longest railways ― a “modern-day silk road” ― covers some 11,000 kilometers en route from the Chinesee megacity of Chongqing to Duisburg, a key commercial hub in western Germany.On Saturday, as part of his landmark visit to Germany, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the last stop on the “Yuxinou” rail line, an industrial feat that promises to revolutionize transport between Europe and Asia.Duisburg is a steel-making town of around half a million on the con

March 30, 2014

ECB to hold fire on rates despite slow inflation

FRANKFURT (AFP) ― The European Central Bank is not expected to cut its key interest rates this week, even though inflation in the euro area continues to slow, analysts said. The ECB has held eurozone borrowing costs at their current all-time lows since November.But no further monetary easing appears to be on the cards at the bank’s next meeting on Thursday just yet, given recent data suggesting the region’s economy is in a tentative recovery, central bank watchers said. At the moment, deflation

March 30, 2014

Cuban lawmakers OK foreign investment law

HAVANA (AP) ― Cuban lawmakers on Saturday approved a law aimed at making Cuba more attractive to foreign investors, a measure seen as vital for the island’s struggling economy. Meeting in an extraordinary session, parliament replaced a 1995 foreign investment law that has lured less overseas capital than the island’s Communist leaders had hoped. Cuba’s GDP expanded 2.7 percent last year, below targets and weak for a developing nation. Government officials say the economy needs 5 to 7 percent ann

March 30, 2014

New Zealand announces energy company sale

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- New Zealand is closing the books on a contentious, multibillion dollar program of asset sales.The government announced on Friday it would sell a minority stake in power company Genesis Energy for 736 million New Zealand dollars ($638 million). The company will list on the New Zealand stock market on April 17.Including Genesis, New Zealand has sold 49 percent stakes in three power companies and a 20 percent stake in Air New Zealand over the past year, raising a tot

March 28, 2014

Citi among five banks to fail Fed’s stress test

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― The Federal Reserve approved the capital plans of 25 major U.S. banks after stress tests Wednesday, but turned down those of five others, including Citigroup’s.The Fed said four of the five ― Citi, HSBC North America, RBS Citizens Financial and Santander Holdings USA ― had “qualitative” shortfalls in their capital foundations, while the fifth, Zions Bancorporation, had failed the stress test with its basic capital ratio falling under the minimum.The objection means the five ca

March 27, 2014

WB warns on Russian economy

MOSCOW (AFP) ― Russia’s economy could contract by up to 1.8 percent this year because of the crisis in Ukraine, the World Bank said Wednesday.The estimate amounts to one of the starkest warnings yet of the potential economic risks for President Vladimir Putin from his intervention in Crimea.The Russian economy was already slowing sharply before the crisis over Ukraine, with analysts saying that Putin’s failure to enact structural reforms was having a direct negative impact on growth rates.The Wo

March 27, 2014

China, France sign $25b business deals

PARIS (AFP) ― Beijing and Paris signed scores of deals Wednesday worth 18 billion euros ($25 billion) on the second day of a lavish state visit by Chinese leader Xi Jinping, in what President Francois Hollande said would bring much-needed growth.Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan have been given VIP treatment on a nostalgia-tinted trip to France marking the 50th year of full diplomatic ties between the two countries ― a visit due to culminate with a concert at the Versailles chateau on Thursday.The pow

March 27, 2014

Bitcoin is property, not currency, in tax system

The U.S. government will treat Bitcoin as property for tax purposes, applying rules it uses to govern stocks and barter transactions, the Internal Revenue Service said in its first substantive ruling on the issue. Tuesday’s IRS guidance will provide certainty for Bitcoin investors, along with income-tax liability that wasn’t specified before. Purchasing a $2 cup of coffee with Bitcoins bought for $1 would trigger $1 in capital gains for the coffee drinker and $2 of gross income for the coffee sh

March 26, 2014

Bitcoin is property, not currency, in tax system

Facebook in $2b deal for virtual reality firm

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) ― Facebook on Tuesday announced a $2 billion deal to buy a startup behind virtual reality headgear that promises to let people truly dive into their friend’s lives.Facebook co-founder and chief Mark Zuckerberg said that the acquisition of Oculus was a long-term bet that making the social network’s offerings more immersive would pay off in the future.“People will build a model of a place far away and you will just go see it; it is just like teleporting,” Zuckerberg said. “I do

March 26, 2014

Facebook in $2b deal for virtual reality firm

BOJ decision on extra easing possible in May

The Bank of Japan could decide as soon as mid-May whether further stimulus is needed to keep inflation on track for its 2 percent target after a sales-tax bump next month, an adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said. “If the BOJ judges that the economy has fallen off its projected path, it will act appropriately and flexibly, and further easing is possible,” Etsuro Honda said in an interview at the Prime Minister’s Office in Tokyo Tuesday. “I believe the BOJ will act if it sees changes in price

March 26, 2014

Five former Madoff workers convicted

NEW YORK (AP) ― Five former employees of imprisoned financier Bernard Madoff were convicted Monday at the end of a six-month trial that cast them as the long arms of their boss, telling an elaborate web of lies to hide a fraud that enriched them and cheated investors out of billions of dollars. The trial, one of the longest in the storied history of Manhattan federal court, was the first to result from the massive fraud revealed in December 2008 when Madoff ran out of money and was arrested. And

March 25, 2014

Tigerair buys 37 Airbus A320neo planes

SINGAPORE (AFP) ― Singapore budget carrier Tigerair said Monday it will buy 37 Airbus A320neo planes valued at $3.8 billion, enabling the airline to cut fuel costs and fly to new, more distant destinations.Tigerair, which is 40 percent owned by Singapore Airlines, said in a statement it also has the option to buy up to 13 additional aircraft and to convert the A320neo planes to the bigger A321neo model.Delivery of the fuel-efficient planes will start from 2018 through to 2025, the airline said i

March 24, 2014

China, Netherlands sign trade pact for better milk

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) ― China and the Netherlands signed a trade pact Sunday pledging Dutch dairy expertise to help Chinese producers boost the quality and quantity of their milk. The deal signed at a ceremony at Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s official residence in The Hague is another step by China to rehabilitate the reputation of its dairy industry in the aftermath of tainted milk product scandals. It was part of a raft of deals and memoranda of understanding inked on the second day of a s

March 24, 2014

China, Netherlands sign trade pact for better milk

China’s manufacturing slows further

A Chinese manufacturing index unexpectedly fell, underscoring the risk that leaders will need to add stimulus to meet this year’s economic-growth goal. The Purchasing Managers’ Index from HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics dropped to 48.1 in March, the companies said Monday. The preliminary reading compares with the 48.7 median estimate of 22 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News and February’s final 48.5 figure. Numbers above 50 signal expansion. The Australian dollar fell and copper extended

March 24, 2014

Russia staring at recession on sanctions

Western sanctions are pushing Russia toward recession and the pain could intensify if U.S. and European leaders turn the screw over tensions in Ukraine. Banks including state-run VTB Capital say the world’s ninth-biggest economy will shrink for at least two quarters as penalties for annexing Crimea rattle markets, curb investment and raise the cost of borrowing. Sanctions that have so far focused on individuals via visa bans and asset freezes may be expanded to target specific areas of the econo

March 24, 2014

Russia staring at recession on sanctions

U.S. economists see growth pickup this year: survey

WASHINGTON (AP) ― With the pace of U.S. economic growth seen speeding up later this year and next, many business economists expect the Federal Reserve to end its bond purchases this fall or even earlier.The consensus of the 48 economists surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics is that bad weather cut first-quarter growth to a weak annual rate of 1.9 percent, but that growth could exceed 3 percent by year’s end. NABE’s report, released Monday, covered a survey period from Feb.

March 24, 2014

Tesco to become first foreign supermarket to open in India

NEW DELHI (AFP) ― Britain’s Tesco said Friday it had struck a joint venture deal with India’s Tata Group to become the first foreign supermarket to enter the country’s $500-billion retail sector.The world’s third-biggest retailer made the announcement after winning clearance from the Indian Foreign Investment Promotion Board for a $140-million investment in the alliance with Tata Group unit Trent Ltd. Tesco said in a statement it had “entered into an agreement with Trent Limited, part of the Tat

March 23, 2014

Tesco to become first foreign supermarket to open in India

Obama reassures tech CEOs on privacy

WASHINGTON (AP) ― A week before a self-imposed deadline for a review of National Security Agency programs, President Barack Obama sought Friday to assure leading Internet and tech executives that his administration is committed to protecting people’s privacy. CEOs from Facebook, Google, Netflix and others spent more than two hours with Obama in the Oval Office discussing their concerns about NSA spying programs, which have drawn outrage from tech companies whose data have been scooped up by the

March 23, 2014