The Korea Herald

U.S. Supreme Court to weigh emissions rule

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― The U.S. Supreme Court will weigh efforts Monday by President Barack Obama’s administration to regulate greenhouse gases, which industry groups and Republican-led states are labeling gross overreach.Experts say even if the court sides with businesses, it would barely dent the administration’s efforts to tackle global warming.But businesses worry they could face huge additional costs if the Environmental Protection Agency wins, as it could then order industrial sites to be desi

Feb. 23, 2014

Transcripts show Fed at times slow to grasp crisis

WASHINGTON (AP) ― The U.S. Federal Reserve agonized in 2008 over how far to go to stop a financial crisis that threatened to cause a recession and at times struggled to recognize its speed and magnitude.“We’re crossing certain lines. We’re doing things we haven’t done before,” Chairman Ben Bernanke said as Fed officials met in an emergency session March 10 and launched never-before-taken steps to lend to teetering Wall Street firms, among a series of unorthodox moves that year to calm investors

Feb. 23, 2014

Transcripts show Fed at times slow to grasp crisis

Credit Suisse to pay $196m for SEC settlement

Credit Suisse Group AG will pay $196 million to settle charges that it violated U.S. securities law by providing cross-border financial services for U.S. clients without registering with regulators.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission say the Swiss bank provided these services to thousands of U.S. clients over a seven-year period. Regulators say the bank began to curb this practice in 2008 after a civil and criminal investigation into similar conduct by Swiss-based UBS.Following a U.S. De

Feb. 23, 2014

Credit Suisse to pay $196m for SEC settlement

Fed officials eyed rate hike, more tapering

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Federal Reserve officials agreed at their January meeting that further gradual reductions in their stimulus would be appropriate as long as the economy keeps improving.Officials weighed the need to stress to investors that the Fed‘s key short-term interest rate would remain near zero, according to the minutes of the Jan. 28-29 meeting released Wednesday. But Fed officials couldn’t agree on how to modify their commitment to keep the rate near zero “well past” the time the unempl

Feb. 20, 2014

Google out to spread super-fast Internet service

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) ― Google on Wednesday ramped up its drive to build a super-fast U.S. Internet network in a budding challenge to the grip a handful of titans have on service.Lessons learned and confidence gained from Google Fiber projects in Texas, Utah, and the Kansas City region prompted the Silicon Valley technology giant to invite 34 more cities to explore the potential to build the ultrafast networks.“People are hungrier than ever for faster Internet, and as a result, cities across Ameri

Feb. 20, 2014

WhatsApp deal shows Facebook’s mobile drive

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― With a big, bold deal for hot messaging service WhatsApp, Facebook is demonstrating it wants youth, a wider footprint in more markets and new kinds of services to stay fresh.Analysts say the staggering price tag of up to $19 billion in stock and cash highlights Facebook’s drive to be more mobile, global and to remain innovative.“It shows the continued determination of Facebook to be the ‘next’ Facebook,” says Benedict Evans, a partner in the venture capital firm Andreessen Hor

Feb. 20, 2014

WhatsApp deal shows Facebook’s mobile drive

Hard-hit Peugeot wins new lease on life in Dongfeng tie-up

PARIS (AFP) ― Stricken French auto giant Peugeot Citroen handed part control to Chinese company Dongfeng and the French state on Wednesday, winning the cash-starved company a new lease of life.The shareholder revamp ends the 200-year-old grip of the Peugeot family dynasty and raises at least 3 billion euros just as the company posted a colossal loss for last year.The company, the biggest auto group in France with about 90,000 employees, desperately needs new capital to climb away from near disas

Feb. 20, 2014

IMF warns G20 of deflation risk, market turmoil

Risks of prolonged market turmoil in emerging markets and of deflation in the euro area are threatening the world’s improved economic prospects, according to the International Monetary Fund.The IMF, in a staff report prepared for central bankers and finance ministers from the Group of 20, said the recovery is still weak and “significant downside risks remain.” A January global growth forecast of 3.7 percent for this year, from 3 percent in 2013, hinges on recent market volatility from Turkey to

Feb. 20, 2014

IMF warns G20 of deflation risk, market turmoil

ATMs raise Bitcoin profile

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Even if you aren’t sure what a Bitcoin is, you may soon find them at a nearby machine.The first Bitcoin ATMs are cropping up in North America, enabling consumers to swap cash for units of the crypto-currency, or cash in their Bitcoins. ATMs are coming in Europe and Asia as well.The machines could allow Bitcoins, generated by a complex computer algorithm designed in 2009, to move out of the realm of geeks to the broader public.The startup Robocoin, after unveiling its first ATM

Feb. 20, 2014

U.K. unemployment eases rate worries

LONDON (AFP) ― Britain’s unemployment rate rose in the quarter to December, official data showed on Wednesday, easing pressure on the Bank of England to raise borrowing costs.The jobless rate climbed to 7.2 percent, up from a near five-year low level of 7.1 percent in the quarter to November, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.The Bank of England has faced pressure from financial markets to begin raising its main interest rate from a record low level of 0.5 percent as Britain

Feb. 20, 2014

China cuts Treasury holdings amid taper

China, the largest foreign U.S. creditor, reduced holdings of U.S. Treasury debt in December by the most in two years as the Federal Reserve announced plans to slow asset purchases.The nation pared its position in U.S. government bonds by $47.8 billion, or 3.6 percent, to $1.27 trillion, the largest decline since December 2011, according to U.S. Treasury Department data released yesterday. At the same time, international investors increased holdings by 1.4 percent, or by $78 billion, in December

Feb. 20, 2014

Facebook buys WhatsApp message service for $16b

Facebook said Wednesday it was buying the fast-growing mobile messaging service WhatsApp for more than $16 billion in cash and stock, expanding the global footprint of the social networking giant. The deal bolsters the world's biggest social network by adding the 450 million users of WhatsApp, which will be operated independently with its own board.It is Facebook's biggest acquisition and comes less than two years after Mark Zuckerberg's firm raised $16 billion in the richest tech sector public

Feb. 20, 2014

Actavis to buy Forest Lab for $25b

Irish drugmaker Actavis PLC plans to buy Forest Laboratories Inc. for about $25 billion, catapulting little-known Actavis into the world’s No. 15 drug company, with an unusual one-stop-shopping model giving it an edge: more face time with doctors.U.S. physicians, increasingly crunched for time, keep reducing how many drugmaker sales reps they see. Forest gives Actavis not just a broader product line, but also its big U.S. sales force, which now can promote a half-dozen Forest and Actavis product

Feb. 19, 2014

Long, bumpy road to Europe for Dongfeng despite Peugeot deal

BEIJING (AFP) ― Chinese carmaker Dongfeng hopes its acquisition of a $1.1 billion stake in struggling French manufacturer PSA Peugeot Citroen will bring it a technology dividend and access to Western markets, but analysts said the road is likely to be long and bumpy.Peugeot’s board Tuesday approved an agreement for state-controlled Dongfeng Motor Corp. and the French government to each inject 800 million euros ($1.1 billion) for 14 percent stakes in the company, leaving the Peugeot family with a

Feb. 19, 2014

U.S. wage hike would lift pay, cost jobs

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Boosting the federal minimum wage as President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats are proposing would increase earnings for more than 16.5 million people by 2016 but also cut employment by roughly 500,000 jobs, Congress’ nonpartisan budget analyst said Tuesday.In a report containing ammunition for both supporters and opponents of the Democratic election-year proposal, the Congressional Budget Office said gradually raising the minimum from $7.25 hourly to $10.10 would lift

Feb. 19, 2014

U.S. wage hike would lift pay, cost jobs

Lew tells G20 risks linger as emerging markets cloud outlook

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said risks including volatility in emerging markets and China’s economic agenda are clouding the global outlook, requiring nations to focus on boosting growth and job creation. “There has been considerable volatility in global markets, especially in several emerging markets,” Lew said in a letter Tuesday to his Group of 20 colleagues. “We are monitoring these developments closely.” Lew, who will join the Feb. 22-23 meeting in Sydney of G20 finance ministers and

Feb. 19, 2014

Lew tells G20 risks linger as emerging markets cloud outlook

Mining giant BHP’s profit soars 83%

SYDNEY (AFP) ― Global mining giant BHP Billiton said Tuesday first-half net profit soared 83 percent to $8.1 billion on the back of spending cuts and strong production across its iron ore and coal businesses.The result for the six months to Dec. 31 was above expectations and compared to $4.2 billion in the previous corresponding period, with revenues climbing 5.9 percent to $33.95 billion.Underlying earnings ― which exclude one-off writedowns ― rose 31 percent to a higher than forecast $7.8 bill

Feb. 18, 2014

EU, U.S. envoys meet ahead of free-trade talks

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― U.S. Trade Ambassador Michael Froman received his European counterpart Karel De Gucht in Washington Monday, preparing for next month’s fourth round of talks on creating the world’s largest free-trade area.The two sides have been in discussion since last year over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, which aims to expand trade, investment and regulatory cooperation between the two huge economies.Froman and De Gucht spoke briefly to reporters in Washington before

Feb. 18, 2014

EU, U.S. envoys meet ahead of free-trade talks

Hollande bids to woo foreign investors back to France

PARIS (AFP) ― President Francois Hollande sought to woo sceptical investors back to France on Monday, telling global business chiefs his government had no fear of foreign capital.Anxious to bring the French economy back to sustained growth and turn around his record-low poll numbers, Hollande met some 30 top executives at the Elysee Palace for talks on France’s business climate.The heads of leading companies including Volvo, Bosch, Siemens, Samsung, General Electric, Intel and Nestle were joined

Feb. 18, 2014

Japan grows lackluster 1% in Q4

TOKYO (AP) ― Japan’s economy grew slower-than-forecast in the last quarter of 2013, clouding the outlook for recovery ahead of a sales tax hike in April. Government figures released Monday showed the world’s third-largest economy expanded 1 percent on annualized basis in the October-December quarter. From the prior July-September quarter, gross domestic product grew 0.3 percent. That matched growth in struggling Europe but was less than half of some forecasts despite a boom in housing constructi

Feb. 17, 2014