Nippon Steel Corp. and Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd.’s plan to create the world’s second-largest steelmaker is aimed at gaining leverage over raw-material purchases and metal pricing as costs soar. Shares in both companies surged the most in more than two years Friday. Based on Sumitomo’s market value and net debt, the deal would be worth more than 2 trillion yen ($24.5 billion), according to dat

Industry Feb. 6, 2011

SHANGHAI (AFP) ― China price regulators are seeking to fine French retail giant Carrefour 2.5 million yuan ($380,000) ― the maximum fine for overcharging customers, state media reported Sunday.Municipal regulators fined three Carrefour stores in Shanghai and two in southwest China’s Yunnan province 500,000 yuan each on Saturday, the official Xinhua news agency reported.However, the final fine will

Industry Jan. 31, 2011

Japan’s industrial production increased the most in 11 months in December, boosted by overseas demand that’s spurring the nation’s recovery. Factory output climbed 3.1 percent from November, when it rose 1 percent, the Trade Ministry said in Tokyo Monday. The median estimate of 29 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a 2.8 percent gain. Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. are among compa

Industry Jan. 31, 2011

DUBLIN (AFP) ― Ireland’s upper house of parliament passed Saturday a key finance bill needed to secure the country’s bailout package, paving the way for embattled Prime Minister Brian Cowen to call elections.The budget, which hikes taxes and slashes spending as part of the price for the 67.5 billion euro ($91 billion) European Union-International Monetary Fund bailout, had already passed the lower

Industry Jan. 30, 2011

GENEVA (AFP) ― The International Labor Organization warned that the global economic recovery was not translating into jobs as world unemployment remained at a record 205 million for 2010.“Despite a sharp rebound in economic growth for many countries, official global unemployment stood at 205 million in 2010, essentially unchanged from 2009, and 27.6 million more than on the eve of the global econo

Industry Jan. 25, 2011

Central bank keeps key rate between zero and 0.1%The Bank of Japan raised its growth forecasts for the year through March as strong overseas demand supports the economy. Policy makers predicted an expansion of 3.3 percent for the 2010 fiscal year, compared with the 2.1 percent estimated in October, the central bank said in a statement Tuesday in Tokyo. The BOJ also held the key interest rate betwe

Industry Jan. 25, 2011

NEW YORK (AP) ― The news last week that Apple’s Steve Jobs is taking a leave of absence was a big story. But something else about the company got far less attention and could be even more important to investors this year.Corporations “are adding iPads to their approved device list at an amazing rate,” Peter Oppenheimer, Apple Inc.’s chief financial officer, told analysts Tuesday. Apple’s products,

Industry Jan. 24, 2011

South Korea’s top men’s doubles badminton duo said on Friday they’re ready to defend their Korea Open championship when the world’s most lucrative badminton event starts next week.The tandem of Jung Jae-sung and Lee Yong-dae said they’re looking forward to competing against the world’s best players before home fans, adding they’re going to bear down especially hard.  Lee Yong-dae“There are a lot o

More Sports Jan. 21, 2011

South Korea will meet its old football nemesis Iran in the quarterfinals of the ongoing Asian Cup in Doha, Qatar, at 1:25 a.m. Sunday, Korean time, for their fifth straight showdown in the final eight of the regional tournament.South Korea’s poor history against Iran ― with no victories in their last six meetings ― has been well-documented. The first loss for Cho Kwang-rae, the current South Korea

More Sports Jan. 21, 2011

NEWPORT, Rhode Island (AFP) ― Eight-time Grand Slam singles champion Andre Agassi, among only seven men to achieve a career Grand Slam, has been elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame, officials said Thursday.Agassi’s induction ceremony will be conducted July 9 at the Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, during the ATP Hall of Fame Championships grass-court event. He will be the only e

More Sports Jan. 21, 2011

LONDON (AFP) ― WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange vowed to publish secret details of offshore accounts after a Swiss banking whistleblower handed over data Monday on 2,000 purportedly tax-dodging individuals and firms.Former Swiss banker Rudolf Elmer, who worked for eight years in the Cayman Islands, a renowned offshore tax haven in the Caribbean, personally gave Assange two CDs of data at a London

Industry Jan. 18, 2011

Nouriel Roubini, the New York University economist who predicted the global financial crisis, said a key risk to the world economy in 2011 is the likely spread of Europe’s debt crisis. “One of the most important risks is financial contagion in Europe if the euro zone’s problems spread, as seems likely, to Portugal, Spain and Belgium,” Roubini wrote in an article in the Australian Financial Review

Industry Jan. 18, 2011