The Korea Herald

Apple gets greener

Apr 22, 2014

Company pledges free recycling of all its devices, more use of renewable energy
Novartis to buy GSK’s cancer drugs for $16b

Apr 22, 2014

Novartis AG agreed to buy GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s cancer-drug business for as much as $16 billion, form a consumer-health venture with Glaxo and sell its animal-health unit to Eli Lilly & Co. for $5.4 billion in an overhaul of the Swiss drugmaker. Novartis also will sell its vaccines business, excluding the flu operations, to Glaxo for $7.1 billion, the Basel, Switzerland-based company said in a statement Tuesday. That includes royalties and as much as $1.8 billion payments based on the achievemen
Russia closes 4 Ukrainian banks in Crimea amid integration push

Apr 22, 2014

Russia closed four Ukrainian lenders in Crimea as it pushes to integrate the Black Sea peninsula, following a weekend of violence in eastern Ukraine that the countries blamed on each other. The Russian regulator banned Privatbank, VAB Bank, Bank Kyivska Rus and Imexbank from Crimea for violating the “legal rights” of depositors, by ceasing operations with no sign of resuming, according to a website statement. UniCredit SpA, Raiffeisen Bank International and Alfa Bank, Russia’s largest privately
Warmer weather gives lift to U.S. economy

Apr 22, 2014

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Spring’s thaw is reviving the economy, too. A recent batch of government and business reports show a U.S. economy emerging from winter’s deep freeze. Economists had expected growth to accelerate in 2014 after two years of slow and steady improvement. But an unusually bitter winter sent factories, hiring and consumer spending into hibernation. Now, as temperatures rise, the economy is regaining momentum. Factories are busier. Consumers are spending more. Banks are making more lo
Citigroup seeks to sell 50 branches in California

Apr 22, 2014

Citigroup Inc. is seeking buyers for about 50 branches holding $3 billion of deposits in California as the third-largest U.S. lender pares brick-and-mortar outlets, said three people involved in the process. The branches, located in rural areas from Sacramento to north of Los Angeles, could sell for more than $100 million, said the people, who asked for anonymity because the negotiations are confidential. Citigroup had 384 branches in California holding close to $48 billion in deposits as of Jun
Carmakers unveil China-focused models at Beijing auto show

Apr 21, 2014

General Motors to invest $12 billion in China,
Japan’s trade deficit widens as export growth weakens

Apr 21, 2014

Japan’s weakest export growth in a year spurred a wider-than-forecast trade deficit in March, adding to challenges for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in steering the economy through the aftermath of an April 1 sales-tax rise. The 1.8 percent rise in the value of shipments overseas from a year earlier, reported Monday by the Ministry of Finance, compared with a 6.5 percent median estimate of 27 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. An 18.1 percent jump in imports helped widen the deficit to the bigge
Kuroda’s inflation focus risking money-market health

Apr 21, 2014

Money market watchers say Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda risks crippling the foundation of the nation’s financial system to achieve his inflation target. The outstanding balance of interbank lending in the so-called call market tumbled 17 percent this year to 14.1 trillion yen ($137 billion) on April 11, the least since January 2003 when the central bank was conducting its first round of easing through bond purchases. The BOJ currently buys about 7 trillion yen of government bonds a month fr
China auto show opens amid environmental, growth concerns

Apr 20, 2014

BEIJING (AFP) ― Leading automakers are gathering in Beijing Sunday for the kickoff of China’s biggest car show, but lackluster growth and environmental restrictions in the world’s largest car market have thrown uncertainty into the mix.More than 1,100 vehicles will be showcased at the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition, which opens to the public on Monday.General Motors, Toyota, Volkswagen and Hyundai are among the global manufacturers set to attend, along with SAIC and Dongfeng, China’
U.S. carmakers eye Russian market

Apr 20, 2014

DETROIT (AFP) ― Never mind the Ukraine crisis and Washington’s sanctions against Moscow: U.S. automakers say the Russian market is their next big frontier.Russia is simply too large and too important for carmakers to ignore, experts said this week.“The Russian market is going to be larger than Germany,” said John Branch, a professor at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.Branch said the structure of the Russian auto industry is in flux as the demand for imports increases despite b
Ex-Apple CEO plans smartphone for India

Apr 20, 2014

NEW DELHI (AFP) ― Former Apple chief executive John Sculley, whose marketing skills helped bring the personal computer to desktops worldwide, says he plans to launch a mobile phone in India to exploit its still largely untapped smartphone market.Inflexionpoint, an information technology supply company co-founded by Sculley, will start selling the smartphones next month in India under the new Obi Mobiles brand, the Singapore-based firm said in a statement emailed to AFP Saturday. “The smartphone
U.S. warns money managers of more Russia sanctions

Apr 20, 2014

The Obama administration told asset managers that it was planning additional sanctions against Russia over the conflict in Ukraine. Officials from the Treasury Department and the National Security Council met in Washington with mutual-fund and hedge-fund managers, according to a person who attended. Their comments sent a message that more sanctions are on the way and that investors, if they were concerned about the impact, should manage that risk, said the person, who asked not to be identified
Mergers and acquisitions market heats up in Europe

Apr 20, 2014

PARIS (AFP) ― Europe’s mergers and acquisitions market is rebounding after years in the doldrums, as improving market sentiment is prompting companies to spend piles of cash built up during the financial crisis.A flurry of new deals have been announced in the past month alone, including Numericable’s purchase of Vivendi’s SFR mobile phone unit in France, the merger of Swiss cement group Holcim and French rival Lafarge and the tie-up of Sopra and Steria to create a new French technology services
Russia stares at recession

Apr 20, 2014

MOSCOW (AFP) ― Russia looks increasingly likely to sink into recession in 2014 as the knock-on effects of its standoff with the West over Ukraine hurt an economy already beset by structural problems.Data released over the last week showed that Russian is beginning to suffer the effects of the worst East-West political crisis since the Cold War.The threat of economic sanctions from the European Union and the United States has already prompted a massive capital outflow from Russia in the first thr
Stimulus needed for job market: Fed

Apr 17, 2014

Yellen says key task of central bank is to respond to economy’s fluctuations