NEW YORK (AFP) ― The shortest path to the Internet for some remote corners of the world may be through the skies.That is the message from U.S. tech giants seeking to spread the online gospel to hard-to-reach regions.Google took a step in that direction this week with the acquisition of Titan Aerospace, a maker of solar-powered drones that can help boost Internet access to remote areas.“It’s still early days, but atmospheric satellites could help bring Internet access to millions of people, and h

BEIJING (AFP) ― China’s gross domestic product grew 7.4 percent in the first three months of the year, official data showed Wednesday, increasing the chances Beijing will move to stanch a slowdown in the world’s number two economy.The year on year figure is sharply down from the 7.7 percent expansion in the final three months of 2013, with the National Bureau of Statistics blaming a slower-than-expected global recovery as well as economic structural reforms at home.However, it was marginally hig

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ― Yahoo is prospering from its lucrative investments in Asia while the Internet company’s listless advertising sales are picking up, if ever so slightly, under CEO Marissa Mayer.The positive signs in the Yahoo’s first-quarter report overshadowed a 20 percent decline in the company’s earnings during the opening three months of the year.Yahoo’s stock gained $2.19, or 6.4 percent, to $36.40 in Tuesday’s extended trading. Even if the shares rally similarly in Wednesday’s regular t

NEW YORK (AFP) ― General Motors CEO Mary Barra announced Tuesday the creation of a new team to enhance safety in the wake of an ignition-recall scandal that has engulfed the company.Barra said the new product-integrity team aimed to ensure that future technical problems are addressed and resolved quickly. The automaker has come in for heavy criticism over its response to the ignition-switch problem, which has been tied to 13 deaths.The new product-integrity team will be part of the global produc

STRASBOURG (AFP) ― The European Parliament approved on Tuesday the last elements of a new set of rules to prevent failing banks from ever again driving EU member states into bankruptcy.With “banking union” passed, “we now have in place a true European system to supervise the eurozone banks and deal with any future failures,” EU Financial Markets Commissioner Michel Barnier said.The system is also widely seen as essential for the monetary union of the euro single currency whose very existence cam

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said additional capital may be required for large U.S. banks whose source of funding could be at risk during a financial crisis. A study by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision “provides some support for the view that there might be room for stronger capital and liquidity standards for large banks than have been adopted so far,” Yellen said in prepared remarks for a speech in Stone Mountain, Georgia. “Tightening risk-based capital and liquidity requiremen

GENEVA (AFP) ― Global commerce is set to grow by 4.7 percent this year, the World Trade Organization said on Monday, with recovery in rich economies expected to mitigate risks in developing nations.The WTO previously had forecast that trade would expand by 4.5 percent in 2014, up from an estimated rate of 2.1 percent in 2013.So the latest forecast points to substantially more than a doubling of the growth achieved last year.Trade is a key measure of the health of the global economy which it both

ROME (AFP) ― The United Nations warned on Monday of the potential “massive destruction” of the world’s $5-billion a year banana crop as a plant disease spreads from Asia to Africa and the Middle East.The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization said the TR4 strain of Panama disease, which has already hit tens of thousands of hectares in Southeast Asia, had been reported in Jordan and Mozambique.The disease is “posing a serious threat to production and export” of bananas, the fourth most impo

China’s loss of economic momentum in the first quarter was deeper than the most widely-cited data will show, according to analyst forecasts for a gauge that’s gaining increasing recognition. Gross domestic product grew 1.5 percent from the previous three months, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey ahead of data released Wednesday, down from 1.8 percent in the fourth quarter. That indicates a sharper deceleration than the median projection for 7.3 percent growth from a yea

Gold demand in China, which overtook India as the largest user last year, will rise about 25 percent in the next four years as an increasing population gets wealthier, according to the World Gold Council. Consumer demand will expand to at least 1,350 metric tons by 2017, the London-based council said in a report Tuesday. Growth may be limited this year after 2013’s price decline spurred consumers to do more buying last year, it said. China accounted for about 28 percent of global usage last year

Oracle Corp.’s Larry Ellison was the highest-paid chief executive officer in the U.S. last year as total compensation overall rose 9 percent from 2012, the New York Times reported.Ellison received $78.4 million, which includes salary and perks of $1.54 million, and stock options valued at $76.9 million, the newspaper said in an article published online. Ellison was the highest-paid executive in the same survey a year ago, with $96.2 million in compensation for 2012. Walt Disney Co.’s Robert Iger