The Korea Herald

Alleged Bitcoin millionaire gets $28,000 donations

Mar 10, 2014

Bitcoin enthusiasts donated about $28,000 to Dorian S. Nakamoto, a 64-year-old physicist who denied a report last week by Newsweek magazine that identified him as the digital currency’s creator. A wallet address set up by Andreas Antonopoulos, chief security officer for Blockchain.info, received more than 1,800 payments, amounting to about 44 bitcoins, according to data on his company’s website. That compares with about 1 million coins that the founder of the system owns, worth over $1 billion w
Global debt exceeds $100tr as governments binge, BIS says

Mar 10, 2014

The amount of debt globally has soared more than 40 percent to $100 trillion since the first signs of the financial crisis as governments borrowed to pull their economies out of recession and companies took advantage of record low interest rates, according to the Bank for International Settlements. The $30 trillion increase from $70 trillion between mid-2007 and mid-2013 compares with a $3.86 trillion decline in the value of equities to $53.8 trillion in the same period, according to data compil
[Newsmaker] Bitcoin creator’s identity still a mystery

Mar 9, 2014

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― The world was little closer to knowing for sure who invented Bitcoin Friday, despite Newsweek’s claim to have unmasked the enigmatic “Satoshi Nakamoto” behind the computer-coded currency.The magazine relaunched its print version with an ostensibly huge scoop, identifying 64-year-old Japanese-American engineer Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto as the creator.But the mystery remained after the apparently retired model train enthusiast from suburban Los Angeles asked a reporter to buy him
4 European nations urge U.S. gas exports

Mar 9, 2014

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Four Central European nations are urging the United States to boost natural gas exports to Europe as a hedge against the possibility that Russia could cut off its supply of gas to Ukraine.Ambassadors from Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic made their appeal Friday in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. A similar letter was expected to be sent to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada.The letter from the four nations, known as the Visegrad Group, a
Deflation fears as China inflation drops

Mar 9, 2014

BEIJING (AFP) ― China’s inflation rate dropped to 2 percent year-on-year in February, down from 2.5 percent in January, the government said Sunday, prompting economists to warn that the risk of deflation was rising.The consumer price index figure announced by the National Bureau of Statistics matched the median forecast in a poll of 13 economists by Dow Jones Newswires.The producer price index, which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, declined by 2 percent in February, accelerating fr
U.S. job gain raises economic hopes

Mar 9, 2014

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Job growth in the United States has proved surprisingly consistent. Brutal winter weather snarled traffic, canceled flights and cut power to homes and factories in February. Yet it didn’t faze U.S. employers, who added 175,000 jobs, far more than the two previous months. Modest but steady hiring has become a hallmark of a nearly 5-year-old economic rebound that remains sluggish yet strikingly resilient. The economy has been slowed by political gridlock, harsh weather and global
China’s first corporate default sparks legal action by investors

Mar 7, 2014

SHANGHAI (AFP) ― China’s first-ever default on a domestic corporate bond on Friday has sparked legal action by investors owed interest payments from a solar company, their lawyer said.Shanghai-based Chaori Solar Energy Science & Technology Co. said Tuesday it was unable to make full bond interest payments of 89.8 million yuan ($14.7 million). Chaori’s board secretary, Liu Telong, confirmed Friday that the company was in default, Dow Jones Newswires reported.The development is being widely descri
China minister 'fully' confident of meeting trade target this year

Mar 7, 2014

China's commerce minister said Friday he is "fully" confident of meeting a 7.5 percent growth target in trade this year, citing what he calls an "improving environment" in the global economy."Given our comprehensive analysis of the international market, we are fully confident of achieving our target of 7.5 percent growth in foreign trade in 2014," Commerce Minister Gao Hucheong told reporters.Gao made the remarks at a press briefing on the sidelines of China's annual legislative policy-setting s
Japan says Bitcoin transactions not a currency but taxable

Mar 7, 2014

Japan's government said Friday that Bitcoin is not a currency but that it "is natural" that transactions involving the virtual unit should be taxed."As a matter of common sense, if there are transactions and subsequent gains, it is natural... for the finance ministry to consider how it can impose taxes," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters. (AFP)
Target’s tech executive resigns after giant information breach

Mar 6, 2014

NEW YORK (AFP) ― Target’s chief information officer has resigned as the retailer overhauls its information security practices in the wake of a giant customer data breach, the company said Wednesday.Beth Jacob, who was in charge of Target’s computer systems since 2008, has resigned, a company spokeswoman said, in the first major executive departure since the company announced the hacking incident in December.Target will launch an external search for an interim CIO as well as for a chief informati
Facebook cracks down on gun sales

Mar 6, 2014

Company announces steps to stop illegal gun posts, sales through its site
China’s growth target flexible, minister says

Mar 6, 2014

BEIJING (AFP) ― China’s finance minister suggested Thursday that a growth rate of “7.2 percent or 7.3 percent” would be acceptable, a day after the country announced a 2014 target of “around 7.5 percent.”China is the world’s second-largest economy and a key driver of global growth, with its expansion goals closely watched.At the opening Wednesday of the National People’s Congress, its Communist-controlled parliament, Premier Li Keqiang announced a target of “around 7.5 percent” for gross domesti
ECB risks repeating Japan’s ‘lost decade’ deflation mistake

Mar 6, 2014

The central bank failed to sound a deflation alert. “At present there is no reason to expect that overall prices will drop sharply and exert deflationary pressure on the entire economy,” policy makers wrote in their monthly report, signed off by the governor. That governor was Yasuo Matsushita and the report was published in January 1998. Within six months, Japan’s consumer prices excluding food began falling in a trend that would mark the next 15 years. The concern now for economists from Barcl
HSBC, 4 other banks sued for manipulating gold prices

Mar 6, 2014

NEW YORK (AFP) ― Five banks at the center of London’s gold trade have been sued in New York for manipulating prices, in the latest accusation of fraudulent collusion in the global finance hub.A class-action suit was filed by U.S. gold futures and options trader Kevin Maher against Bank of Nova Scotia, Barclays Bank, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, and Societe Generale, all involved in setting the London Gold Fix, a twice-daily benchmark price used as a reference for trade in gold and gold derivatives.The s
Facebook looks to buy solar drone company

Mar 5, 2014

NEW YORK (AP) ― Facebook is in talks to buy Titan Aerospace, a maker of solar-powered drones, to step up its efforts to provide Internet access to remote parts of the world, according to reports from technology blog Techcrunch and financial news outlet CNBC.Both websites cited anonymous sources who are familiar with the deal and put a purchase price at $60 million.Facebook spokesman Tucker Bounds said Tuesday that the company does not comment on rumors and speculation. Titan Aerospace representa