BARCELONA (AFP) ― Rising Chinese smartphone maker Huawei launched Sunday a connected watch to rival Samsung’s Gear 2, both unveiled on the eve of the world’s biggest mobile fair in Barcelona, Spain.Huawei, already a major force in building mobile networks and the world number three smartphone maker in 2013, showed off its TalkBand, to be sold for 99 euros ($136).Connected by Bluetooth to a smartphone, the watch lets you receive calls and messages without removing your mobile from your pocket, as

NEW YORK (AP) ― Netflix has reached a deal with Comcast to ensure that its TV shows and movies are streamed smoothly to households, the first deal the online video streaming service has reached with an Internet service provider.The two companies said in a joint statement Sunday that they are establishing a more direct connection to provide a better service to customers that will also allow for future growth in Netflix traffic. The companies say the arrangement is already giving customers a bette

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said policymakers are ready to add to stimulus if the outlook for prices deteriorates, though there are currently no signs of deflation in the euro area. “We don’t have any evidence of people postponing their expenditure plans with a view to buying the same thing at lower prices, in other words we don’t see what is defined to be deflation,” Draghi said after a Group of 20 meeting in Sydney Sunday. “We are aware of the risks. The Governing Council is w

China’s Finance Minister Lou Jiwei played down yuan declines and the risks from shadow banking as central bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan signaled that the nation’s economy can sustain growth of between 7 percent and 8 percent. Expansion prospects are suitable and can boost global economic growth, Zhou said. Possible defaults in some wealth-management products don’t reflect a “big problem” and recent yuan weakness is within a normal range, the finance minister told Bloomberg News. China is stressin

WASHINGTON (AP) ― It looks like the U.S. government is more conflicted about cellphones on planes than most American travelers. Even as one federal agency considers allowing the calls, another now wants to make sure that doesn’t happen.Passengers ― particularly those who fly often ― oppose allowing calls in flight, polls show. In line with that sentiment, the Department of Transportation signaled in a 22-page notice posted online Friday that it wants to retain a ban on the calls. But the notice

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

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

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

The IMF said the recovery is still weak and ‘significant downside risks remain.’

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

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