The Korea Herald

With Obama out, other leaders take APEC main stage

Oct 7, 2013

BALI (AP) ― Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other Asia-Pacific leaders took center stage Monday at a regional summit after President Barack Obama was a no-show due to the U.S. government shutdown. Leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, meeting amid tight security on this tropical island in eastern Indonesia, urged faster work on reforms meant to break down trade barriers and improve competitiveness. Abe, struggling to extricate Japan from two decades of stagnation, pledge
JAL makes first purchase from Airbus, not Boeing

Oct 7, 2013

The purchase of 31 A350 planes deals a blow to U.S. rival Boeing, which had been JAL's star supplier for decades.Airbus Chief Executive and President Fabrice Bregier and Japan Airlines President Yoshiharu Ueki signed the deal Monday in Tokyo, which includes an option for JAL to buy 25 more Airbus planes. They declined to give the actual price tag on the deal. Ueki said the decision to turn to the European manufacturer, based in Toulouse, France, for replacements for retiring Boeing 777 jets was
U.S. moves closer to a possible default on debt

Oct 7, 2013

The United States moved closer to the possibility of the first-ever default on the government's debt as Speaker John Boehner adamantly ruled out a House vote on a straightforward bill to boost the borrowing authority without concessions from President Barack Obama.With no resolution in sight, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew warned Sunday that Congress is “playing with fire” as he called on lawmakers to quickly pass legislation re-opening the government and a measure increasing the nation's $16.7 tri
Global air emissions deal approved

Oct 6, 2013

MONTREAL (AFP) ― A first-ever global deal on curbing the airline industry’s rising carbon emissions was agreed Friday, the International Civil Aviation Organization said, though hammering out the details could take years.The full agreement is not scheduled to take effect until 2020 but the most contentious issues have been resolved, officials said, as the ICAO’s full assembly met behind closed doors in Montreal.The deal “is an historic milestone for air transport and for the role of multilateral
Cisco, Google, SAP may consider BlackBerry bid

Oct 6, 2013

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) ― BlackBerry Ltd., on the block as its smartphone business struggles, is in talks with Cisco Systems, Google Inc. and SAP about selling them all or parts of itself, several sources close to the matter said.Such a deal would be an alternative to the preliminary agreement reached weeks ago with a group, led by BlackBerry’s biggest shareholder, Fairfax Financial Holdings, to take the company private for about $4.7 billion, a bid which has faced some skepticism becau
APEC leaders seek ways to foster growth

Oct 6, 2013

BALI, Indonesia (AP) ― Fighting protectionism and pushing through difficult reforms are critical to the global recovery as the world’s biggest economies struggle with their own internal obstacles to growth, Asia-Pacific leaders gathered for an annual summit said Sunday. With U.S. President Barack Obama bogged down in the domestic drama over the national budget and government shutdown, national leaders at the annual summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum were watching to see how th
Swiss probe exchange market rigging claims

Oct 6, 2013

ZURICH (AFP) ― Switzerland’s financial regulator on Friday announced it had launched a probe of Swiss companies over alleged manipulation of foreign exchange markets.The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, or FINMA, said it was investigating “several Swiss financial institutions”, but did not identify them.“FINMA is coordinating closely with authorities in other countries as multiple banks around the world are potentially implicated,” it said in a four-line statement, adding that it wo
Twitter unseals IPO papers, hopes to raise $1B

Oct 4, 2013

Twitter has unsealed the documents for its planned initial public offering of stock and says it hopes to raise up to $1 billion in one of the year's most eagerly awaited stock market debuts.The documents revealed for the first time how much money the social networking company makes. Founded in 2006, Twitter has never turned a profit and has an uninterrupted history of losses totaling $419 million since its inception. But its revenue is growing.Twitter disclosed three weeks ago that it filed conf
Cerberus investment fund eyes BlackBerry bid: source

Oct 3, 2013

NEW YORK (AFP) ― The private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management is interested in a bid for troubled Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry, a source familiar with the matter said Wednesday.The source indicated that the big investment group was preparing to sign a confidentiality agreement to examine BlackBerry’s finances for a possible counter-offer to a $4.7 billion buyout plan agreed last month.BlackBerry said on Sept. 23 it signed a letter of intent for the buyout, which translates to $9 a
PT, Oi create new telecoms giant

Oct 3, 2013

Brazil’s biggest phone company Oi and Portugal Telecom agree to merge, creating $17b giant
Eurozone economy ‘still fragile’: Draghi

Oct 3, 2013

ECB chief says willing to act to help recovery, but keeps rates on hold
Xi makes historic speech in Indonesia

Oct 3, 2013

China’s president becomes 1st foreign leader to address Indonesia’s Parliament, promotes economic ties
Moody's ups Philippines rating to investment grade

Oct 3, 2013

Moody's Investors Service on Thursday became the third major credit rating agency to upgrade the Philippines to investment grade, citing its robust economy, political stability and improved governance.Moody's said it raised the rating by one notch to Baa3 from Ba1. It also assigned a positive outlook to the rating, which means there's a possibility of it being upgraded again in the future.Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings raised the country's credit rating earlier this year, reducing borrowing
Apple becomes world’s top brand

Oct 1, 2013

Coca-Cola loses most valuable brand title to Apple after 13 years, Google ranks second
Toyota chairman calls for more hybrids in U.S.

Oct 1, 2013

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Toyota chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada challenged automakers Monday to step up sales of hybrids in the United States, calling them “a long bridge” into future vehicles.“Today I wish to call on the industry to sell five million hybrids in the U.S. by the end of 2016,” Uchiyamada, who pioneered the Prius, said in remarks before the Economic Club of Washington, D.C.Uchiyamada forecast that hybrid vehicles would play a larger role than understood at the moment in the development of au