BEIJING (AFP) ― Three Chinese factories making Apple products impose excessive overtime and employ minors, a U.S.-based advocacy group said Monday, in the latest allegations of labor violations against the U.S. tech giant’s suppliers.The iPhone and iPad maker has faced pressure to better oversee often-poor manufacturing conditions in China since 13 workers for one of its suppliers committed suicide in 2010.U.S.-based China Labor Watch said in a report that three plants run by Pegatron Group viol

TOKYO (AP) ― Japan’s industrial output fell in June for the first time in five months, the government said Tuesday as it released data highlighting the fragility of the recovery in the world’s No. 3 economy. Manufacturing slipped 3.3 percent from the month before in June and was 4.8 percent lower than a year before, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said. Such indicators suggest weaker growth in China may be sapping some of the momentum from the recovery. However, other data showed the

The International Monetary Fund’s board approved the release of 1.72 billion euros ($2.3 billion) to Greece, helping replenish the country’s coffers through German elections in September that will help set the course of Europe’s crisis response. “The Greek authorities have continued to make commendable progress in reducing fiscal and external imbalances,” IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said in a statement Monday. “However, progress on institutional and structural reforms, in the public

WASHINGTON (AP) ― U.S. energy regulators are accusing JPMorgan Chase & Co. of manipulating electricity prices in California and the Midwest in 2010 and 2011. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said in an enforcement notice Monday that the bank used improper bidding strategies to squeeze excessive payments from the agencies that run the power grids in California and the Midwest. JPMorgan has reportedly been in negotiations with the regulator to reach a settlement over the allegations. The a

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic recovery plan is filling the coffers of manufacturers from Toyota Motor Corp. to Sony Corp. As the exporters prepare to announce first-quarter earnings this week, 14 of Japan’s 27 largest are projected to beat their own full-year operating profit forecasts by 5 percent or more, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Net income may surge 75 percent from a year earlier among companies that sell abroad and 33 percent at domestic-oriented firms, UBS AG

Treasury Secretary Lew says Congress needs to do its job, raise debt limit, halt brinksmanship

BEIJING (AP) ― The Europe Union and Chinese solar panel exporters said Saturday that they had reached a settlement in their long trade dispute, with the exporters agreeing to sell their products at a minimum price in the EU market.The agreement ends one of the biggest-ever trade disputes between China and Europe ― a row that threatened to escalate into a full-blown trade war involving European wines and to disrupt EU-China relations.The settlement comes after negotiations that began in June when

President Barack Obama said his nominee for Federal Reserve chairman will be someone who embraces the central bank’s dual mandate to promote price stability and maximum employment, and he has narrowed his choice “to some extraordinarily qualified candidates.” “I think you can anticipate that over the next several months, an announcement will be made,” Obama said in an interview with the New York Times on July 24, according to a transcript published Sunday on the newspaper’s website. Obama said h

Greece won the release of a 2.5 billion-euro ($3.3 billion) loan installment to tide it through the coming weeks, as European governments put off debate over Greek debt relief until after Germany’s election in September. Euro-area governments approved the payment Friday on a conference call of senior finance officials, European Commission spokesman Simon O’Connor said, after Greece took steps to pare public-sector payrolls, meeting the last of 22 conditions set by creditors.  “As a result, with

FRANKFURT (AFP) ― An apparent improvement in the eurozone economy will allow the European Central Bank to hold its fire on interest rates for the time being at its meeting this week, analysts said. “The ECB will likely see no pressing need to ease monetary policy still further given the recent improvement in economic data,” Postbank analysts wrote in a note to investors.In particular, activity in the eurozone private sector has picked up in July, suggesting that the recession in the 17 countries