The Korea Herald

Datsun leads Nissan’s emerging markets push

Jul 16, 2013

Nissan Motor Co. said its new entry level Datsun brand hatchback will help attract young buyers looking for their first car in emerging markets including India. With models such as the 1.2-liter five-door Go, Nissan is targeting younger customers in emerging markets, Trevor Mann, an executive vice president at Japan’s second-largest carmaker, said in an interview in a suburb of New Delhi Monday. “We’re moving strongly with Datsun in the emerging markets, the markets that have a significant amoun
Apple to probe Chinese iPhone death claim

Jul 16, 2013

BEIJING (AFP) ― Apple said Monday it would investigate claims that an iPhone electrocuted a Chinese woman who was making a call while charging the device. The case drew attention ― both sympathetic and sceptical ― after a woman in the western region of Xinjiang wrote about the death of her 23-year-old sister Ma Ailun on China’s popular microblog service Sina Weibo.“We will fully investigate and cooperate with authorities in this matter,” said Apple’s Beijing-based spokeswoman Carolyn Wu, offerin
India’s central bank raises two rates to support rupee

Jul 16, 2013

India’s central bank raised two interest rates as part of measures to steady the nation’s currency following a plunge in the rupee to a record low. The Reserve Bank of India increased both the marginal standing facility and the bank rate to 10.25 percent from 8.25 percent, it said in a statement on its website Tuesday. The monetary authority said it will conduct open market sales of government bonds worth 120 billion rupees ($2 billion) on July 18, a step that would drain cash from the economy.
ADB trims Asia growth forecasts

Jul 16, 2013

MANILA (AFP) ― China’s slowing economic growth is weakening momentum throughout the rest of Asia, the Asian Development Bank said Tuesday as it revised down its forecasts for the region.A day after Beijing released data showing its economic growth slowed for a second successive month in April-June, the ADB trimmed its outlook for developing Asia this year to 6.3 percent growth, from 6.6 percent.In the update to its annual Asian Development Outlook publication, first published in April, the bank
Chinese economy slows further

Jul 15, 2013

BEIJING (AP) ― China’s leaders face new pressure to stimulate a slowing economy after growth decelerated for a second consecutive quarter, hurt by weak trade and efforts to cool a credit boom. The world’s second-largest economy expanded 7.5 percent over a year earlier in the three months ending in June, down from the previous quarter’s 7.7 percent, data showed Monday. Growth in factory output, investment and other indicators weakened. The fifth straight quarter of growth below 8 percent is “a cl
PCCW-Telstra venture stored phone data for FBI for over a decade

Jul 14, 2013

PCCW Ltd. and Telstra Corp., partners in an undersea cabling venture, stored phone and Internet data for the FBI and U.S. Justice Department under terms of a 2001 agreement with the agencies, Telstra said. The pact, signed by Richard Li’s PCCW after it formed its joint venture Reach with Telstra, requires the Australian company to store billing records for two years, according to a copy of the agreement posted online by news website Crikey, which first reported the deal Friday. The venture also
Fitch cuts France from top rating

Jul 14, 2013

PARIS (AFP) ― Ratings agency Fitch downgraded France from the top “AAA” credit rating on Friday, citing a heavier government debt load and poor prospects for growth.In slashing France’s rating to “AA +,” Fitch became the last of the big three credit raters to knock France off the top perch. Last year Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s already downgraded France from the “AAA” club.Fitch, which is part French owned, had warned in its previous appraisal that France had reached the very limit of being ab
Eurobank buys Greece’s postal bank

Jul 14, 2013

ATHENS (AFP) ― Eurobank, one of Greece’s biggest lenders, on Saturday acquired the country’s postal bank, one day after purchasing Proton Bank, the Greek financial stability fund said. “The Hellenic financial stability fund completed the competitive tender process for the sale of the Hellenic Postbank and decided to proceed with its sale to Eurobank,” the fund said in a statement.On Friday, Eurobank announced that the HFSF had approved its purchase of Proton Bank and that the final agreement was
U.S., Europe upbeat on trade deal

Jul 14, 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) ― The chief negotiators in new U.S.-European trade talks were upbeat Friday as the first round came to a close, saying tensions over secret American surveillance of European diplomats did not cloud the weeklong session. The American negotiator Daniel Mullaney and his European Union counterpart Ignacio Garcia-Bercero told a news conference in Washington that some of the most difficult challenges they see ahead are in removing regulations that hinder trans-Atlantic trade. The two e
Founder of U.S.-based Bose audio firm dies

Jul 14, 2013

BOSTON (AP) ― The founder and chairman of the Massachusetts-based audio technology company Bose Corp. has died. Amar Bose was 83.Bose’s death was announced Friday by company president Bob Maresca and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where Bose began his acoustics research and was on the faculty for more than 40 years. The cause of his death hasn’t been released.The company was founded by Bose in 1964. It’s based in the Boston suburb of Framingham and known for making radios and noise-c
EU probes telecom giants over Internet services

Jul 12, 2013

BRUSSELS (AFP) ― European Union antitrust officials this week launched surprise investigations of several telecom firms suspected of abusing their positions in Internet services, including Orange, Deutsche Telekom and Telefonica.The European Commission said in a statement that its antitrust officials had made the “unannounced inspections” on Tuesday on suspicions the companies had abused a dominant market position.The companies, which wholesale Internet access to smaller rivals, are suspected of
Microsoft reboots with sweeping reorganization

Jul 12, 2013

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ― Microsoft Corp. has decided its entire business needs a new operating system.CEO Steve Ballmer is restructuring the company to cope with a quickening pace of technological change that has left the world’s largest software maker a step behind its two biggest rivals, Apple and Google.In an effort to catch up, Microsoft is dismantling a management structure that separated the company into sometimes disjointed divisions and hatching a more cohesive product lineup. The new set up
U.S. stocks surge after Fed assurance on stimulus

Jul 12, 2013

The U.S. stock market surged to an all-time high Thursday after the Federal Reserve chairman said the central bank will keep supporting the economy.The Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor's 500 jumped. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note continued to decline as investors bought bonds. Stocks that benefit most from a continuation of low interest rates, such as homebuilders, notched some of the biggest gains.In a speech late Wednesday after U.S. markets had closed, Fed Chairman Ben
OPEC sees faster oil demand growth in 2014

Jul 11, 2013

VIENNA (AFP) ― World oil demand will pick up at a faster rate in 2014, the oil exporting cartel OPEC said on Wednesday, but also warned of the potential impact of economic troubles in Europe, the U.S. and China. In 2014, oil demand will average 90.68 million barrels per day, up from a revised 2013 estimate of 89.64 mbd “partially on the back of an improvement in global economic growth,” OPEC said in its monthly report. This would represent the biggest increase in demand since 2010, the Organizat
Tribune to split into two firms

Jul 11, 2013

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Tribune Company announced plans Wednesday to spin off its newspaper division, which includes the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, from its television holdings in a move to designed “to maximize shareholder value.”The move marks the latest breakup of media companies facing troubles on the publishing side: Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp recently completed a similar split, and Time Warner is planning to spin off its magazine publishing operations.Tribune Co. which emerged from