The Korea Herald

Europe’s longest-serving leader resigns

Jul 11, 2013

LUXEMBOURG (AFP) ― Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, Europe’s longest-serving leader, tenders his resignation Thursday in a scandal involving the tiny nation’s secret services, alleged to have indulged in misconduct on his watch.“I am calling a cabinet meeting at 10 am local tomorrow and I will hand in the government’s resignation,” Juncker told the Luxembourg parliament on Wednesday evening after a highly emotional seven-hour debate.Juncker said he would step down after his junior
BOJ stands pat on monetary policy

Jul 11, 2013

Bank of Japan says economy starting to recover, keeps monetary policy unchanged
US judge: Apple colluded to raise e-book prices

Jul 11, 2013

Apple Inc. milked the popularity of its iTunes store to form an illegal cartel with publishers to raise electronic book prices, a federal judge decided in a case swayed by the words of the late Steve Jobs.Wednesday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan sided with government regulators' contention that Apple joined five major book publishers to gang up on Amazon.com in a price-fixing conspiracy that caused consumers to pay more for electronic books.Determined to protect one of
Bernanke: US economy still needs Fed's stimulus

Jul 11, 2013

Chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday that the U.S. economy still needs help from the Federal Reserve's low interest rate policies.Bernanke told the National Bureau of Economic Research that because unemployment remains high and inflation is below the Fed's target, the policies are still necessary. He also said the economy is also being held back by higher taxes and federal spending cuts.``If you put all of that together, you can only conclude that highly accommodative monetary policy for the for
China trade falls in new sign economy fading

Jul 10, 2013

BEIJING (AP) ― China’s trade declined abruptly in June in a new sign of weakness in the world’s second-largest economy. Exports fell by 3.1 percent compared with a year earlier and imports contracted by 0.7 percent, customs data showed Wednesday. Both were below private sector forecasts of growth in the low single digits. China’s economic growth has slowed this year and is expected to fall further due to weak global demand and an effort by the Chinese central bank to cool a credit boom. New comm
BlackBerry chief seeks patience with turnaround

Jul 10, 2013

WATERLOO, Ontario (AP) ― Research In Motion CEO Thorsten Heins pleaded for patience Tuesday as the company faces questions about its growth and survival. BlackBerry shares were hammered last month after the company’s financial results fell short of expectations. Heins told shareholders that BlackBerry is in the second stage of its turnaround. Stage three, he said, includes profitability. “We are still in the midst of a major, complex transition of this company, and like most of these transformat
S&P cuts Italy on effects of recession

Jul 10, 2013

PARIS (AFP) ― Ratings agency Standard and Poor’s on Tuesday downgraded the sovereign rating of crisis-hit Italy by one notch to “BBB” on worries over the country’s ability to resist effects of a dilapidating recession.“The rating action reflects our view of a further worsening of Italy’s economic prospects coming on top of a decade of real growth averaging minus 0.04 percent,” it said.The agency also lowered its gross domestic product growth forecast for Italy in 2013, to negative 1.9 percent, c
NYSE operator takes over LIBOR

Jul 10, 2013

LONDON (AP) ― The company behind the New York Stock Exchange will take over running and restoring confidence in the scandal-hit London interbank offered rate, or LIBOR, a U.K. committee has ruled. The independent panel, set up by the U.K. government following revelations last year that the rate had been manipulated, chose NYSE Euronext to take over LIBOR from the British Bankers’ Association, which had supervised the rate-setting for decades. The changeover is scheduled to be completed by early
S&P downgrades Italy on effects of recession

Jul 10, 2013

Ratings agency Standard and Poor's on Tuesday downgraded the sovereign rating of crisis-hit Italy by one notch to 'BBB' on worries over the country's ability to resist effects of a dilapidating recession."The rating action reflects our view of a further worsening of Italy's economic prospects coming on top of a decade of real growth averaging minus 0.04 percent," it said.The agency also lowered its gross domestic product growth forecast for Italy in 2013, to negative 1.9 percent, compared with a
U.S., EU open tough talks on trade, spying

Jul 9, 2013

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Landmark U.S.-EU trade talks opened in Washington Monday as the two sides also discussed U.S. spying activities that infuriated Europeans and threatened to hold up what could be the world’s largest free-trade deal.In the wake of disclosures that the United States has not only been vacuuming up huge quantities of phone and Internet data but also snooping on its allies, European officials gathered at the Department of Justice to discuss the super-secret National Security Agency’
China inflation accelerates more than forecast on food prices

Jul 9, 2013

China’s inflation accelerated more than estimated in June as food prices climbed, while the decline in factory-gate prices extended its longest streak in a decade amid slowing economic growth and lower commodity costs. The consumer price index rose 2.7 percent from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday in Beijing, compared with a median estimate of 2.5 percent in a Bloomberg News survey and a 2.1 percent gain in May. Producer prices fell 2.7 percent. The lowest first-hal
China's June inflation rises to 2.7 percent

Jul 9, 2013

China's inflation rose in June but was well below the government's target in a sign of weak demand amid an economic slowdown.Consumer prices rose 2.7 percent over a year earlier, up from May's 2.1 percent gain but below the 3.5 percent official target for the year, the government reported Tuesday. The June figure was driven by a 4.9 percent rise in food costs.Pressure for prices to rise is relatively low in China because of weak demand, excess production capacity in many industries and lower cos
Greece approved to get next rescue loan payments

Jul 9, 2013

Greece secured a much-needed 6.8 billion euros ($8.7 billion) in rescue loans Monday after squeaking by an inspection from its international creditors, who are demanding it slash thousands of civil servant jobs and government spending.Experts from the European Central Bank, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund said Greece's finances are improving, although they warned that it is making reforms too slowly and that the outlook for its economy, which has been in recession since 20
Top retailers pledge to make Bangladesh factories safe

Jul 8, 2013

DHAKA (AFP) ― Seventy top retailers pledged to open up their Bangladesh factories to safety inspections within nine months as part of a pact finalized Monday in the wake of a deadly garment factory collapse.The mainly European brands will underwrite repairs and renovations if inspections reveal their factories to be unsafe, according to the legally binding agreement, signed with unions after the collapse of Rana Plaza in April killed 1,129 people in one of the world’s worst industrial disasters.
Nikon seeks smartphone products

Jul 8, 2013

Company president eyes smartphone users as compact camera sales fall