The Korea Herald

OECD says world economy picking up

Mar 29, 2013

PARIS (AP) ― The global economy is beginning to rebound, but Europe is lagging behind and unemployment rates, even in countries starting to see growth, are still too high, a leading international economic body said Thursday. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development expects growth to accelerate in Japan and the United States in the first half of 2013. And though Germany will bounce back strongly, it says other countries that use the euro will contract or only grow slowly. In an i
S&P 500 closes at a record high, beating '07 mark

Mar 29, 2013

For the second time in less than a month, the U.S. stock market marched past another milepost on its long, turbulent journey back from the Great Recession, toppling another record left over from the days before government bailouts and failing investment banks.The Standard & Poor's 500 closed at a new high Thursday, three weeks after another popular market gauge, the Dow Jones industrial average, obliterated its own closing record. The S&P capped its best quarter in a year, rising 10 percent, and
IMF urges cuts to energy subsidies

Mar 28, 2013

The International Monetary Fund urged countries to reduce subsidies on energy, saying they worsen government’s fiscal positions and eventually create more advantages for the wealthy instead of the poor.In a broad-reaching report, the IMF said subsidies of oil, petrol and electricity are aimed at helping consumers, but end up costing them as governments struggle to shoulder the cost burden.Moreover, the study said, subsidies encourage energy waste, discourage investment in energy-efficient indust
World Bank links obesity to high food prices

Mar 28, 2013

Food prices have dropped since peaking six months ago but remain near record levels, pushing the world’s poorest people toward “undernutrition” and obesity, the World Bank said Thursday.“Unhealthy food tends to be cheaper than healthy ones, like junk food in developed countries,” said Otaviano Canuto, World Bank Group’s vice president for poverty reduction and economic management.“When poor people with some disposable income in developing countries try to cope with high and increasingly volatile
BRICS stumble in plan for new bank

Mar 28, 2013

DURBAN, South Africa (AFP) ― Leaders from the BRICS group of emerging powers on Wednesday failed to launch a much-anticipated new development bank to rival Western-dominated institutions like the World Bank.After holding talks in the port city of Durban, leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China and hosts South Africa agreed in principle to create a joint infrastructure lender. But they said further talks were necessary to finalise the plan.“We are satisfied that the establishment of a new devel
Draconian controls as Cyprus banks reopen

Mar 28, 2013

Cyprus confirmed banks would reopen on Thursday after a nearly two-week lockdown on the bailed-out country, but only under draconian capital controls, the first of their kind in the eurozone.Finance Minister Michalis Sarris issued a decree Wednesday for temporary limits on daily withdrawals to 300 euros ($385) to prevent the "collapse of credit institutions".The central bank confirmed that branches shuttered since March 16 -- leaving homes and businesses short on cash -- would open from 1000 GMT
Cyprus bank chief sacking deepens chaos

Mar 27, 2013

The chief executive of the troubled Bank of Cyprus, the country's biggest lender, was sacked by the central bank Wednesday just a day before the bailed-out island's banks were finally due to reopen.The firing of Yiannis Kypri was reportedly ordered by international lenders and deepened the crisis in Cyprus as authorities said they were finalizing controls aimed at preventing a run on the banks.The central bank said "indications are" the banks would reopen with restrictions on Thursday, but there
ECB, Eurogroup at odds over Cyprus

Mar 27, 2013

In discord between ECB and Eurogroup, Coeure says Cyprus solution is unique, not new template
China tries to shift image through high-tech

Mar 27, 2013

China’s drive to transform the country’s image is accelerating as it tries to expand the export of high-tech industrial goods. China’s economic growth used to depend upon the exports of labor-intensive items such as clothes. In recent years, however, it has been ratcheting up the export of tech-centered products such as computers, car parts and lamps, the Wall Street Journal reported.The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, for instance, uses light-emitting diodes made by Chinese company Inventroni
BRICS scale back plans for development bank

Mar 27, 2013

The BRICS grouping of emerging powers reached a scaled-back deal on Tuesday to establish a development bank that had been seen as a rival Western-backed institutions."It's done," South African finance minister Pravin Gordhan told AFP after talks with his counterparts from Brazil, Russia, India and China."We made very good progress, the leaders will announce the details," he added, shortly before a summit in the South African port city of Durban began.The bank is likely to focus on infrastructure
Saudi says $100 a barrel ‘reasonable’ price for oil

Mar 26, 2013

KUWAIT CITY (AFP) ― OPEC’s largest oil producing member Saudi Arabia said on Monday that $100 a barrel is a “reasonable” price for oil while its Gulf neighbor Kuwait said the price is “fair” and the market was stable.“In 1997, I thought $20 was reasonable. In 2006, I though $27 was reasonable,” Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi told reporters in Kuwait City on the sidelines of a Gulf oil conference.“Now, it is around $100 ... and I say again ‘it is reasonable’.” Kuwait’s Oil Minister Hani Hussein
Boeing 787 takes to sky in first flight check

Mar 26, 2013

SEATTLE (AP) ― A Boeing 787 with a redesigned battery system made a 2-hour test flight on Monday, and the company said the event “went according to plan.” The test flight was an important step in Boeing Co.’s plan to convince safety regulators to let airlines resume using the plane, which the company calls the Dreamliner. Boeing will analyze information from the flight and prepare for another flight ― using the same plane ― to demonstrate the 787’s performance to the Federal Aviation Administrat
British teen sells app to Yahoo

Mar 26, 2013

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) ― Yahoo announced plans Monday to buy mobile news reader app Summly from the London teenager who invented it, likely transforming him into one of the world’s youngest self-made multimillionaires.The company did not disclose the terms of the deal it struck with 17-year-old Nick D’Aloisio, but the London Evening Standard said Yahoo would pay between 20 million pounds and 40 million pounds ($30 million to $60 million).“We’re excited to share that we’re acquiring Summly, a mobile
Fed’s low-interest-rate policies help world economy, Bernanke says

Mar 26, 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Chairman Ben Bernanke said Monday that the Federal Reserve’s low-interest-rate policies are helping to boost growth around the world, rejecting criticism that they could lead to a global currency war. In a speech at the London School of Economics, Bernanke staunchly defended the Fed’s policies and similar stimulus efforts pursued by other central banks since the 2008 financial crisis. Last week, the Fed stood by its policies to keep borrowing costs at record lows, saying the U.
Kuroda wants to achieve Bank of Japan’s 2 percent price target in two years

Mar 26, 2013

Haruhiko Kuroda said he wants 2 percent inflation in two years and pledged to buy more government bonds, underscoring the new Bank of Japan chief’s efforts to accelerate an end to falling prices. “Achieving the 2 percent inflation target in two years is something that I have in my mind,” Kuroda said Tuesday in Parliament. He said the BOJ may scrap a rule limiting the scale of asset buying and consider purchasing more bonds with longer maturitiesThe comments spurred investors’ expectations for mo