WASHINGTON (AFP) ― President Barack Obama’s pledge to raise the minimum wage by 24 percent has divided economists and businesses who warn it could threaten recent improvements in jobless numbers.Obama has stated that his administration plans to increase the existing minimum hourly rate from $7.25 to $9, vowing to press ahead with the initiative despite the sequester budget crisis.“There are other areas where we can still make progress even with the sequester unresolved,” Obama said, referring to

Ratings agency expects a GDP contraction of 1.8 percent in 2013

China's inflation has reached a 10-month high but remains under the government's target.Data released Saturday by China's National Bureau of Statistics show consumer prices rose 3.2 percent in February, up from the previous month's 2 percent.The spike came amid rising prices for meat products and fresh vegetables, as Chinese families stocked up for banquets to celebrate this year's Lunar New year, which took place during February.Analysts predict price pressure will rise throughout 2013 but stay

U.S. job growth probably continued at a modest but steady pace last month, buoyed by consumer spending and strength in the housing and auto industries.Economists forecast that employers added 152,000 jobs in February, according to a survey by FactSet, about the same as in January. The unemployment rate likely dipped to 7.8 percent from 7.9 percent.The Labor Department is scheduled to release the jobs report at 1330 GMT Friday.More hiring is needed to swiftly reduce the unemployment rate, which h

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Google says the FBI is monitoring the Web for potential terrorist activity. But it can’t confirm the extent of the surveillance.As part of the Google Transparency Report, the Internet giant released data this week on so-called National Security Letters ― official requests for data under the Patriot Act passed after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.But Google said it was only allowed to provide broad ranges of numbers: in the years from 2009 to 2012, for example, it received between

European watchdog fines Microsoft $733m for breaking promise to offer choice of browsers

FRANKFURT (AFP) ― The European Central Bank is set to keep its key interest rates steady at a policy meeting on Thursday, despite concerns about the destabilizing effects for the euro area of political gridlock in Italy.“We do not expect any change in the monetary policy stance,” said Marie Diron of Ernst & Young Eurozone Forecast.“Fears that were raised as a result of the uncertainty regarding Italy’s political situation and economic and fiscal policies seem to have abated somewhat,” the expert

WASHINGTON (AP) ― The Republican-controlled House of Representatives approved legislation Wednesday to prevent a U.S. government shutdown on March 27 and blunt the impact of deep spending cuts on the Defense Department.The vote sent the measure to the Senate, where Democrats who control the chamber hope to give additional Cabinet agencies similar flexibility in implementing their shares of the $85 billion in spending cuts that threaten the economy’s fragile recovery.Republicans said the measure

Time Warner announced Wednesday it would spin off its publishing arm Time Inc. by the end of the year, allowing the US conglomerate to focus on its television and film operations.Chief executive Jeff Bewkes said in a statement that a spinoff "provides strategic clarity" for the media-entertainment giant.The announcement comes after unsuccessful talks to sell some of the titles in the Time Inc. group, and as rival News Corp. is undergoing a similar split of its entertainment and publishing operat

The European Union has fined Microsoft (euro) 561 million ($733 million) for breaking a pledge to offer personal computer users a choice of Internet browsers when they install the company's flagship Windows operating system.The penalty imposed by the EU's executive arm, the Commission, is a first for Brussels: no company has ever failed to keep its end of a bargain with EU authorities before.In 2009, Microsoft Corp. struck a broad settlement with the Commission to resolve disputes over the compa

Hewlett-Packard Co. faces mounting pressure to remove chairman Ray Lane and several other board members after proxy advisers Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. and Glass Lewis & Co. urged investors to block their reelection over failures to properly vet acquisitions.Shareholders should vote against Lane, John Hammergren and G. Kennedy Thompson, ISS said in a report released in advance of the company’s annual meeting, set for March 20. Glass Lewis urged the removal of Hammergren, Thompson, M