SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) ― Apple said Friday it was rejoining a program to certify its products as environmentally friendly after a controversy that could have dented sales of its popular gadgets.The California company behind iPads, iPhones, iPods and Macbooks said it was reversing its decision to quit the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool global registry.Apple senior vice president Bob Mansfield said that the company listened to “customers who were disappointed” by the action to delis

NEW YORK (AP) ― JPMorgan Chase said Friday that its traders may have tried to conceal the losses from a soured bet that has embarrassed the bank and cost it almost $6 billion ― far more than its CEO first suggested. The bank said an internal investigation had uncovered evidence that led executives to “question the integrity” of the values, or marks, that traders assigned to their trades. JPMorgan also said that it planned to revoke two years’ worth of pay from some of the senior managers involve

Global personal-computer shipments stalled in the second quarter, a seventh straight period of anemic growth, amid economic weakness in Europe and waning demand for PCs in favor of tablets, according to Gartner Inc. Shipments slipped 0.1 percent to 87.5 million units, market-research firm Gartner said in a statement Wednesday. Hewlett-Packard Co. clung to its spot as the top PC seller, followed by Lenovo Group Ltd., while Acer Inc. nudged aside Dell Inc. for the No. 3 ranking, Gartner said. Fell

WASHINGTON (AP) ― The Obama administration gave permission Wednesday for American companies to invest in Myanmar and work with its state oil and gas enterprise, a go-ahead that marks the most significant easing of U.S. sanctions against the former pariah nation.At the same time, the administration expanded U.S. Treasury authority to punish those who undermine the nascent political reforms and sanctioned a Myanmar military industry involved in a deal for ballistic missile technology from North Ko

Spanish impose another round of austerity, aiming to shave $79b off budgetMADRID (AP) ― Spain’s government imposed more austerity measures on the beleaguered country Wednesday as it unveiled sales tax hikes and spending cuts aimed at shaving 65 billion euros ($79.85 billion) off the state budget over the next two and a half years. A day after winning European Union approval for a huge bank bailout and breathing space on its deficit program, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy warned Parliament that Sp

MOSCOW (AFP) ― Russia’s parliament on Tuesday voted to ratify WTO membership, a historic move which the government says will boost productivity but the opposition claims will bear a heavy social toll.The vote was the last major hurdle for Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization as deputies from opposition parties presented a rare united front in arguing it will hurt the Russian economy.A team of ministers faced the Russian Duma where they were bombarded with questions before a vote of

PARIS (AFP) ― The unemployment rate in advanced world economies will remain high at nearly 8.0 percent until the end of next year with about 48 million people jobless, the OECD said on Tuesday.The “joblessness rate is forecast to remain high at 7.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013, close to the 7.9 percent rate in May 2012,” a report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said.“To get employment rates back to pre-crisis levels, about 14 million jobs need to be created

OSLO (AFP) ― Norway’s government intervened to end an offshore workers’ strike just minutes ahead of a threatened lockout at the country’s oil production sites, the Labor Ministry said Tuesday.“The strike is over,” ministry spokesman Jan Richard Kjelstrup told AFP.Jan Hodneland, a negotiator for the Norwegian Oil Industry Association employers’ group, said the government made a “responsible choice.””We are now relieved that we do not have to shut down the production on the Norwegian continental

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Two years after eclipsing Japan as the world’s second-largest economy, China on Monday stole the number-two spot on the Fortune 500 list of the biggest global companies from its Asian rival.In its annual revenue rankings, Fortune magazine said that China overtook Japan for the first time, landing 73 companies on the list compared with Japan’s 68 companies.Anglo-Dutch energy giant Royal Dutch Shell retook the top spot, knocking off U.S. retail titan Wal-Mart from a two-year rei

BRUSSELS (AFP) ― Jean-Claude Juncker, the Luxembourg premier considered a founding father of the euro, was asked to stay on as head of the eurozone finance ministers group, an EU source said on Tuesday.“The mandate is for two and a half years but he will only serve for part of that,” another EU source told AFP.Juncker, who has held the post since 2005, was due to step down in exactly one week, on July 17. He has himself suggested remaining in the post for a further six months. His renomination w