Juncker expects Spain to request aid by MondayMADRID (AP) ― Spain’s troubled banks could need as much as 62 billion euros ($78.6 billion) in new capital to protect themselves from economic shocks, according to independent auditors hired by the government to assess the country’s struggling financial sector, officials said Thursday. The Spanish government will use the auditors’ report as the basis for their application for a bank bailout loan from the 17 countries that use the euro. With tensions

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― The IMF on Thursday said the euro area needs to move now to establish full banking union and that the European Central Bank should move on more demand-generating stimulus policies.Underscoring that the eurozone crisis is in a “critical stage,” the International Monetary Fund stepped up pressure on Europe’s leaders to take real action on the banking sector and economic growth in their coming summit.The Fund said in its annual review of the euro area economy that boosting demand

WASHINGTON (AP) ― The Federal Reserve is trying again to jolt the American economy out of its stalled recovery. It’s extending a program that aims to encourage borrowing and spending by reducing long-term interest rates. Wednesday’s decision followed months of concern that the economy is being held back by a weakened job market. At the end of a two-day policy meeting, the Fed also sharply reduced its forecast for U.S. growth and said it’s prepared to take more action if necessary. It reiterated

MADRID (AFP) ― A full-blown bailout for Spain is all but inevitable as it has lost control of its debt crisis, analysts say, despite Madrid’s insistence that it does not need rescuing.With eurozone ministers set for the first of several key meetings over Spain Thursday, its budget minister insisted the country was stable despite soaring borrowing costs and a 100-billion-euro lifeline thrown out for its banks.“Spain has not been rescued because it does not need to be rescued,” minister Cristobal

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ― Oracle’s latest quarterly earnings climbed 8 percent, beating analysts’ expectations. The business software maker surprised investors by releasing the results Monday. The fiscal fourth-quarter report had been scheduled to come out Thursday. Oracle Corp. didn’t give a reason for the change of plans. The numbers came out after several analysts published notes reporting that Oracle’s top sales executive, Keith Block, may be leaving the company as part of a reorganization. Oracl

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Microsoft has unveiled Surface, a tablet computer to compete with Apple’s iPad. CEO Steve Ballmer was on hand to announce the new tablet, calling it part of a “whole new family of devices” the company is developing. One version of the device, which won’t go on sale until sometime in the fall, is about 9.3 millimeters thick and works on the Windows RT operating system. It comes with a kickstand to hold it upright and a touch keyboard cover that snaps on using magnets. The devic

Emerging-market nations including China and Brazil formalized funding pledges to the International Monetary Fund, helping to almost double its lending power to protect the world economy from Europe’s debt turmoil. With the addition of new pledges from 12 nations that also includes Russia, India and South Africa, the Washington-based lender said it now has received funding commitments of $456 billion, up from the roughly $430 billion it said it had secured in April. The temporary contributions wi

CANBERRA (AP) ― Australian publisher Fairfax Media Ltd. said Monday it will shed 1,900 jobs over three years and erect pay walls for two flagship newspapers as readers increasingly move online.The job cuts at the Sydney-based company represent almost one fifth of its 10,000 staff, spokesman Brad Hatch said.Fairfax said that its The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age broadsheet newspapers will become tabloids and their websites will introduce pay walls from early next year.Fairfax owns more than 3

The United Nations said it has received support from chief executive officers at 45 companies, from Levi Strauss & Co. to Coca-Cola Co., in an effort to work toward making water use more efficient. The companies will join the U.N. Global Compact in committing to improve water-management practices, during a meeting in Rio de Janeiro Monday. The compact is the world’s biggest organization backing sustainability measures. About 800 million people worldwide don’t have safe drinking water and another