BARCELONA, Spain (AP) ― Struggling cell phone maker Nokia kicked off the world’s largest mobile phone trade show Monday by unveiling a new low-cost Windows smartphone that operators could give away free to customers, and another aimed at snap-happy consumers demanding better photo quality.Chief executive Stephen Elop told reporters at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that the new phones ― a low-price euro189 ($254) smartphone that runs on Windows software and a handset with a high-resoluti

DETROIT (AP) ― Auto sales are growing so fast that Detroit can barely keep up.Three years after the U.S. auto industry nearly collapsed, sales of cars and trucks are surging. Sales could exceed 14 million this year, above last year’s 12.8 million.The result: Carmakers are adding shifts and hiring thousands of workers around the country. Carmakers and parts companies added more than 38,000 jobs last year, reaching a total of 717,000. And automakers have announced plans to add another 13,000 this

The battle between an ailing Chinese electronics maker and Apple Inc. over the iPad name is just as much a tale of obsolescence in the fast-moving global technology industry as it is a legal row over a trademark. A salesman stands in front of an Apple Ipad advertisement board at an Apple store

Chairman Mao Zedong’s Red Flag limousine is making a comeback after a $280 million overhaul, seeking to regain its standing as the ride of Chinese leaders from Volkswagen AG’s Audi. China FAW Group Corp., which built the first Hongqi ― as the brand is known in Chinese ― for Mao in 1958, received state approval this month to make the C131, reviving the Red Flag’s production after it was discontinued in 2010. The sedan will be the official car for minister-level officials, according to the Communi

Research In Motion Ltd., whose U.S. sales plunged 45 percent last quarter, is counting on Europe to regain ground lost to Apple Inc. and Google Inc. as the BlackBerry maker races to introduce a new operating system. Thorsten Heins, who took the top job at RIM last month, heads to Barcelona for the Mobile World Congress this week to convince carriers he has the products European consumers want. His challenge is to bolster market share in the region, where sales in the U.K., for example, have begu

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said he expects banks to increase credit supply after its next three-year operation as confidence returns to financial markets, making the currency a “safer place.” While banks used an initial offering of three-year loans “to repurchase their bonds coming due in the first quarter of this year,” banks will now be “more inclined to use this money ― which was our primary expectation really ― to expand credit into the real economy,” Draghi said after a me

Global brands from L’Oreal SA to Gucci face new competition in their race for a share of the $33.7 billion Chinese luxury market: homegrown Chinese brands. Shanghai Jahwa United Co., established more than a century ago, sells a revamped line of products, including 1,000 yuan ($159) perfumes, whose package is designed by Demos Chiang, great grandson of the nationalist leader and Taiwan’s first president Chiang Kai-Shek. Eve Group has more than 400 boutiques which sell its own brand of luxury mens

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Consumer prices rose modestly in January on higher costs for food, gas, rent and clothing. But economists downplayed the increase, saying inflation will likely ease in the coming months as prices for raw materials level off. Separately, a gauge of future economic activity rose in January for the fourth straight month, adding to evidence that the economy has strengthened in the New Year. The consumer price index increased 0.2 percent last month, after a flat reading in December,

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Billionaire investor Warren Buffett announced Saturday that a successor has been chosen to lead his Berkshire Hathaway holding company, although he did not identify the person.Buffett, 81, wrote in a letter to investors that Berkshire Hathaway’s board of directors chose his successor and two back-up candidates.“When a transfer of responsibility is required, it will be seamless and Berkshire’s prospects will remain bright,” Buffett wrote.“Do not, however, infer from this discus

PARIS (AP) ― General Motors Co. is in talks about a possible alliance with France’s leading car maker PSA Peugeot Citroen, a deal that could dwarf PSA’s partnerships with BMW, Mitsubishi Motors and Toyota.Peugeot Citroen shares surged on news of the talks, which were confirmed Wednesday by France’s labor minister.The Paris-based maker of the Peugeot 207 hatchback and Citroen C4 Picasso minivan lost 439 million euros ($578 million) on its car business last year amid falling sales and concerns ove