OPEC has no immediate plan to cut its output target for crude, and Iran is strong enough to withstand a deeper slump in prices even if the country must sell at $25 a barrel, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said. “If the oil prices drop to $25 a barrel, there will yet again be no threat posed to Iran’s oil industry,” Zanganeh told reporters Monday at a conference in Tehran, according to the state-run Fars news agency. Brent crude traded below $50 Monday in London. Oil has fallen about 30 perce

GENEVA (AFP) ― Geneva’s luxury watch show where shopowners search out such brands as Cartier and Piaget opened Monday under a cloud as the franc surged after the Swiss central bank abandoned its bid to hold down its value.The fair in Geneva, attracting only professionals, aims to draw 14,000 visitors in just four days from the world over.On opening day, participants at the annual Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie were putting up a brave front, saying consumers would be willing to pay hi

BEIJING (AFP) ― China’s gross domestic product grew 7.4 percent in 2014, official data showed Tuesday, slumping to a 24-year low with authorities describing the slower pace as the “new normal” for the world’s second-largest economy.The figure announced by the National Bureau of Statistics was slower than the 7.7 percent seen in 2013, but exceeded the median forecast of 7.3 percent in an AFP survey of 15 economists.Growth in the final quarter of the year also came in at 7.3 percent year-on-year,

GENEVA (AFP) ― An overheated Swiss franc could have “dramatic” consequences for the country’s economy, a top official said Sunday, as the country’s business and tourism sectors braced for tumbling sales. The franc has jumped around 15 percent against the euro since the Swiss central bank stunned markets Thursday with its bombshell decision to abandon the minimum rate of 1.20 francs against the European common currency.The Swiss National Bank had since September 2011 been defending the exchange r

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) ― Google said it is halting sales of its Internet-linked eyewear Glass but insisted the technology would live on in a future consumer product.The technology titan is putting brakes on an “explorer” program that let people interested in dabbling with Glass buy eyewear for $1,500 apiece.“Glass was in its infancy, and you took those very first steps and taught us how to walk,” the team said of its “explorer” clients in a post on the Google+ social network.“Well, we still have so

WASHINGTON (AP) ― President Barack Obama will call for increasing taxes on the wealthiest Americans then using the revenue to fund new tax credits and other cost-saving measures for the middle class in his first address before a Republican-led Congress. The president’s proposals are likely to be cheered by the Democratic Party’s liberal base, but the tax increases are all but certain to be non-starters with the new Republican majority in Congress. Obama will announce the tax proposals Tuesday ni

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Moody’s cut Russia’s credit rating to one step above junk level Friday and warned the country was under review for a further downgrade.Moody’s said that the plunge in oil prices and in the ruble would further erode Russia’s economic growth potential and that it had concerns about the government’s financial strength.The grade was cut by one notch to “Baa3” from “Baa2.” “Baa3” is the lowest level for “investment grade” sovereign bonds; another cut would take it into “speculative

NEW YORK (AFP) ― Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim has boosted his stake in the New York Times, exercising an option to convert some $100 million from loans to equity, the media company said Wednesday.A statement from New York Times Co. said Slim ― estimated to be the world’s second richest individual ― has agreed to exercise an option to buy 15.9 million Class A shares at $6.35.That gives him around 16.8 percent of the Times Co. common stock. But control of the newspaper will remain with the Sulz

General Motors Co., the largest U.S. automaker, sees slowing global auto sales growth and said it will invest more in new cars as consumers pay less for the company’s older models. The automaker’s shares fell. Global auto sales may increase about 3 percent to 98 million vehicles, said Chief Financial Officer Chuck Stevens. President Dan Ammann said China, GM’s biggest market, is “maturing rapidly” amid a global slowdown of industry growth. The Detroit-based automaker is boosting capital expendit