Paul Krugman, challenging the consensus of economists and the Federal Reserve’s forecasts, said policy makers are unlikely to raise interest rates in 2015 as they struggle to spur inflation amid sluggish global economic growth. “When push comes to shove they’re going to look and say: ‘It’s a pretty weak world economy out there, we don’t see any inflation, and the risk if we raise rates and it turns out we were mistaken is just so huge’,” the 2008 Nobel laureate said in Dubai. “It’s certainly a r

In Germany, where hard work is prized, one day of the week remains sacred for rest. While neighbor France last week announced plans to loosen restrictions on Sunday work, Germany is tightening regulations on the few businesses that had been allowed to open. Setting aside the day for coffee and cake with family and friends has been ingrained in German society for a century. The country’s ban on stores being open, which stretches back to 1919 during the Weimar Republic, was enshrined in the West G

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― The International Monetary Fund’s No. 2 said Saturday he was “impressed” by Kiev’s plans for economic reform, following a visit to the country.The IMF, which this year granted Kiev $17 billion in financial aid over two years, as part of a $27 billion global rescue package set up by Western countries, warned last month that Ukraine would need as much as an extra $19 billion by the end of next year.IMF First Deputy Managing Director David Lipton traveled to Kiev on Friday to mee

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― The U.S. Congress passed a $1.1 trillion spending bill for fiscal year 2015 Saturday amid intense partisan wrangling, sending the measure to President Barack Obama and averting a government shutdown.The bill, which narrowly cleared the House of Representatives on Thursday and survived a series of procedural hurdles to pass the Senate 56 votes to 40 on Saturday, funds nearly all federal government agencies through next September.But by funding the Department of Homeland Securit

GENEVA (AP) ― Flying could get cheaper next year as airlines say they will finally start passing on some of the savings made on plummeting oil prices.Carriers are forecasting record profits for 2015 thanks to cheaper fuel and rising demand. As a result, they expect to cut the average ticket price by 5 percent in 2015, excluding surcharges and taxes.That may not be a big decrease considering that the price of crude oil has fallen 40 percent since June, but is the most carriers can do for now, the

NEW YORK (AFP) ― In publicly declaring that JPMorgan Chase should raise $22 billion, the Federal Reserve has delivered a hard blow to the largest U.S. bank and shown its preference for traditional banks. The central bank unveiled a new, tougher capital rule for eight big U.S. banks considered systemically important, including JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo.Those financial institutions, which have raised billions of dollars since the 2008 finan

NEW DELHI (AP) ― Russian President Vladimir Putin was holding talks with Indian leaders Thursday to strengthen trade and energy cooperation with Asia’s third-largest economy as Western sanctions threaten to push his country’s economy to the brink of a recession. Putin’s discussions with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi are expected to focus us on deepening ties at a time when New Delhi is perceived to be drawing closer to the United States, especially in areas such as defense and investment.

China’s factory-gate deflation deepened and consumer prices climbed at the slowest pace since 2009, signaling room for further monetary easing. The producer price index dropped 2.7 percent in November from a year earlier, a record 33rd-straight decline and the biggest fall since mid last year. Consumer prices rose 1.4 percent, compared with the 1.6 percent increase in October. Falling oil and metals prices have cut costs for China’s factories, leading to lower export prices and adding to dis-inf

NEW YORK (AFP) ― Microsoft argued Monday in a court brief that an order requiring it to give U.S. prosecutors data stored in Ireland could “put all of our private digital information at risk.” The brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York comes with prosecutors seeking customer emails in a narcotics probe, with the data stored in Microsoft servers in Ireland.A lower court ruled that the tech giant must hand over data sought in the probe, dismissing Microsoft’s claims of “extraterritorial”