LONDON (AP) ― The global economy’s problems seem to be multiplying.Hours after the leaders of the world’s 20 most developed economies sought to boost confidence by promising to increase global output by $2 trillion over five years, Japan said it had fallen into recession.That leaves the country ― the world’s third-largest economy ― on a long and growing list of troubled economies. China is slowing as well, and Europe can’t seem to take off.Among major economies, only the United States and Britai

HONG KONG (AFP) ― A landmark trading link that is expected to see billions of dollars in cross-border transactions between Hong Kong and Shanghai’s stock exchanges officially launched Monday, but figures show mainlanders are holding back from piling into Hong Kong.The Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect is expected to allow the equivalent of $3.8 billion a day in cross-border transactions and open up the mainland’s closeted equities markets to the world.At the opening ceremony Charles Li, chief exe

KUWAIT CITY (AFP) ― Kuwait warned Sunday that action was needed from OPEC members to halt the “sharp decline” in oil prices after the value of global crude hit a four-year low. A joint meeting by the oil-rich emirate‘s cabinet and its Supreme Petroleum Council ― the highest decision-making body on energy ― chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak al-Sabah reviewed “necessary steps that need to be taken” to halt the price slide, said a statement cited by the official KUNA news agency.The me

NEW YORK (AFP) ― Botox-maker Allergan is nearing a deal to be purchased by Actavis that could produce one of the world’s top pharmaceutical companies, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.Long sought by Canadian rival Valeant, Allergan appears to have reached an outline of an agreement with Actavis, the Journal reported. The agreement, also confirmed by the Financial Times, is due to be formalized Monday before the opening of the New York Stock Exchange.According to the Times, Actavis is offe

MOSCOW (AFP) ― Russians sighed with relief when the ruble rebounded in recent days, but with painful memories of the financial crisis still fresh, many are rattled and fear the respite could prove short-lived.The ruble has been sliding for months, but it turned into a plunge at the beginning of the month, with the currency losing nearly 10 percent of its value in the space of just a few days amid renewed tensions over Ukraine and a fall in global oil prices that threatens Russia’s finances.“I wa

LONDON (AFP) ― Prime Minister David Cameron on Sunday warned Britain’s economic recovery faced a “real risk” from instability in the world economy fuelled by Middle East unrest, Ebola, Ukraine and stalled trade talks.In an article on The Guardian website that will appear in Monday’s edition of the newspaper after the G20 summit, Cameron said that “red warning lights are once again flashing on the dashboard of the global economy.”He also said the eurozone was “teetering on the brink of a possible

With $410 billion market capitalization, Microsoft climbs past Exxon Mobil

PARIS (AFP) ― Oil prices are expected to keep sliding well into 2015, held down by weak demand and increased shale production, the International Energy Agency said Friday.Global prices have collapsed by some 30 percent since June, and crude futures slumped on Thursday to lows not seen since September 2010, diving well below the $80-per-barrel mark.The IEA said while there had been speculation that the high cost of shale extraction “might set a new equilibrium for Brent prices in the $80 to $90 r

The world economy is in its worst shape in two years, with the euro area and emerging markets deteriorating and the danger of deflation rising, according to a Bloomberg Global Poll of international investors. A plurality of 38 percent of those surveyed last week described the global economy as worsening, more than double the number who said that in the last poll in July and the most since September 2012, when Europe was mired in a recession. Much of the concern is again focused on the euro area:

Saudi Arabia’s oil minister Ali al-Naimi. (Bloomberg)MEXICO CITY (AFP) ― Saudi Arabia’s oil minister on Wednesday rejected talk that the country was leading a price war in global oil markets as crude prices continue to sink.“Talk of a price war is a sign of misunderstanding ― deliberate or otherwise ― and has no basis in reality,” Ali Al-Naimi told a conference in Acapulco, according to the text of his speech.Naimi called recent talk of a change in the country’s strategy, in particular its cutti

SHANGHAI (AFP) ― He may now be China’s richest man but Jack Ma, the founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba, has admitted in a U.S. television interview that being so wealthy is actually causing him “great pain.”Ma has seen his fortune balloon to $19.5 billion after Alibaba’s record-breaking $25 billion initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in September, according to data compiled by Forbes magazine.On Tuesday, the company chalked up a new record ― $9.3 billion of sales conducted th