The Korea Herald

Court finds Dolce & Gabbana not guilty of tax evasion

Oct 26, 2014

ROME (AFP) ― The Italian Supreme Court on Friday overturned fraud convictions and 18-month jail terms against celebrated fashion duo Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, their company announced. “We have always been honest and we are extremely proud of this recognition by the Italian Court of Justice. Viva l’Italia,” the two fashion house chiefs said in a statement.“The Italian Supreme Court of Justice found Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana not guilty of tax evasion,” a company press release sa
Italians challenge Renzi job reforms

Oct 26, 2014

ROME (AP) ― Hundreds of thousands of people marched in Rome Saturday to protest against Premier Matteo Renzi’s drive to make it easier to fire workers.Two noisy marches crisscrossed the heart of the Italian capital, snarling traffic for hours. Demonstrators cheered as CGIL labor confederation head Susanna Camusso promised more protests and strikes unless Renzi abandons efforts to give employers considerably more leeway to fire workers. The center-left premier contends businesses fear hiring work
25 lenders set to fail ECB’s health-check

Oct 26, 2014

Twenty-five lenders in the European Central Bank’s euro-area bank health check are poised to fail the regulator’s Comprehensive Assessment, according to a draft communique of the final results seen by Bloomberg News. One-hundred-and-five banks are shown passing the review, according to the draft statement. Of the lenders that failed, about 10 will still face capital shortfalls they need to plug, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified because they weren
Britain slams $2.6 billion EU budget demand

Oct 26, 2014

Anger in Britain over EU’s ‘thirsty vampire’ payout demand
Apple CEO meets Chinese official amid iCloud hacking row

Oct 23, 2014

BEIJING (AFP) ― Apple CEO Tim Cook met a senior Chinese official Wednesday, days after hackers targeted the company’s iCloud service in an attack which an anti-censorship group claims originated in China.Cook and Vice Premier Ma Kai “exchanged views on protection of users’ information” during a meeting at the ruling Communist Party’s Zhongnanhai leadership compound, the official Xinhua news agency said.The pair “also exchanged views on strengthening cooperation in information and communication f
Lew urges Germany to boost growth

Oct 23, 2014

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, in a meeting Wednesday with German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel, called on Germany to boost public spending to stimulate stuttering eurozone growth, the Treasury said.Lew and Gabriel, who met in Washington, discussed the slowdown in global economic growth and particularly in the 18-nation eurozone.The Treasury chief “emphasized the importance of strengthening public investment, and urged German and other European leaders to boost domestic
Lloyds said to cut 9,000 jobs

Oct 23, 2014

Lloyds Banking Group Plc, Britain’s largest mortgage provider, will announce about 9,000 job cuts next week as its customers shift to online services from physical branches, a person with knowledge of the matter said. The bank will detail the cuts, a target for branch closures and the increasing automation of its services as part of a new three-year plan on Oct. 28, when it releases third-quarter results, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the strategy hasn’t been finalized.
Yahoo profit rises on Alibaba divestment

Oct 22, 2014

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) ― Yahoo said Tuesday its quarterly profit surged with its sale of shares in Chinese Internet powerhouse Alibaba, and also saw improving results from its mobile Internet initiatives.Net profit jumped to $6.8 billion, which included $6.3 billion from its Alibaba shares. But profits excluding one-time items were stronger than expected, and pumped up Yahoo shares by 2.7 percent in after-hours trade.Revenue from operations inched up a percent to $1.15 billion, according to third q
Ukraine, Russia end gas talks without breakthrough

Oct 22, 2014

BRUSSELS (AP) ― Ukraine and Russia on Tuesday failed to get a decisive breakthrough in their standoff over gas supplies to Kiev and will resume European Union-sponsored talks next week. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukraine counterpart Petro Poroshenko had agreed on a broad thrust of a deal on Friday, but the issues on how, when and how much Ukraine should pay continued to divide the sides. “One obstacle is that Ukraine has not paid its gas bills for seven months,” said EU Energy Comm
Shaky Japanese economy hit by growing trade deficit

Oct 22, 2014

TOKYO (AFP) ― Japan’s shaky economy was dealt another blow Wednesday, as official data showed a widening September trade deficit that puts the world’s number-three economy on track to log a record annual shortfall.The worse-than-expected deficit of 958.3 billion yen ($8.96 billion) comes on the back of a string of weak figures and a sharp contraction in the second-quarter, which raised fears that a recovery in Japan’s economy has been derailed.The latest numbers translated into a trade deficit o
EU fines JPMorgan over rate rigging

Oct 22, 2014

BRUSSELS (AFP) ― The European Commission fined U.S. banking giant JPMorgan more than 61 million euros ($78 million) on Tuesday for its role in rigging benchmark international interest rates.JPMorgan worked with Royal Bank of Scotland in 2008-09 to fix interest rates on Swiss franc LIBOR contracts, another example of major banks colluding “instead of competing with each other,” EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said.“Our economy needs a healthy, transparent, well-functioning financial s
APEC chiefs meet amid global worries

Oct 22, 2014

BEIJING (AFP) ― The global economic recovery is beset by “downside risks,” China’s vice-premier told Asia-Pacific finance ministers Wednesday, a day after growth in the world’s second-largest economy hit a five-year low.The meeting in Beijing of ministers from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum precedes the group’s annual summit next month, when Chinese President Xi Jinping is to host counterparts including U.S. President Barack Obama, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime
New iPhones deliver big profits

Oct 21, 2014

More than 39 million iPhones sold in quarter
China’s growth slowest in 5 years

Oct 21, 2014

BEIJING (AP) ― China’s economic growth waned to a five-year low of 7.3 percent last quarter, raising concerns of a spillover effect on the global economy but falling roughly in line with Chinese leaders’ plans for a controlled slowdown.The third quarter figures, released Tuesday, put China on course for annual growth somewhat lower than the 7.5 percent targeted by leaders, though they have indicated there is wiggle-room in their plan. The world’s No. 2 economy grew 7.5 percent from a year earlie
Fed’s Dudley warns banks must improve culture or be broken up

Oct 21, 2014

Banks must change the way employees are compensated and take other steps to fix a corporate culture that encourages misdeeds or face being broken up, said William C. Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. If bad behavior persists, “the inevitable conclusion will be reached that your firms are too big and complex to manage effectively,” Dudley told industry leaders in a speech Monday at the New York Fed. “In that case, financial stability concerns would dictate that your firms