International
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Thursday, November 3, 2011 by
AFP
Eurozone manufacturing deteriorates in October – survey
Eurozone manufacturing climate deteriorated in October, with the sector in economic powerhouse Germany contracting for the first time for more than two years, a closely-watched survey showed yesterday. Eurozone manufacturing output, new orders and...
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Thursday, November 3, 2011 by
Andrew Beatty, AFP
Wall Street fears US debt crisis as Europe reels
Even as Europe’s debt crisis spirals out of control, Wall Street is casting an eye on a fast-approaching congressional deadline that could spark a debt crisis this side of the Atlantic. US investors – for weeks preoccupied with the tumult raging in...
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Thursday, November 3, 2011
Winner of Hong Kong Santa Claus Games
The winner of the eighth Santa Claus Winter Games Hong Kong Round, Mario Wong, places a light on a Christmas tree in Hong Kong yesterday. Wong will be competing in Sweden at the annual Santa Winter Games in Sweden in mid November. Representatives...
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Thursday, October 27, 2011 by
AFP
Finland’s Nokia launches Windows smartphone to regain market share
Finland’s Nokia, struggling to remain the world’s top mobile phone maker amid fierce competition, yesterday launched its first smartphone using the Windows platform which it hopes will secure profitability. Nokia launched the Lumia 800 and Lumia 710...
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Thursday, October 27, 2011 by
AFP
Olympus chief quits over fees row
Japanese camera maker Olympus said yesterday that Tsuyoshi Kikukawa has resigned as chairman and president, in the wake of a scandal triggered by the sacking of the firm’s British CEO. Kikukawa’s resignation comes less than two weeks after he took...
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Thursday, October 27, 2011 by
AFP
China agrees to ‘invest’ in euro bailout fund
China has agreed to invest in Europe’s bailout fund, two senior EU diplomats told AFP yesterday, hours before a crunch summit on the eurozone debt crisis. “China is in,” said one of new plans to boost the European Financial Stability Fund with a...
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Thursday, October 27, 2011 by
AFP
Peugeot could slash 5,000 jobs to cut costs in 2012
French auto giant PSA Peugeot Citroen yesterday announced an €800 million cost-cutting plan for next year, including up to 5,000 lay-offs amid a stagnating European car market. “It’s quite possible there will be an impact on the workforce,” the...
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Thursday, October 27, 2011 by
AFP
Nestle probes Chinese farmers’ cheating claims
Swiss food giant Nestle said yesterday it is investigating allegations that a Chinese subsidiary has been short-changing dairy farmers for at least 10 years. Dairy farmers in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang have accused Shuangcheng Nestle...
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Thursday, October 27, 2011 by
AFP
Rio Tinto looking to invest more in Africa
Rio Tinto’s chief said yesterday the mining giant was looking to spend more heavily in Africa despite not yet making a profit on billions of dollars of investments there over the past five years. Chief executive Tom Albanese told a Commonwealth...
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Thursday, October 27, 2011
Wells Fargo customers close accounts in protest
Wells Fargo bank official Nathan Collett addresses immigrant rights advocates after they entered a downtown branch in Denver, Colorado, on Tuesday. The demonstrators say Wells Fargo is a major shareholder in the private prison company GEO Group,...
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Thursday, October 20, 2011 by
AFP
Samsung, Google unveil new ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’ phone
South Korea’s Samsung Electronics yesterday unveiled its new smartphone that runs on Google’s latest Android operating system, the latest weapon in its battle to topple Apple’s iPhone. The launch of the “Galaxy Nexus”, which comes days a after the...
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Thursday, October 20, 2011 by
Roland Lloyd Parry, AFP
Fresh downgrade hits Spain amid euro fears
Pressure mounted on Spain yesterdayover its high debts after Moody’s joined other big credit raters in downgrading its sovereign rating, damaged by the eurozone finance crisis. Moody’s cut Spain’s rating by two notches from A1 from Aa2, with a...
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Thursday, October 20, 2011 by
AFP
Two-day strike by Greek unions against austerity Bill launched
Greek unions yesterday lau-nched a two-day general strike in an all-out effort to block a new austerity Bill that Parliament must pass to forestall a state bankruptcy. Most of the country’s professional classes joined the walkout including civil...
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Thursday, October 20, 2011 by
Glenn Chapman, AFP
Yahoo! earnings not as dismal as expected
Struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! beat Wall Street expectations even though its third quarter net profit dove 26 per cent from a year earlier as revenue sank. Yahoo! had net earnings of $293 million on revenue of $1.072 billion in the quarter to...
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Thursday, October 20, 2011
Pure gold rising dragon
An employee for Tokyo’s Matsuzakaya department store, whose main store is located in the city of Nagoya, displays a pure gold rising dragon statue measuring 38 cms, weighing 1,660g and priced at 42 million yen (€0.39 million) in Tokyo yesterday. The...
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Thursday, October 13, 2011 by
AFP
Merkel confident eurozone fund to be ratified this month
German Chancellor Angela Merkel predicted yesterday a eurozone bailout fund would be ratified this month despite rejection by Slovakia, and said all of Europe must help fight the crisis. But she warned that dealing with the continent’s debt crisis –...
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Thursday, October 13, 2011 by
AFP
Sony halts 93,000 online accounts in new breach
Sony said yesterday it suspended 93,000 accounts on its online entertainment networks after detecting a wave of unauthorised sign in attempts months after a huge breach forced it to halt some services. The attack took place between October 7 and 10...
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Thursday, October 13, 2011 by
AFP
Russia’s Putin ends China trip with no gas deal
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin left China yesterday after a visit that yielded $7 billion in trade pacts but no breakthrough on a long-delayed gas deal with the world’s top energy consumer. Putin held talks with his Chinese counterpart Wen...
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Thursday, October 13, 2011 by
AFP
British jobless hits 17-year high
Britain’s jobless total jumped to 2.57 million people in the three months to August, the highest amount since 1994 according to data yesterday, dealing a heavy blow to the country’s recovery hopes. Britain’s unemployment rate meanwhile shot up to...
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Thursday, October 13, 2011 by
AFP
Fiscal transfers no way out of crisis – ECB
The current eurozone debt crisis cannot be resolved simply by stronger countries shoring up the weaker indefinitely, the European Central Bank’s outgoing chief economist Juergen Stark said yesterday. “Fiscal transfers, flowing from the stronger...
