Most Popular
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[Exclusive] Korean military set to ban iPhones over 'security' concerns
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Korean, Romanian leaders discuss defense tech, nuclear energy
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[Graphic News] 77% of young Koreans still financially dependent
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S. Korea calls on Japan to confront history amid Yasukuni Shrine visit
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Yoon’s jailed mother-in-law excluded from latest parole list
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Hybe and Min Hee-jin, CEO of Hybe sublabel Ador, lock horns
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[Pressure points] Leggings in public: Fashion statement or social faux pas?
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Yoo Jae-suk, Yoo Yeon-seok team up in 'Whenever Possible'
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Korea’s homegrown nanosatellite successfully launches into space
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Aging population to drive down Korea's housing prices from 2040: experts
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Russians flock to stores to pre-empt price rises
MOSCOW (AP) ― Russian consumers flocked to the stores Wednesday, frantically buying a range of big-ticket items to pre-empt the price rises kicked off by the staggering fall in the value of the ruble in recent days.As the Russian authorities announced a series of measures to ease the pressure on the ruble, which slid 15 percent in the previous two days and raised fears of a bank run, many Russians were buying cars and home appliances ― in some cases in record numbers ― before prices for these im
Dec. 18, 2014
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Russia poses risk to global economy
WASHINGTON ― Russia’s suddenly escalating financial crisis risks spilling beyond its borders and endangering parts of the global economy. With economies in Europe, Japan, China and Latin America already ailing, fresh threats have emerged from Russia’s shriveled currency, its move to dramatically boost interest rates, the damage from plummeting oil prices and Western sanctions over Russia’s action in Ukraine.The alarming 10 percent drop in the ruble over the past two days has amplified the econom
Dec. 17, 2014
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Apple wins class-action lawsuit over iPod prices
OAKLAND, California (AP) ― A federal jury decided Tuesday that Apple didn’t compete unfairly when it sold music players and songs with copy-protection software that was incompatible with rival devices and music from competing online stores.The eight-member jury in U.S. District Court handed Apple a victory by rejecting a claim from attorneys for consumers and iPod resellers, who were seeking as much as $1 billion in a class-action lawsuit. The plaintiffs argued that Apple was able to overcharge
Dec. 17, 2014
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Apple stops sales in Russia
CUPERTINO, California (AP) ― Apple has halted online sales of its iPhones, iPads and other products in Russia amid financial turmoil triggered by the steep decline in the country’s currency.The ruble plunged by as much as 20 percent Tuesday, even after Russia’s central bank increased interest rates sharply in an attempt to shore up the currency. The ruble’s value has fallen by more than 60 percent since January. Its decline has coincided with a dramatic decrease in the price of oil, a pillar of
Dec. 17, 2014
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Kuwait says OPEC will not step in to support oil prices
KUWAIT CITY (AFP) ― OPEC has no plans to intervene in the oil market to shore up sagging crude prices, the Kuwaiti oil minister said Tuesday, as Brent crude breached the $60 mark.“At OPEC’s meeting in November, we took two decisions,” Ali al-Omair said at a lecture in Kuwait City.“The first was to keep the production ceiling unchanged and the second to hold the next meeting in June. So far, nothing has changed and there are no calls for holding an emergency meeting,” Omair said.He declined to an
Dec. 17, 2014
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Chrysler renamed FCA US
NEW YORK (AFP) ― U.S. automaker Chrysler unveiled Tuesday its new name, FCA US LLC, reflecting its subsidiary status to newly renamed Italian parent Fiat Italy SpA.Until now, the company, the smallest of the “Big Three” U.S. automakers including General Motors and Ford Motor, was known as the Chrysler Group.The company was gradually acquired by Turin-based Fiat after emerging in June 2009 from a U.S. government-backed bankruptcy restructuring and bailout. Fiat fully completed the acquisition of
Dec. 17, 2014
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China looking for new markets in Europe
BELGRADE (AP) ― In an attempt to secure business ties and increase political influence, China has launched a charm offensive in eastern Europe ― where the European Union and Russia are also vying for sway.Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, accompanied by 200 corporate executives, met the leaders of 16 central and eastern European countries Tuesday for a two-day summit being billed in China as an opportunity to deepen ties to the region and boost relations with the EU.The Asian economic power is
Dec. 17, 2014
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Oil prices sink further
LONDON ― Brent oil slumped Tuesday to a new five-year low below $60 per barrel, as shrinking Chinese manufacturing activity stoked global demand concerns, with sentiment also plagued by over-supply.In morning London deals, the price of Brent North Sea crude for delivery in January sank to $59.49, hitting a low last seen in July 2009.China’s manufacturing activity worsened in December with HSBC’s purchasing managers’ index hitting a seven-month low, the bank said, signalling more weakness in the
Dec. 16, 2014
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BT in talks to buy EE
LONDON (AP) ― BT Group PLC said Monday it is in exclusive talks to buy mobile phone operator EE from Germany’s Deutsche Telekom and France’s Orange for 12.5 billion pounds ($20 billion) in cash and shares.BT, Britain’s biggest home telephone and Internet provider, announced last month that it was planning to reenter the mobile market, which it left in 2001. EE would mark a major re-entry into the mobile phone market for BT. EE is the country’s biggest with its 24.5 million customers.In an after-
Dec. 16, 2014
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AirAsia confirms order of 55 Airbus A330neos
PARIS (AFP) ― Malaysian low-cost carrier AirAsia X confirmed Monday its order of 55 long-haul A330neo passenger planes from Airbus at a list price of $15 billion, in what is the biggest single order for the line of aircraft. Since signing an agreement to purchase 50 of the new-generation A330s in July, AirAsia X has added five more planes to its order, the group said in a statement.Airbus will begin delivering the fleet in 2018, AirAsia X said.The Malaysian carrier is now Airbus’ biggest custome
Dec. 16, 2014
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Plunging oil ‘to spark more global tensions’
LONDON (AFP) ― The oil market faces an uncertain outlook in 2015 as tumbling prices resulting from global oversupply stoke geopolitical tensions in key producers of crude, analysts say.Oil prices have lost around half their value since June, punished by abundant supplies, a stronger dollar and weak demand in the faltering world economy.Losses accelerated in late November when the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries ― which pumps out one-third of the world’s oil ― decided against cuttin
Dec. 16, 2014
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Japan P.M. presses for wage rises after ‘Abenomics’ poll win
TOKYO (AFP) ― Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday stepped up pressure on business leaders to hike wages as he embarked on a renewed push to reinvigorate Japan’s economy after his weekend election triumph.Stagnant salaries are one of the main missing links in the “virtuous circle” of growth that the premier’s signature “Abenomics” plan envisages.While prices in deflation-plagued Japan have finally begun to rise, take-home pay ― especially when measured by spending power ― has shown itself stubbo
Dec. 16, 2014
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Russia raises key rate to protect ailing economy
WASHINGTON (AP) ― The Bank of Russia has raised its key interest rate to 17 percent from 10.5 percent in a desperate move to boost its currency and rescue its troubled economy.The action announced Tuesday in Moscow comes after the ruble’s value has sunk roughly 50 percent since January, battered by Western sanctions imposed over the conflict in Ukraine and plunging worldwide oil prices. The falling ruble threatens to escalate Russia’s inflation to dangerous levels and paralyze the economy.The ce
Dec. 16, 2014
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1998 comes calling in currency and credit plunges from Russia to Venezuela
Emerging markets are ending the year much like how they began it ― in freefall. From Russia to Venezuela, Thailand to Brazil, stocks, bonds and currencies across the developing world are plunging. The Russian ruble tumbled past 64 for the first time on record Monday while Venezuelan bonds sank below 40 cents on the dollar and Thai stocks fell the most in 11 months. Brazil’s corporate debt market is reeling as a graft probe of state oil producer Petroleo Brasileiro SA infects the market. All of t
Dec. 16, 2014
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$40 oil? UAE says OPEC still won’t budge
OPEC will stand by its decision not to cut output even if oil prices fall as low as $40 a barrel and will wait at least three months before considering an emergency meeting, the United Arab Emirates’ energy minister said. OPEC won’t immediately change its Nov. 27 decision to keep the group’s collective output target unchanged at 30 million barrels a day, Suhail Al-Mazrouei said. Venezuela supports an OPEC meeting given the price slide, though the country hasn’t officially requested one, an offic
Dec. 15, 2014
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Central banks, oil price rout to rule markets in 2015
PARIS (AFP) ― Addicted to liquidity and disconnected from the real economy, global markets are likely to dance in 2015 to the different monetary policy tunes played by the U.S. Fed, the ECB and China, while plunging oil prices could spice up the mix.In 2015, “like the last seven years, it is the central bank interventions which will have an influence over the markets,” said Romain Boscher, a stock portfolio manager at Amundi.For the past several years central banks have tried to stimulate stalle
Dec. 15, 2014
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Gulf stocks reel on sliding oil prices
KUWAIT CITY (AFP) ― Share prices in energy-rich Gulf Arab states fell sharply at the start of the week Sunday, dragged down after global oil prices plunged to new lows.The decline took place on almost all of the region’s seven exchanges, with the Dubai and Qatari markets leading the way as investors dumped stocks soon after trading kicked off.Dubai’s benchmark DFM Index slumped 7.6 percent to 3,321.30 points, ending at its lowest level so far in 2014.The DFM had climbed as much as 60 percent thi
Dec. 15, 2014
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Krugman says Fed rate unlikely to rise in 2015
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
Dec. 15, 2014
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Sony asks media groups to destroy ‘stolen’ data
WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Sony Pictures Entertainment pressed media outlets Sunday against using data hackers may have leaked about the studio.In the letter sent to groups including The New York Times and The Hollywood Reporter, lawyer David Boies said the “stolen information” must be destroyed and should not make it to publication.The studio “does not consent to your possession, review, copying, dissemination, publication, uploading, downloading or making any use of the stolen information, and to requ
Dec. 15, 2014
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Germans cling to shop-free Sunday
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
Dec. 14, 2014