Vital for smartphone screens, electric vehicle batteries and wind turbines alike, rare earths are highly sought after. These metals and elements have become indispensable for many advanced industries. About 35 percent of the world’s rare earth reserves are in China, which produced 120,000 metric tons, or 70 percent, of the global supply in 2018. (AFP)

Samsung Electronics ranked second in terms of the number of patents filed in the United States last year, a report by a US patent association showed. Samsung registered 5,836 patents in the US last year, trailing behind IBM with 9,088 patents, the Intellectual Property Owners Association said. Samsung’s rival LG Electronics was the seventh-largest patent holder with 2,473, moving up one not...

South Korea’s coal consumption increased last year, bucking the global trend for reducing carbon emissions, a report showed. South Korea consumed 88.2 million tons of oil equivalent, a unit of energy, in 2018, up 2.4 percent from a year ago, according to the London-based energy company BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy 2019. The latest figure makes South Korea the world’s fifth-largest...

South Korea’s electronics output was the world’s third largest in terms of value last year thanks to brisk sales of memory chips, an industry report showed. The total production of the electronics industry in Asia’s fourth-largest economy came to $171.1 billion in 2018, accounting for 8.8 percent of the global market, the Korea Electronics Association said in the report. China’s electronics ...

Huawei Technologies remained the No. 2 global smartphone vendor in the past quarter despite tough US sanctions imposed on the Chinese technology giant, market trackers said. The Chinese firm managed to boost its sales even as the overall market declined, remaining on the heels of sector leader Samsung and ahead of US-based Apple. According to Strategy Analytics, overall global smartphone sal...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Global trade tensions, continued uncertainty and rising prospects for a no-deal Brexit are sapping the strength of the world economy, which faces a "precarious" 2020, the International Monetary Fund warned on Tuesday. Trade conflicts are undercutting investment and weakening manufacturing, and the IMF urged countries to avoid using tariffs to resolve their differences. In the...

US retail giant Amazon has overtaken tech titans Apple and Google to become the world’s most valuable brand, according to a survey. The brand value of Amazon surged 52 percent to $315 billion, global market research agency Kantar said in its 2019 100 Top BrandZ report. Amazon jumped from third to first place to eclipse Google, which slid from first to third place. Apple held on to the second...

Finance ministers and central bank chiefs from the Group of 20 major economies wrapped up a meeting in Japan on Sunday with a pledge to use all the policies they can to protect global growth from disruptions due to trade and other tensions. The G-20 finance leaders said in a joint communique that risks from trade and geopolitical tensions were "intensifying." They did not refer directly to the t...

By 2050, China will not only have overtaken the United States, but its economy will be much, much bigger than the US. According to a PwC report, its gross domestic product will stand at around $58.5 trillion compared to the US’ $34.1 trillion (on a purchasing power parity basis). The Asian giant will account for 20 percent of the world’s economy, higher than India at 15 percent and the US at...

PARIS -- French automaker Renault said Monday that it would study "with interest" a 50-50 merger proposal from Fiat Chrysler, a deal that could reshape the industry as Renault reviews its options following the arrest in Japan of its chief executive. Renault had for years tied its strategy to a partnership with Japanese automaker Nissan but this has come into question after the arrest and subsequ...

French and Italian-US auto giants Renault and Fiat Chrysler are set to announce talks on an alliance, with a view to a potential merger, informed sources said on Sunday. Renault and FCA are likely to unveil the move "within hours, perhaps tomorrow (Monday), before the (Paris) bourse opens," one of the sources told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding an eventual "merger" was on the agenda. The...

The founder of Huawei expressed confidence Washington's curbs on sales to the Chinese tech giant will have little impact and said Tuesday it is discussing “emergency relief” from Google for possible loss of services for its smartphone business. Huawei Technologies Ltd., the biggest maker of network gear for phone carriers, has ``supply backups'' if it loses access to American components, Ren Zhe...

The United States became the world’s top crude oil producer in 2017, surpassing Russia and Saudi Arabia, according to the International Energy Agency. The US produced 14.3 percent of the world’s oil, and Saudi Arabia stood in second place with 12.9 percent with Russia close behind at 12.2 percent. In terms of the volume of oil they produced in 2017, the three countries produced more oil than t...

US President Donald Trump on Friday delayed a decision on whether to impose tariffs on imported cars and parts by six months. Trump said in a proclamation that he is directing the US. Trade Representative to pursue negotiations on cars imported from the European Union and Japan in that period. (AfP-Yonhap) Trump was expected to decide by Saturday whether to go ahead with imposing tariffs of u...

The prime minister of Singapore is the highest-paid leader in the world, according to USA Today. Lee Hsien Loong receives $1,610,000 in a year. He‘s followed by the chief executive of Hong Kong, Carrie Lam, and the president of the Swiss Confederation, Ueli Maurer. The president of the United States came in fourth place with $400,000 USA today gathered the annual salaries from country’s websit...