Business

BlackBerry sues Facebook over messaging apps

OTTAWA, Canada (AFP) – Canadian telecommunications firm BlackBerry sued Facebook on Tuesday, accusing the American social media company of infringing on its patents for messaging apps. BlackBerry is claiming infringement on patents it holds for message encryption and notifications, and is seeking an injunction as well as damages for lost profits, although no figure was given. Facebook and its wholly-owned services Instagram and WhatsApp are named as defendants in the lawsuit. The company said it intends to fight the […]

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Republicans balk at Trump tariff proposal in rare pushback

by Michael Mathes Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States – Congressional Republicans occasionally confront Donald Trump on issues from immigration to diplomacy, but it is rare for them to bluntly oppose the US president on economic policy. That changed when he proposed tariffs on steel imports. Trump’s successes of 2017 — slashing regulations on US industry, hard-won tax cuts and soaring consumer confidence — won plaudits among conservatives like House Speaker Paul Ryan. But Trump’s aggressive plan to punish trade […]

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Qualcomm requests national security review of Broadcom bid

WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES (AFP) – US chipmaker Qualcomm postponed its annual shareholders’ meeting after secretly requesting a national security review of Broadcom’s bid to take over the company, the Singapore-based Broadcom announced Monday. Qualcomm shareholders were due to meet Tuesday, but Broadcom said it was informed Sunday night that Qualcomm secretly filed a voluntary request on January 29 for US regulators to investigate the deal, and was ordered to postpone the meeting for 30 days. “It should be clear […]

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Trump vows to keep steel tariffs on Mexico, Canada without ‘fair’ NAFTA deal

by Heather SCOTT Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES – US President Donald Trump vowed Monday he will not back down on imposing steep tariffs on steel and aluminum on Canada and Mexico unless he gets a “fair” deal to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement. He also criticized the European Union for the trade barriers on US companies and repeated his threat to slap tariffs on European car imports if Brussels retaliates against the steel tariffs. Speaking […]

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Japan car giants team up to build hydrogen stations

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Top Japanese car makers said on Monday they were teaming up to nearly double the amount of hydrogen stations in Japan, as the car-mad country seeks to head off competition from China and Germany. Toyota, Nissan and Honda formed a joint venture with major gas and energy companies, including French industrial gases company Air Liquide, to build 80 new hydrogen stations in the next four years, to add to the 101 […]

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Asian markets sink again as Trump fans trade war fears

HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Asian markets turned negative again on Monday as the fallout from Donald Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs continues to feed concerns of a global trade war. Equities went into a tailspin last week after the tycoon unveiled his plans for the controversial levies, and while US investors ended Friday on a slightly positive note, there is still the prospect of more volatility to come. Trump ramped up his rhetoric at […]

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Infineon, SAIC set up electric car joint venture in China

FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Germany (AFP) — German computer chip maker Infineon said Friday it is teaming up with China’s biggest carmaker, SAIC Motor Corporation, to produce power modules for the Chinese electric car market, the world’s biggest. Infineon said in a statement it will hold a 49-percent stake in the new Shanghai-based company, SAIC Infineon Automotive Power Modules (SIAPM), which will make inverters — vital parts that convert power from the battery to a form […]

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Trump tariffs fuel sell-off in steel and aluminum firms

  HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Steel and aluminum producers across Asia sank Friday on news of Donald Trump’s controversial tariffs, though some analysts said the long-term effects on the sector might not be as bad as thought. The president said Thursday he would slap levies of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum imports, delivering an election campaign promise to put “America First” and protect US jobs from what he claims are […]

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Dominguez: BBL should be “open to changes”

(Eagle News) — Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III on Thursday said that the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) should be “open to changes.” In a statement, he said this was to allow the Bangsamoro autonomy to “evolve by abandoning its mistakes and strengthening its positive aspects.” “We recommend that lawmakers should look at past experiences in devolving certain basic services to learn from them and take into consideration these lessons when crafting the BBL,” Dominguez said. […]

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Toyota: US tariffs will ‘substantially’ increase car prices

  TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japanese car giant Toyota on Friday warned that US steel and aluminum tariffs would harm automakers and “substantially” increase the price of cars sold in America. The firm was reacting after US President Donald Trump announced tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum, key materials for the auto sector. Toyota noted that 90 percent of the steel and aluminum it purchases for its US operations comes […]

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Japan’s jobless rate at lowest in nearly 25 years

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s jobless rate stood at 2.4 percent in January, the lowest in nearly 25 years, official data showed Friday, a major boost for the world’s third-largest economy. The figure — the lowest since April 1993 when the rate hit 2.3 percent — comes as Japan has notched up eight straight quarters of economic growth, the longest positive run since the “bubble” boom days of the late 1980s. Japan’s government and central […]

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Apple surges ahead in wearables on smartwatch sales: survey

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Strong holiday season sales of Apple’s newest smartwatch propelled the California tech giant into the lead in wearable tech in 2017, a market tracker said Thursday. A report by the research firm IDC said Apple jumped to the front of the wearables pack in the fourth quarter following the release of Apple Watch 3 and placed at the top of the market for the full year as well. While official […]

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