Business

Oil recovery provides platform for Asia energy firms’ rally

HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Asian markets mostly rose on Tuesday with energy firms rallying with their United States counterparts after the recovery in oil prices extended in New York, where the Dow chalked up another record high ahead of Independence Day. Crude lost around a fifth of its value between mid-May and mid-June, hitting 10-month lows, as traders fretted that a pick-up in US output was offsetting cuts by key producers in OPEC and […]

Microsoft plans layoffs in sales force shake-up: reports

SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Microsoft is planning layoffs as it refocuses its sales force on making the software colossus a pivotal part of businesses relying on cloud computing, according to media reports. While many reports forecast the changes would result in thousands of job cuts, Microsoft on Monday only confirmed to AFP that changes were on the way. “Microsoft is implementing changes to better serve our customers and partners,” a Microsoft spokesperson told […]

US dollar rebounds while global stocks post gains

NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Rising oil prices and investor appetite for financial stocks helped boost most major United States and European equities on Monday while the dollar rebounded on exchange markets ahead of the July 4 holiday in the US. On a shortened trading day, Wall Street finished mixed, with the blue-chip Dow and the S&P both a hair’s breadth below record closes while faltering tech stocks took the Nasdaq lower. The Dow […]

Oil price hike expected this week

(Eagle News) — Oil companies announced a price increase in their petrol products this week. Thirty to 40 centavos per liter will be added to the present rates of gasoline, while 60 to 70 centavos will be added to diesel prices. Fifty to 60 centavos will be added to kerosene prices. This is the first oil price increase since the three-time rollback last month.

Tokyo stocks down by break after tech rally

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Tokyo stocks sank more than one percent Friday morning, tracking sharp losses in United States and European markets, with technology firms among the worst hit. The benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 1.09 percent, or 219.42 points, to 20,000.88 by the break, while the Topix index of all first-section issues was down 0.88 percent, or 14.29 points, at 1,609.78. “There’s been profit-taking in certain tech shares, which have rallied recently,” said Toshikazu Horiuchi, […]

Painted huts offer DR Congo village a tourism lifeline

Every dry season, women from a village in the south of the Democratic Republic of Congo paint scenes of daily life on the walls of their homes. Those homes have become tourist attractions, bringing visitors and opportunities to the region marred by political unrest. (AFP Video) https://youtu.be/UssBuSu1Ybs  

Climate change could greatly widen US inequality: study

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — If the United States fails to take decisive measures to combat climate change, it will become a poorer country facing more dramatic inequality, according to a study published Thursday. The poorest third of US counties could see income drops as great as 20 percent if current trends continue, according to the worst-case projection of the study, published in the journal Science. An interdisciplinary team of climatologists and economists based its […]

Sony to start spinning vinyl after 30-year hiatus

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Three decades after it abandoned vinyl production, Sony says it will start making records again on the back of surging demand for the retro music format. A factory southwest of Tokyo will be churning out freshly pressed records by March next year, Sony Music Entertainment said Thursday. The Japanese giant stopped making vinyl records in 1989, a company spokesman said, as consumers flocked to compact discs and other emerging music technology. […]

Samsung to invest $380 mn, add almost 1,000 jobs in US

NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Samsung plans to invest $380 million and hire nearly 1,000 workers for a new plant in South Carolina to manufacture home appliances, the company announced Wednesday. Samsung Electronics America described it as a “state of the art” facility that starting next year will build premium home products, including washing machines, and will be staffed with craftsmen, engineers and operators. United States Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who is leading President […]

Toshiba says deal to sell memory chip business delayed

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Toshiba said Wednesday it has not yet reached a deal to sell its prized chip business to a consortium of United States, Japanese and South Korean investors, as the troubled conglomerate holds a shareholder meeting. The sale, reportedly worth some 2.0 trillion yen ($18 billion), is seen as crucial for the cash-strapped company to plug massive losses at its US nuclear division, Westinghouse Electric. Last week, Toshiba said it has entered […]

Merkel backs restarting TTIP talks

BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday she wanted to resume talks between the European Union and the United States on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). “I am in favor of resuming negotiations on such a free trade accord — and also resolving all the problems together,” Merkel told an economic symposium of her ruling Christian Democratic Party. Initial talks on the TTIP, which would create a huge free trade […]

China’s industrial profit growth of large enterprises maintains good momentum

CHINA (Reuters) – The industrial profit growth of large enterprises in May continued a good momentum with a year on year growth of 16.7 percent, China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced on Tuesday. The total industrial profits of large enterprises in May reached about 626 billion Yuan (around 95 billion US dollars), increasing 16.7 percent year on year. The growth rate is 2.7 percentage points higher than in April. The equipment manufacturing industry accounted […]