Business - Diaal News

AP IMPACT: Recession, tech kill middle-class jobs

2013-01-23 07:09:19 UTC
Publishable Editors Notes: EDITOR'S NOTE: First in a three-part series on the loss of middle-class jobs in the wake of the Great Recession, and the role of technology. NEW YORK (AP) — Five years after the start of the Great Recessi...

Business CEOs call for raising retirement age

2013-01-17 03:32:55 UTC
WASHINGTON (AP) — An influential group of business CEOs is pushing a plan to gradually increase the full retirement age to 70 for both Social Security and Medicare and to partially privatize the health insurance program for older Americans. The...

China added 51 million Internet users in 2012

2013-01-15 10:08:04 UTC
BEIJING (AP) — China's population of Internet users rose 10 percent last year to 564 million even as communist authorities tightened controls on content, according to data released Tuesday. Driven by a surge in mobile Web surfing, the country...

UPS $6.9 billion TNT Express takeover falls apart

2013-01-14 09:42:11 UTC
AMSTERDAM (AP) — United Parcel Service Inc. has ditched its €5.2 billion ($6.9 billion) takeover of TNT Express NV after learning that European regulators would reject the deal in its current form. Though TNT will receive a €200 million...

Pan-Arab Al-Jazeera buys Current TV from Al Gore

2013-01-03 13:08:33 UTC
LOS ANGELES (AP) — With its purchase of left-leaning Current TV, the Pan-Arab news channel Al-Jazeera has fulfilled a long-held quest to reach tens of millions of U.S. homes. But its new audience immediately got a little smaller. The n...

Starbucks enters entrenched Vietnam coffee market

2013-01-05 09:43:27 UTC
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Nghiem Ngoc Thuy has been slinging coffees to thirsty Vietnamese for 20 years in her colonial-style villa with peeling shutters, and she and her customers aren't too worried that the imminent arrival of U.S. giant Sta...

Obama wants gun violence measures passed in 2013

2012-12-30 16:55:22 UTC
WASHINGTON (AP) — Recalling the shooting rampage that killed 20 first graders as the worst day of his presidency, President Barack Obama on Sunday pledged to put his "full weight" behind legislation aimed at preventing gun violence. In ...

More shoes showing up under Christmas tree

2012-12-24 05:19:27 UTC
NEW YORK (AP) — Shoes are coming out of the closet and landing under the Christmas tree. They're a top seller this holiday season — a big feat considering most years they don't even make gift lists. Laranda Williams, 39, used to buy clothing, t...

Christmas comes slowly to austerity-hit Europe

2012-12-22 08:35:13 UTC
PARIS (AP) — Across Europe, holiday "shoppers" this season are doing more browsing than buying. Retailers remain hopeful for a last-minute burst of Christmas consumerism, and some governments are encouraging it by allowing stores to ope...

It's all-hands-on-deck for final retail push

2012-12-21 22:02:28 UTC
FREEPORT, Maine (AP) — With the final retail push under way, L.L. Bean CEO Chris McCormick is playing Santa's helper against a backdrop of conveyor belts and beeping front-end loaders as he boxes up slippers and shirts. But there's little time to ...

Clearwire Agrees to Sprint Purchase at $2.97 Per Share

2012-12-18 05:11:24 UTC
After a week that saw SoftBank try to exert its influence on Sprint ahead of the completion of its stake purchase next year and more rumblings that shareholders were initially unsatisfied with the initial offer and holding out for more money, Spri...

US stocks edge up after strong Caterpillar earns

2013-01-28 16:41:29 UTC
U.S. stocks fell Monday morning, backing off a rally that had pushed the Standard & Poor's 500 index above 1,500 for the first time since December 2007. The modest decline occurred despite of encouraging signs about the manufacturing secto...

AIG sells 90 pct of plane leasing unit for $5.28B

2012-12-10 07:26:51 UTC
NEW YORK (AP) — American International Group Inc. on Sunday said it will sell up to 90 percent of its airplane leasing unit, International Lease Finance Corp., to a Chinese investor group for approximately $5.28 billion. The investor group is...

Starbucks to open 1,500 more cafes in the US

2012-12-05 21:12:11 UTC
NEW YORK (AP) — Another Starbucks may soon pop up around the corner, with the world's biggest coffee company planning to add at least 1,500 cafes in the U.S. over the next five years. The plan, which would boost the number of Starbucks cafes in...

AP IMPACT: China overtaking US as global trader

2012-12-03 11:54:14 UTC
Publishable Editors Notes: EDITOR'S NOTE _ This is the first installment in "China's Reach," a project that will analyze China's influence with its trading partners over three decades, and explore how that is changing business, politics...

Verizon, AT&T say cell network back up after Sandy

2012-11-29 10:27:39 UTC
NEW YORK (AP) — Verizon and AT&T said Thursday that their wireless networks are fully back up after Superstorm Sandy blew into the New York and New Jersey on Oct. 29. Verizon Wireless said its network is at pre-storm levels, while AT&T Inc. sai...

Cyber Monday likely to be busiest online sales day

2012-11-27 09:58:23 UTC
NEW YORK (AP) — Americans clicked away on their computers and smartphones for deals on Cyber Monday, which is expected to be the biggest online shopping day in history. Shoppers are expected to spend $1.5 billion on Cyber Monday, up 20 percent ...

World stocks up after deal over Greek debt reached

2012-11-27 09:46:18 UTC
BANGKOK (AP) — World stock markets rose Tuesday after talks over Greece's financial crisis ended with an agreement on how to reduce its debt load, paving the way for the cash-strapped country to receive the next installment of a bailout loan. F...

White House: Tax hike threat could hurt retailers

2012-11-26 18:25:45 UTC
WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite early signs of robust sales, White House economists warned Monday that the uncertainty of a potential hike in taxes next year for middle class taxpayers under the looming fiscal cliff could hurt consumer confidence during...

Earlier Black Friday kicks off shopping season

2012-11-23 17:55:12 UTC
This year's Black Friday shoppers were split into two distinct groups: those who wanted to fall into a turkey-induced slumber and those who'd rather shop. Stores typically open in the wee hours of the morning on the day after Thanksgiving that'...

Survey on China manufacturing lifts Asia stocks

2012-11-22 07:24:41 UTC
BANGKOK (AP) — Asian stock markets rose after a private survey released Thursday showed manufacturing in China at a 13-month high, rare good news for the global economy. Sentiment also benefited from a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas...

Stores try to make holiday shopping cheap and easy

2012-11-22 07:21:51 UTC
NEW YORK (AP) — This holiday season, Burger King won't be the only place where you can have it your way. It used to be enough for stores to promise discounts up to 70 percent to lure shoppers during the busy holiday period. But the ease of orde...

Iran starts building gas pipeline to Syria

2012-11-19 09:50:38 UTC
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An Iranian semi-official news agency says the country has started building a $10 billion natural gas pipeline to Syria as part of efforts to boost its energy sector that has been battered by international sanctions. Monday's...

J.C. Penney CEO tries to change the way we shop

2012-11-17 19:59:55 UTC
NEW YORK (AP) — J.C. Penney CEO Ron Johnson seems unfazed that the department store chain's mounting losses and sales declines have led to growing criticism of his plan to change the way we shop. Perhaps that's because this isn't the first time du...

Archduke Joseph Diamond fetches record $21.5M

2012-11-13 23:08:58 UTC
GENEVA (AP) — Geneva's jewelry auctions, held in five-star hotels along its elegant lakefront, can seem a continent if not a world away from the grim austerity gripping much of Europe. Two out-of-this-world diamonds are being auctioned off this we...