Over 2,000 coal miners in Lugansk region have been on strike for the second day running, demanding higher wages and refusing to accept a pay cut to fund the restoration of Kiev, which suffered damage during the coup that overthrew the government. Some 80 percent of miners from five coal mines belonging to "Krasnodonugol" enterprise in the city of Krasnodon have not shown up to work. The mines are all owned by one of Ukraine's richest man, Rinat Akhmetov of the mining and metallurgical "Metinvest" corporation.
Updated 6 Years ago

China's economy overtook Japan's in 2010 to become the world's second largest, but analysts told CNBC China still lags Japan in terms of the quality of its growth. The Japanese economy expanded 0.7 percent on year in the final quarter of 2013, substantially slower than China's 7.7 percent expansion. While growth in the mainland economy has slowed from double-digit levels in recent years it remains on course to overtake the U.S. as the world's largest economy as early as 2019 according to the Economist Intelligence Unit.
Updated 6 Years ago

Being a business owner is all about the Benjamins, right? Well, actually, no. More entrepreneurs say they are driven to become successful business owners because of the sense of personal achievement it provides than for financial stability, according to a new survey by online small-business community Manta and tech giant Dell. Of the more than 3,000 small-business owners surveyed, 37 percent say their No. 1 motivation is the feeling of self-worth they enjoy in fulfilling a lifelong dream. About two-thirds as many respondents reported that their top motivation is money and a feeling of financial security.
Updated 6 Years ago

But in some respects, the Apple founder was also profoundly anti-competitive. And in his final years, he may have gone out of his way to thwart the innovation of the underclass of software engineers responsible for Silicon Valley's inventiveness. That portrait of Jobs emerges from court documents related to a huge class-action lawsuit involving tens of thousands of software engineers pitched against the titans of Silicon Valley. In these documents, it appears Jobs called the shots with major competitors, such as Google, Adobe, Intuit, and others--which at Jobs's behest, kowtowed and agreed not to hire one another's engineers out of fear that Jobs would retaliate.
Updated 6 Years ago

WH Group, the world's biggest pork company, is slashing its proposed Hong Kong IPO and delaying the pricing to next week, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday, as market volatility and rich valuations turned investors off the deal. Its initial plan had called for an offering of up to $5.3 billion, in what would have been the island city's biggest listing in four years. But Reuters calculations based on information from a source familiar with the revised plan show the deal is now expected to garner less than $2 billion.
Updated 6 Years ago

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), whose three top executives began their careers at the firm in the commodity-trading unit, is poised to gain market share as pressure from regulators drives competitors to scale back. Barclays Plc (BARC), the U.K.’s second-largest bank, said that it’s exiting commodities businesses other than trading precious metals and derivatives tied to oil, U.S. gas and commodity indexes. In January, the London-based bank cut jobs in the group that traded raw materials and in February shut power-trading desks in the U.S. and Europe.
Updated 6 Years ago

There’s a direct relationship between exercise and success. It sounds strange, but consider it for a moment. We tend to think success comes when we concentrate all our energy on working day in and out. But that wears you out.
Updated 6 Years ago

China's factory activity shrank for the fourth straight month in April, signaling economic weakness into the second quarter, a preliminary survey showed on Wednesday, although the pace of decline eased helped by policy steps to arrest the slowdown. Analysts see initial signs of stabilization in the economy due to the government's targeted measures to underpin growth, but believe more policy support may be needed as structural reforms put additional pressure on activity.
Updated 6 Years ago

"Never leave that til tomorrow which you can do today," said Benjamin Franklin. Pretty good advice, especially considering it comes from a guy who was an absolute whiz at productivity (Franklin was somehow an author, printer, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat).
Updated 6 Years ago

Denmark’s financial watchdog is urging banks to put in place better checks and balances to prevent excessive bonuses it says may spur greater risk-taking. The warning follows a decision by the Financial Supervisory Authority this month to criticize Danske Bank A/S (DANSKE) for having a remuneration policy for key staff it said encourages “more risky dispositions” by offering bonuses as high as 200 percent of base pay.
Updated 6 Years ago