Luxury brands hedge their bets with smartwatches

The flurry of technology deals luxury watchmakers announced this week to tackle the Apple Watch threat are more a way to hedge their bets in case the smartwatch market takes off than a strategic U-turn.


Petrobras halts giant production unit as safety problems found

Brazil's state-run Petrobras said on Friday it shut its P-58 offshore oil production ship after the country's petroleum regulator ANP found irregularities on board the vessel, one of the company's most important offshore production systems.

Mexico's Pemex launches ethanol biofuel program to cut emissions

Pemex is set to launch its first-ever sales of gasoline mixed with cleaner-burning ethanol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the Mexican state-run oil company said on Thursday.

Japan split on joining AIIB bank, caught between US, China

Japan is split over joining a China-led development bank, concerned about missing out on the rapidly coalescing global movement for the institution while also worried about alienating ally United States and helping bolster rival China, officials said.


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The current level of China's yuan CNY=CFXS is appropriate because it reflects foreign exchange supply and demand and economic fundamentals, a top central bank researcher said on Saturday, playing down talk of suspected official intervention.
Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed on Friday creating a regional currency union with Belarus and Kazakhstan, Russia's main partners in a union of ex-Soviet states facing growing economic challenges.
Greece will receive much needed funding once it has submitted a detailed list of proposed reforms to the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers, its government spokesman said on Friday, as the country strives to avoid a cash crunch within weeks.
Jaguar Land Rover Ltd on Friday said it is recalling nearly 36,500 Range Rover Evoque sport utility vehicles (SUVs), after local media reported the British luxury carmaker used faulty gearboxes.
Brent crude oil fell below $54 a barrel on Friday and was on track for its third straight weekly loss, hurt by worries of rising supplies from OPEC and the United States.
Amazon.com Inc has won approval from U.S. federal regulators to test a delivery drone outdoors, as the e-commerce company pursues its goal of sending packages to customers by air, even as it faces public concern about safety and privacy.
Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson's Virgin Group may take on Tesla Motors Inc and other companies in developing electric cars, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.
Tag Heuer, French luxury group LVMH's (LVMH.PA) biggest watch maker, said it will launch a smartwatch later this year using Google Inc's (GOOGL.O) Android operating system in a venture with Intel Corp (INTC.O) to compete head-on with the Apple Watch.
Oil prices tumbled on Thursday as a rebounding dollar and Kuwait's stance that OPEC had no choice but to keep producing in an oversupplied market undercut the previous day's rally.
Lifting the longstanding ban on U.S. crude oil exports would boost the country's economy and enhance its global leadership, a former senior Obama administration official will tell senators on Thursday, introducing a strategic dimension to the growing debate over selling American oil abroad.