Software giant Oracle commenced its high stakes trial over smartphone technology against internet concern Google in a California court. The case represents the first big court challenge for Android technology and at an estimated $1bn claim it is expected to become one of the largest ever technology trials. Oracle first accused Google’s Android team of patent and copyright infringement in August 2010 saying that Google used its Java programming language without authorisation to help develop Android software. It is believed that the trial may result in Oracle offering a user license to Google. Testimony is expected to be given by the companie...
Kunlun Energy, the China-based gas supplier which is a wholly owned subsidiary of PetroChina, on Tuesday raised $1.35bn through a top-up share placement to help fund expansion of its LNG business. The gas supplier hopes to tap into equity markets to assist in developing its liquefied natural gas arm and fund possible acquisitions. The plan is to steer away from oil and coal and switch to LNG. The group plans to construct 15 LNG plants to become the country’s largest onshore supplier. Kunlar Energy priced its 800 million shares at HK$13.10, which was 7.62 percent below Monday’s closing price of HK$14.18. “The company tends to use the net...
DryDocks World, the owner of the Middle East’s biggest shipyard, has filed a claim with a special tribunal in an effort to move forward its $2.2bn debt restructuring through a government decree. The company filed a notification under Decree 57 with the Dubai World Tribunal, which will protect it from any claims coming from creditors. The ship builder said that “a significant majority,” but not all of the creditors have so far signed the five year plan to repay the debt owed....
Spain’s newly elected Prime Minister Mariano Rayoy on Friday is expected to push ahead with one of the nation’s most hard-hitting budgets in recent times. The news comes as almost a million protestors took to the streets late on Thursday after a general strike paralysed heavy industry and disrupted transport in Madrid and Barcelona. But Rayoy said he is adamant and will stand by his promise to the other eurozone members to decrease the deficit in spite of the country’s soaring unemployment and current recession. Rayoy’s Popular party will attempt to bring down the public deficit from last year’s 8.51 percent to 5.3 percent of GDP. T...
Retail sales in Japan rose 3.5 percent year on year in February, said the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on Thursday. Japan’s retail figures saw the largest advance since August 2010 and beat analysts’ expectations of 1.3 percent, published figures showed. Sales were helped by a strong demand in the motor industry, according to the Ministry. Car sales increased 21.4 percent, with Toyota Motors saying its global output grew 28 percent to 811,310 vehicles from a year earlier. Meanwhile, retail sales for fuel gained 4.8 percent year on year in February. Sales of beverages and food rose 2.5 percent, up 1.9 percent from the previous m...
High profile Abu Dhabi investors have been in talks concerning a £10bn investment into Royal Bank of Scotland it was alleged on Wednesday. Shares in the UK bank rose sharply by 4.6 percent in early trade following the news that Abu Dhabi’s ruling family including Sheikh Mansour and other Abu Dhabi and Middle Eastern investors could invest up to £5bn in RBS stock. As much as a third of RBS could be sold to Abu Dhabi wealth funds but shares are still short of the average 49.9 pence the UK government paid for its stake. Critics say a sale at the current share price would therefore leave UK taxpayers with billions of pounds in losses. Discuss...
Coutts, the 320-year old private bank famous for handling the finances of the Queen, has been fined £8.75m late on Monday by the FSA for money laundering violations in its dealings with high risk customers. The RBS-owned bank, which specialises in private banking and wealth management, was found to suffer “serious and systematic” failings, which were “allowed to persist for almost three years,” according to the FSA. Investigators found issues in almost three quarters of the client files it scrutinised. The problems discovered included lack of information gathering to establish the source of the money and failing to closer inspect cus...
Spanish lender CaixaBank, the Barcelona-listed arm of La Caixa, and smaller competitor Banca Civica SA have both suspended trading on Monday, said stock market regulator CNMV. The move is in anticipation of a deal announcement that could see CaixaBank take over Banca Civica in an all-share deal that will value the bank at €1.1bn or €2.2 a share, reports showed. According to local media, CaixaBank is planning to slash the combined workforce by about 3,000 to 3,500 employees, or 10 percent, and shut down around 15 percent of its branches. Banca Civica shares on Friday closed at €2.22 while CaixaBank, which is worth an estimated €12bn, c...
Federal prosecutors in Rio de Janeiro late on Wednesday filed criminal charges against 17 Chevron and drill rig operator Transocean’s executives and the companies for an oil leak in the Atlantic off the coast of Brazil in November. According to Chevron, the leak was stopped within four days and none of the oil that leaked into the Atlantic actually reached the shore or affected any of the marine life. Chevron has already been fined an estimated $110m for the spill after the $11bn civil lawsuit was brought in November. In a statement the company said: “These charges are outrageous and without merit. Once all the facts are fully examined, t...
China has raised fuel prices for the second time this year as it tries to get to grips with the rising cost of crude oil. Gasoline and diesel are to be subject to 6.4 point and 7 point cost increases respectively. On Monday, China’s primary economic planning institution, the National Development & Reform Commission, announced that the price on both retail fuels would be raised by ¥600 apiece, raising the cost of diesel to ¥9,130 a tonne, and gasoline to ¥9,980. The move represents significant progress in both domestic energy and economic policy, and suggests the political establishment is getting increasingly comfortable with the co...