Finance news. My opinion.

PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA—After months of threatening to wage a nuclear war, North Korea did an about-face Sunday and issued a surprise proposal to the United States, its No. 1 enemy: Let’s talk.

But the invitation from North Korea’s National Defence Commission, the powerful governing body led by leader Kim Jong Un, comes with caveats: No preconditions and no demands that Pyongyang give up its prized nuclear assets unless Washington is willing to do the same — ground rules that make it hard for the Americans to accept.

Washington responded by saying that it is open to talks — but only if North Korea shows it will comply with UN Security Council resolutions and live up to its international obligations.

“As we have made clear, our desire is to have credible negotiations with the North Koreans, but those talks must involve North Korea living up to its obligations to the world, including compliance with UN Security Council resolutions, and ultimately result in denuclearization,” U.S. National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said in a statement. “We will judge North Korea by its actions, and not its words and look forward to seeing steps that show North Korea is ready to abide by its commitments and obligations.”

North Korea’s call for “senior-level” talks between the Korean War foes signals a shift in policy in Pyongyang after months of acrimony.

Pyongyang ramped up the anti-American rhetoric early this year after its launch of a long-range rocket in December and a nuclear test in February drew tightened UN and U.S. sanctions. Posters went up across the North Korean capital calling on citizens to “wipe away the American imperialist aggressors,” slogans that hadn’t been seen on city streets in years.

The U.S. and ally South Korea countered the provocations and threats by stepping up annual springtime military exercises, which prompted North Korea to warn of a “nuclear war” on the Korean Peninsula.

Related stories in thestar.com:

North Korea warns South Korea of ‘state of war’

North Korea nuclear test ‘indication’ comment causes confusion

North Korea urges foreigners to leave South Korea

North Korea vows ‘sledgehammer blows’ if South Korea doesn’t apologize for protests

But as tensions began subsiding in May and June, Pyongyang began making tentative, if unsuccessful, overtures to re-establish dialogue with Seoul and Washington.

Earlier this month, it proposed high-level talks with South Korea — the first in six years online payday loans. But plans for two days of meetings last week in Seoul dramatically fell apart even before they began amid bickering over who would lead the two delegations.

.

.

For Washington, there will be no talks just for talks’ sake, officials say.

Speaking on CBS television’s “Face the Nation” show Sunday, President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, Denis McDonough, said Washington has been “quite clear” that officials support dialogue and have engaged Pyongyang in talks in the past.

But “those talks have to be real. They have to be based on them living up to their obligations, to include on proliferation, on nuclear weapons, on smuggling and other things,” he said. “And so we’ll judge them by their actions, not by the nice words that we heard yesterday.”

He said smooth talk will not help Pyongyang evade UN sanctions supported by Moscow and Beijing, North Korea’s two traditional allies. UN Security Council resolutions ban North Korea from developing its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Earlier this year, Kim Jong Un enshrined the drive to build a nuclear arsenal, as well as expand the economy, in North Korea’s constitution. Pyongyang, estimated to have a handful of crude nuclear devices, says it needs to build atomic weapons to defend itself against what it sees as a U.S. nuclear threat in Korea and the region.

The National Defence Commission reiterated its refusal to give up its nuclear ambitions until the entire Korean Peninsula is free of nuclear weapons, a spokesman said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency.

“The denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula does not only mean ‘dismantling the nuclear weapons of the North’” but also should involve “denuclearizing the whole peninsula, including South Korea, and aims at totally ending the U.S. nuclear threats” to North Korea, the spokesman said.

The U.S. denies having nuclear bombs in South Korea, saying they were removed in 1991. However, the U.S. military keeps nuclear submarines in the region and has deployed them for military exercises with South Korea.

Source

Looking for health insurance? Find a variety of affordable medical insurance plans.

Central Bank Governor Graeme Wheeler

The team at Payday Loan Company is ready to tell anyone yes for a payday loans or cash advance for up to $1000 cash.

Follow Brendan Kennedy’s updates and check out photos from tonight’s series opener.

Source

In the weeks after a devastating storm, an entrepreneur must manage desperate employees, needy customers and hawkish vendors — even if their workplace has been reduced to rubble.

Small business owners in Oklahoma are facing that now. An EF5 tornado tore through the town of Moore on May 20, killing 24 and destroying nearly 5,000 buildings.

They were still clearing the rubble Friday when another slew of twisters touched down just north of them, snaking through Oklahoma City and killing more than a dozen people.

Business insurance plays a key role to funding a recovery. But as other storm survivors can attest, small businesses can’t assume insurers will provide cash quickly. And even then, it’s a fraction of the solution.

Lean on fellow entrepreneurs: Information technician John Motazedi’s company, SNC², was annihilated by the 2011 multiple-vortex Joplin tornado.

But he couldn’t waste any time getting back on his feet. Close to 50 local physicians relied on Motazedi for computer services, and fierce winds had razed the town’s medical district, leveling the doctors’ offices when Joplin needed them most.

Without access to digitized files, they couldn’t properly care for hurt patients or verify prescriptions.

Motazedi called for outside help: owners of similar IT companies in nearby states. Three executives showed up the next day.

“You’ve got to bring people in to help you. You need people there to watch your back,” Motazedi said.

One CEO called suppliers and pleaded for emergency shipments of computer parts and software. Another managed cash flow. A third took on the role of Motazedi’s administrative assistant. Together, they all managed the additional 20 engineers who showed up as volunteers.

Also, Motazedi’s usual 9-to-5 job became a 24-hour operation, one he couldn’t handle alone.

“I knew that in three days I was going to be worthless,” he said. “I’d be too exhausted, sleepy, hungry to think right. People who don’t sleep don’t make good decisions. We could not screw up. It was people’s lives, records.”

Stay connected: Jennifer Walzer’s company was in a similar bind last year. BUMI helps companies salvage lost computer data payday loan lenders. When Superstorm Sandy slammed New York last year, much of lower Manhattan remained without power for days.

Several of her clients were knocked offline, but so was she. The bottom floors of her building were flooded by 35 feet of seawater. Crippled corporate clients had to rely on BUMI’s eight scattered employees.

Without asking, her operations manager immediately bought special mobile office phones and FedExed them to every employee’s home. That initiative proved crucial, Walzer said. All were able to stay in touch, and it even allowed her company to field outside calls and gain new customers.

Remember that business might take a back seat: In some cases, an entrepreneur’s role in a community trumps business altogether.

Mark Shuman was at Wal-Mart with his six-year-old daughter Sophia when the May 20 tornado barreled toward his Van’s Pig Stands restaurant in Moore, Okla. Fearing for his two employees there — including his 22-year-old daughter Samantha — he ran outside to his white Ford F-250 pickup truck.

Shuman drove as far as he could, but with debris blocking roads, he ditched the truck. He bolted for the restaurant a few blocks away with Sophia in his arms, covering her eyes to shield her from the carnage.

Samantha and his store manager appeared in the distance.

“We got the money!” she yelled.

“I’m not worried about the money!” he told her.

In actuality, he needs the cash badly. After paying $26,000 in payroll and bills this month, Shuman said there will only be $1,000 left in his bank account. All of his employees are now jobless, and two lost their homes.

Instead of immediately starting to rebuild, the Shuman couple has focused on volunteering at church, serving food to Moore’s tormented residents and consoling parents who lost their children.

“It’s been a rough week and a half,” Shuman said last week. “We haven’t been the ones really affected. The ones that were lost their houses, jobs, lives. We consider ourselves pretty blessed to have just lost the business.”

Source

SOUTH MILWAUKEE, Wis. • Caterpillar Inc. has reached a tentative contract agreement with the Steelworkers union representing about 800 employees at the company’s South Milwaukee plant.

Union members will meet with their negotiating committee on June 9 to review the proposed contract. United Steelworkers Local 1343 says the committee unanimously recommended the proposal for ratification. Ballots will be cast June 11.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports details of the agreement were not immediately available Friday.

Earlier this month, the union rejected a proposed contract that would have frozen wages and pensions quick pay day loan. The rejected proposal also would have allowed Caterpillar, based in Peoria, Ill., to idle portions of the mining equipment factory for temporary periods.

Union members continue to work under their contact that expired April 30.

Source

The Illinois House passed legislation Thursday evening that would regulate horizontal hydraulic fracturing in the state in a 108 to 9 vote.

The legislation now moves to the Senate, the final hurdle for the bill before it reaches Gov. Pat Quinn, who urged the Senate to send the bill to his desk “as soon as possible.”

“Today’s passage of hydraulic fracturing legislation in the House brings good news for jobs, economic development and environmental protection in Illinois. This legislation will unlock the potential for thousands of jobs in Southern Illinois, while ensuring that our state has the nation’s strongest environmental protections in place for this industry,” Quinn said.

Fracking is an energy drilling process that uses large amounts of fluid under high-pressure to force to the surface oil and gas that is trapped under the ground.

Under the legislation companies who wish to “frack” for oil and gas in Illinois will be subjected to some of the toughest disclosure laws in the country.

The state is preparing itself for a potential oil boom. Proponents say fracking will bring jobs, tax dollars and investment to parts of the state that desperately need them and that the drilling can be done safely.

Energy companies have leases on land that is more than triple the size of Chicago, hoping that fracking technology can unleash billions of dollars worth of oil trapped beneath southern Illinois in the New Albany shale formation. Most said they were waiting to invest in drilling operations here until regulations were known.

The Natural Resources Defense Council disclosed evidence this week that at least one energy firm already has engaged in fracking in Illinois.

Until the law is signed, there is no requirement to disclose the practice, which uses massive amount of sand, chemicals and water to force out oil and gas from where it is trapped in rock.

Under new regulations which would take effect as soon as Quinn signs them into law, companies who wish to frack for oil or gas âE” defined as the high-pressure injection of 80,000 gallons of fracking fluid or more to force out oil or gas from where it is trapped in rock âE” must disclose a wealth of new information to the public, which has the opportunity to appeal permits and launch lawsuits against energy firms who attempt to skirt the law.

Environmental groups who helped hash out the bill say they would have preferred a moratorium on fracking.

The law does not allow for decision-making on fracking issues by counties, which has ruffled some feathers in southern Illinois because fracking is expected to occur in mostly unincorporated areas. And while the law would impose new taxes on oil drillers, most tax dollars wouldn’t reach communities until at least a year after drilling begins, according to an analysis performed for the Tribune. What’s more, rural communities with fracking operations would receive fewer taxes than would flow into the state’s coffers.

Source

Mining companies in Australia plan increased investment next financial year, prompting traders to scale back bets the Reserve Bank of Australia will cut its record-low benchmark interest rate again next week.

Australian businesses predicted investment of A$156.5 billion ($151.3 billion) in 2013-14, which was 3.4 percent higher than their estimate three months earlier, the Bureau of Statistics said in Sydney today. Mining investment in 2013-14 is projected at A$101.9 billion, versus A$99.2 billion three months earlier. A separate report showed building approvals surged 9.1 percent in April from a month earlier.

The Australian dollar rose and swaps markets showed declining bets RBA Governor Glenn Stevens will next week add to his 2 percentage point reduction in the cash rate over the past 19 months. The government last week said the resources-investment boom may be at its peak as A$150 billion of projects have been scrapped or delayed.

Air Canada’s new discount airline Rouge is calling in the gurus of customer service: Mickey and Minnie.

Rouge has hired the training arm of Walt Disney Co. to teach all of Rouge’s flight attendants the secrets of good customer service, with the hope of bringing some of that famed Disney magic to the skies.

Or as Disney trainers like to put it — make sure people “always reach just a little higher.”

According to a memo sent to the trainees on Sunday, obtained by the Star, the first group of 150 candidates will head to Florida next month for hands-on training at the Disney Institute. They’ll hone their skills and techniques at Disney World parks in Orlando.

“We looked at several top customer service providers,” writes Annette Anand, director of Rouge’s inflight service. “(Disney) was the most comprehensive and in line with our vision for creating a very different and service-focused culture.”

The fact that Disney’s visitors include children and families plus adults of all ages helped tip the choice, given Rouge expects to draw mostly leisure travellers, heading to Europe and sun destinations, beginning in July.

As part of an agreement, Rouge flight attendants are being asked to cover a portion of the training costs. They must commit to having $49 a month deducted from their gross wages for up to three years.

If they leave within 36 months of completing the training, they will required to pay back any remaining amount owed.

“We’re making a significant investment and in asking to you to cover a small portion of the incidental cost, you’re also investing in your future,” Anand writes.

Wages at Rouge will be lower than other airlines. Flight attendants will earn $22.99 an hour with a minimum of 75 hours a month.

Source

HAVANA- The trial of a Canadian businessman who has confessed to bribing Cuban officials began on Thursday, almost two years after his arrest in a sweeping government crackdown on corruption.

Canadian ambassador to attend Cuban trial

The closed trial of 53-year-old Sarkis Yacoubian, originally from Armenia and the owner of import firm Tri-Star Caribbean, was expected to last two days. An associate of Yacoubian, Lebanese citizen Krikor Bayassalian, is a co-defendant.

Canadian businessman faces 12-year sentence

The two men were brought into the courthouse, once a large home in Havana’s 10th of October neighborhood, out of sight of the press, which was not allowed in to cover the proceedings.

Canada’s ambassador to Cuba, Matthew Levin, did not speak to reporters as he walked in the front gate.

The corruption trials of at least three other Canadian and British executives who were arrested shortly after Yacoubian was taken into custody in July 2011 are expected to follow.

The arrests were unprecedented for Cuba, where foreign businessmen suspected of corruption are usually deported, and are viewed as a measure of President Raul Castro’s determination to clean up a vice he views as a threat to Cuba’s socialist system.

They sent shockwaves through Cuba’s small foreign business community where the companies involved were among the most visible players.

Cuba’s state-run media, however, has not yet reported the Yacoubian trial, nor mentioned the arrests and crackdown on foreign trade.

After his arrest, Yacoubian quickly cooperated with prosecutors, confessing to bribery and implicating other foreign firms, which sparked an investigation into the communist-run country’s import business.

Within months, dozens of Cuban officials and state purchasers were behind bars.

“I tried to explain to them (investigators) systematically how things could be done,” Yacoubian told the Toronto Star last week in his only interview from jail.

“I gave them drawings, designs. I gave them names, people, how they do it, why, when, where, what,” he said.

Yacoubian was expected to plead guilty to bribery, tax evasion and other crimes and could face a sentence of up to 12 years behind bars, the newspaper said. Bayassalian faces the same charges.

In September 2011, two months after Tri-Star Caribbean was shuttered, Canada-based Tokmakjian Group, one of the most important Western trading firms in Cuba, was closed and its 73-year-old head, Cy Tokmakjian, also originally from Armenia and a Canadian citizen, was taken into custody.

Yacoubian had worked for Tokmakjian before founding Tri-Star to compete with his former employer in what became a bitter rivalry for Cuba’s automobile, motorized and heavy equipment market.

In October 2011, police also closed the Havana offices of the British investment and trading firm Coral Capital Group Ltd and arrested chief executive Amado Fakhre, a Lebanese-born British citizen.

Two months later police raided the offices of the powerful military-run Tecnotex trading company, taking its Cuban chief executive Fernando Noy away in handcuffs.

Coral Capital’s chief operating officer, Stephen Purvis, was arrested in March 2012. Purvis is a British citizen.

A number of other foreigners and Cubans who worked for the companies remain free but cannot leave the island because they are considered witnesses in the cases.

Cuban officials and lawyers for the defendants could not be reached for comment.

Soon after taking over for his ailing brother, Fidel, in 2008, President Castro established the comptroller general’s office with a seat on the ruling Council of State, even as he began implementing market-oriented economic reforms.

The measure marked the start of the anti-corruption campaign that uncovered high-level graft in several main areas, from the cigar, nickel and communications industries, to food processing and civil aviation.

But foreign and Cuban businessmen say the foreign trade sector, which manages billions in purchases annually and is monopolized by a handful of state firms, is perhaps the most vulnerable to corruption.

There is no open bidding in Cuba’s international trade sector and state purchasers who handle multimillion-dollar contracts earn just $50 to $100 per month.

“You have people who do not make enough money to care for their families handing huge contracts. What do you expect?” a local state administration specialist said on condition of anonymity.

“The trial, like the arrests, is aimed more at scaring Cubans then foreigners, but will prove only symbolic if the surrounding conditions do not change,” he said.

Transparency International, considered the world’s leading anti-graft watchdog, last rated Cuba 58 out of 178 countries in terms of tackling corruption, ahead of all but eight of 33 nations in Latin America and the Caribbean.

A video, shown to high-level Communist Party cadres in early 2012, featured Yacoubian’s confession, according to sources familiar with the film.

Called “Metastasis,” it opened with footage of Raul Castro warning that corruption must be kept at one’s ankles and never be allowed to rise above one’s nose. It closed with Castro characterizing corruption as a threat to national security.

In the video, Yacoubian confessed to passing packets of money to Cuban officials visiting Canada when he worked for the Tokmakjian Group, then continuing the same practice after he founded Tri-Star Caribbean.

The video also featured the confessions of the top Cuban employees of the Canadian firms, a deputy minister of basic industry and others.

Source

The TechCrunch report, which cites leaked internal documents, says Microsoft is thinking about a $1 billion buyout of the Nook e-reader, tablet and e-book business. Barnes & Noble’s stock jumped to end the day up 24%.

, Fortune 500) and , Fortune 500) both declined to comment on the report.

Microsoft has already proven its interest in Nook: In April 2012, Microsoft spent $300 million on a nearly 18% stake in the business. British book publisher ) bought a 5% stake for $90 million in December.

Amid these investments, the long-term view of Nook’s future has been up in the air for quite some time. Barnes & Noble said in January 2012 that it was considering spinning off the Nook.

In early 2013, Barnes & Noble chairman Leonard Riggio — the company’s largest shareholder — disclosed a plan to buy the company’s stores and leave the Nook business as a separate company.

Barnes & Noble, like other traditional book retailers, struggles to compete with , Fortune 500). The bookseller has been unable to keep up with Amazon’s successful Kindle e-reader as well: Nook sales have disappointed for several quarters, despite major device upgrades like the Nook HD release this past September.

The new Nook HD product line features much crisper screen resolution than previous versions, a video streaming service and a nine-inch tablet size no teletrack payday loans.

Despite high hopes that the Nook HD would create a strong holiday boost, Barnes & Noble reported surprisingly weak Nook sales during the 2012 holiday season. Tablet and e-reader sales fell 12.6% over the year to just $300 million during that crucial sales period. Nook sales in particular “fell short of the company’s expectations,” the company said.

For now, the company is continuing to upgrade its tablet lineup in an attempt to lure in new customers. Last week, Barnes & Noble announced it’s adding the , Fortune 500) Play app store to the Nook HD line.

But according to TechCrunch, Nook plans to exit the Android-based tablet business entirely by the end of its fiscal 2014. Instead, Nook e-books would merely be available through apps on third-party devices. It’s unclear whether that would include only Microsoft devices, or other manufacturers as well.

Clearly, the Nook HD line didn’t pull Barnes & Noble out of the doldrums. But a $1 billion check could be the bookseller’s saving grace.

Source