ANCHORAGE, Alaska » One Royal Dutch Shell offshore drill rig is headed to Alaska and a second is poised to leave, despite lacking final federal permits that would allow exploratory drilling and possible confirmation of rich oil reserves under the Chukchi Sea.
A spokesman for Royal Dutch Shell PLC said that’s routine. But an attorney for Oceana, one of dozens of groups objecting to Arctic offshore drilling, said seeing Shell’s flotilla sail north puts pressure on federal agencies to sign off on the permits.
Ford truck brake part under federal review
DETROIT » U.S. safety regulators are investigating complaints that the power brake assist can fail on some Ford F-150 pickup trucks. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says the probe covers about 250,000 pickups from the 2011 and 2012 model years with 3.5-liter six-cylinder turbocharged engines.
The agency says in documents posted on its website Friday that it has 32 complaints alleging that electric vacuum assist pumps can fail, causing loss of power brakes and increased braking effort in traffic. Two crashes were reported but no injuries.
New technology emerges at CE Week show
NEW YORK » Imagine staring deep into the foam of your favorite espresso drink and seeing a face looking back at you. Or how about using the charge in your fingers to clean your teeth? At the CE Week gadget show in New York this week, there were several standouts amid the sea of smartphone chargers and 3-D printers. Some are set to hit stores near you in the not-too-distant future.
Uber stands firm amid French crackdown
PARIS » France’s president wants Uber’s cheapest car service shut down and its vehicles seized, but Uber refuses to stop the service until a ruling by the country’s top court.
The standoff, and a violence-marred taxi strike that upended Paris travel, reflects larger tensions in France over how to regulate fast-moving technology and stay globally competitive while ensuring labor protections.
France’s top security official, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, said Friday that Uber is facing multiple investigations. He spoke to RTL radio a day after striking taxi drivers attacked Uber livery cars and set fire to tires on a major artery around Paris.
Recent economic indicators mixed for Japan
TOKYO » The state of Japan’s economic recovery remains murky, with inflation still nearly flat in May despite unprecedented monetary stimulus, though joblessness was flat at 3.3 percent and household spending rose for the first time in over a year. The data released Friday followed relatively weak indicators recently that have showed softening demand and slowing industrial production. Economists say the world’s third-largest economy slowed or possibly contracted in the April-June quarter.
Stock pickers rally amid index-fund surge
CHICAGO » Is it worth it to pay a stock picker when index mutual funds are so cheap?
More investors are saying no, and billions of dollars are jumping onto the index-fund bandwagon by the month. Billions are leaving actively managed mutual funds at the same time. It was against that backdrop that several high-profile stock pickers made their case at the Morningstar Investment Conference in Chicago this week. Two of the conference’s main discussion panels addressed whether stock picking is dead, as Morningstar released a report showing that the majority of actively managed stock funds fall short of index-fund peers.
ON THE MOVE
Honolulu HomeLoans has announced that Anders Hostelley has been elected to the board of directors as well as been promoted to chief executive officer of HHL. He has more than 20 years of local mortgage industry experience, including serving as branch manager of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage of Hawaii at its Honolulu and Kauai branches.
Bank of Hawaii has announced the following new promotions:
» Jianna Chew to vice president and senior trust officer from assistant vice president and wealth adviser in Institutional Services. She started with the bank in 2011 with the Personal Trust department, specializing in IRA account administration. Prior to that, Chew served as a research associate for TianRun New Energy Investment Co. in Beijing.
» Sikuka Faleafine to vice president from assistant vice president at the Mapunapuna branch. Faleafine has more than 25 years of experience with Bank of Hawaii, including serving as a teller at the university branch and as an assistant service manager at the Ala Moana branch.
