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FINANCIAL SCANDAL

Former Vivendi boss makes New York court appearance

Former Vivendi Universal head Jean-Marie Messier appeared before a New York court Friday for his alleged role in deceiving about one million shareholders about the state of the company’s finances between 2000 and 2002.

JAPAN

Tokyo confirm economy is in deflation for the first time since 2006

Japan's government has officially announced the country is in a deflation period expressing fears that it could harms the recovery process. The Bank of Japan has decided to keep interest rates at its lowest level.

IT INDUSTRY

Public gets first look at Google's Chrome OS

Internet giant Google has for the first time showed how its long-awaited operating system, Chrome OS, will work. The 100% cloud computing system will run on netbooks as soon as 2010.

Google vs Microsoft

INTERNET

Microsoft equips Bing with visual search
INTERNET

Web heavyweights join anti-Google 'Open Book Alliance'
INTERNET

Google gives search engine a 'Caffeine' boost
TECHNOLOGY

Google post second quarter profits of 1.48 billion dollars
MICROSOFT

Bing reports 8% increase in users
SOFTWARE

Google platform to challenge Windows dominance
FACE OFF

Can anyone challenge Google?
INTERNET

Microsoft unleashes Bing to counter Google
THE BUSINESS INTERVIEW

Jean-Philippe Courtois, President of Microsoft International

AFP

Volkswagen board approves Porsche takeover: firm

Volkswagen, Europe's biggest carmaker, said on Friday that its supervisory board had cleared the way for its planned takeover of sportscar maker Porsche.The German giant said in a statement that its supervisory board had approved on Thursday ...

AVIATION

Air France A380, world's largest civilian aircraft, set for transatlantic debut

Shortly before noon Friday, an Air France A380, the world's largest civilian airliner, will take off from Paris for New York on its first transatlantic flight with 538 passengers on board.

AFP

eBay completes Skype sale

Online auction giant eBay announced it had completed its sale of Skype to an investment group that includes the two founders of the Web communications company.The previously announced sale of a 70 percent stake in Skype for some two billion dollars ...

DIPLOMACY

Putin says compromise gas deal reached with Ukraine

Speaking after talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko late Thursday, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said the two countries had reached a compromise deal on the thorny issue of gas supply.

ECONOMIC CRISIS

World economy is recovering but unsteadily, says OECD

The OECD has announced that the world economy should grow almost 2 percent in 2010, but said the recovery was uneven, unsteady and unpredictable.

AFP

AOL to shed 2,500 jobs in spinoff from Time Warner

AOL will cuts some 2,500 jobs, or one-third or its workforce, under the plan to spin off the Internet firm from media giant Time Warner, company officials said Thursday.The cuts are part of a plan to save 300 million dollars at AOL, which is to ...

FRANCE

Govt report calls for 35 billion euro spending plan to boost economy

Former prime ministers Michel Rocard and Alain Juppé (right and left of photo) have handed the president a long-awaited report on the post-credit crisis economy. Its conclusion is proving controversial, with many baulking at the 35 billion euro bill.

IRAQ

President in favour of France's Total working in its oilfields

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani told business leaders in Paris Wednesday that he wanted to see the French energy giant Total working in his country's oil fields. A senior Total executive confirmed that the company is preparing bids.

AFP

Europe's top airline Air France-KLM posts loss

Air France-KLM, Europe's biggest airline, on Wednesday posted a loss of 147 million euros (220 million dollars) in the second quarter of its fiscal year as the crisis continues to hit air travel. "Unit revenues continue to be impacted by the ...

AFP

Chocolate groups Hershey, Ferrero eye Cadbury

US chocolate maker Hershey and Ferrero of Italy said on Wednesday they were mulling a potential counter-bid for British confectioner Cadbury, the object of a hostile offer from Kraft Foods.The news could remould the chocolate-making sector with a ...

AUTO INDUSTRY

GM to shed thousands of jobs in European restructuring

Having scrapped plans to sell its European division Opel/Vauxhall, General Motors says it could cut up to 10,000 jobs as part of plans to slash production in Europe by between 20 and 25 percent.

AFP

Delta offers JAL billion-dollar financial lifeline

Japan Airlines was offered a billion-dollar financial lifeline Wednesday from Delta Air Lines and its SkyTeam alliance partners, as Tokyo refused to rule out allowing the carrier going bankrupt.Delta said the rescue package on the table included a ...

AFP

China Mobile says still in iPhone talks with Apple

China Mobile, the country's largest mobile operator, said Wednesday it is still in negotiations with Apple over the sale of iPhones in China."We really are still in talks with Apple...In our negotiations in the past, we insisted on sticking to our ...

AFP

Bing gains search market share, nears 10 percent

Microsoft's new Internet search engine Bing increased its share of the US search market in October, edging up half-a-point to nearly 10 percent, online tracking firm comScore said Tuesday.It was the fifth month in a row of modest gains in search ...

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