The $1.5 billion settlement against Microsoft is only one result of the music format?s tangled history.

Coke Zero is being promoted with an unusual campaign about company executives suing each other.

Contributors to the popular collaborative encyclopedia turned against one of their own who was found to have created an elaborate false identity.

New Internet applications allow shoppers to use their cellphones and PDAs to search the inventory and prices at the local mall.

British Sky Broadcasting withdrew several of its channels from the main cable provider in Britain over a cost disagreement.

Cellphones are now being used to report from the field in Rwanda, enabling health care workers to better track and manage patients.

Brian Williams is the first network news anchor to travel to Baghdad since ABC?s Bob Woodruff was severely injured last year.

Under attack by politicians and trade union leaders, European private equity firms are trying to rescue their reputation.

The Philadelphia Inquirer and its sister paper are giving readers a digest that offers a quick summary of the newspapers.

Microsoft plans to announce a contest to develop the next great digital diversion for the company?s Xbox 360.

For the first time, Nielsen will release long-awaited ratings that tell ad buyers exactly how many people are watching their commercials.

Reuters - China's stock market is too small and has too little foreign participation to be blamed for triggering last week's rout in global share prices, the country's securities regulator said on Monday.

Asian stocks fall heavily as investors prepare for another uncertain week on the global stock markets.

British Airways completes the sale of the regional operations of subsidiary carrier BA Connect to Flybe.

Global stock markets face an uncertain week after the biggest sell-off in more than four years.

Asian and European stocks continue to fall as the global share sell-off enters its second week.

HSBC reports record annual profits of $22bn, even as bad debt from its mortgage business in the US rose.

Rum maker Bacardi expresses an interest in buying the owner of vodka brand Absolut, a report says.

British Airways sells the regional operations of BA Connect to Flybe, and cancels some 900 flights.

British Airways and Virgin Atlantic criticise an 'open skies' deal covering the EU and US airline industry.

Reuters - Shares in British Airways dropped more than 6 percent on Monday after a newspaper report that pilots at its GB Airways unit were voting on industrial action over Easter, traders said.

Reuters - Chrysler Group sales outside North America rose 9 percent in February to 15,194 units, the U.S. arm of DaimlerChrysler (DCXGn.DE) said on Monday.

Reuters - HSBC Holdings posted on Monday a 5 percent rise in 2006 profits, just short of analysts' expectations, as Europe's biggest bank took a $10.6 billion hit for bad debts after problems in its U.S. mortgage lending.

European stocks fall - mirroring heavy losses in Asia - as the global share sell-off powers into its second week.

Irish bookmaker Paddy Power is looking at buying new businesses after its annual profits jumped by 52%.

The company behind the Madame Tussauds and London Eye tourist attractions is bought in a £1bn deal.

Half the councils in England and Wales will miss a deadline to equalise pay between men and women, officials say.

Private firms and charities are to be given a key role in efforts to get people off long-term benefits, Tony Blair says.

US consumer confidence fell more than forecast in February hit by fuel prices and job concerns, figures show.

Reuters - European shares sank to three-month lows on Monday, led by banks and resource stocks, as the global equity sell-off continued to batter investor confidence and the yen hit three-month highs against the dollar.

Reuters - Ford Motor Co . could announce the sale of its Aston Martin luxury performance cars unit for more than 450 million pounds ($865 million) as early as this week, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday.

Reuters - Private equity firm Blackstone said on Monday it was buying Madame Tussauds waxworks owner Tussauds group for 1 billion pounds ($1.92 billion).

AFP - China's economy will continue to race ahead at a near double-digit rate, analysts said Monday, despite a call by Premier Wen Jiabao's for a more controlled pace of development.

AFP - Global banking giant HSBC Holdings announced a a 35.5-percent surge in bad debts during 2006 owing to increased defaults on home loans by high-risk US borrowers.

Markets in Asia and Europe fell again today as investors dumped stocks that had surged in recent weeks.

HSBC reports record annual profits of $22bn, even as bad debt from its mortgage business in the US rose.

Two senior executives in the collapsed Yukos oil empire receive long prison terms for fraudulent trading.

Tony Blair promises more help for the long-term jobless to find work - but demands 'even greater effort' in return.

UK bookmaker William Hill reports a 35% increase in annual profits thanks to stronger betting during the football World Cup.

Reuters - Private equity firm Blackstone said on Monday it was buying Madame Tussauds waxworks owner Tussauds group for 1 billion pounds ($1.92 billion).

On Wall Street, markets opened lower but then stabilized.

A senior US negotiator in the new 'open skies' talks issues a plea for Europeans to understand the deal's potential.

Oil giant BP says it is buying the Dutch manufacturing business of its US-based rival, Chevron, for $900m.

British Airways and Virgin Atlantic criticise an 'open skies' deal covering the EU and US airline industry.

The EU bars most of Pakistan International Airlines' fleet within its airspace due to safety concerns.

Reuters - Private equity firm Blackstone Group is buying the owner of Madame Tussauds waxworks museums for about 1 billion pounds ($1.9 billion) cash, creating the world's second-biggest theme park group behind Walt Disney Co .

Broadcaster ITV is to suspend all premium-rate phone-in competitions pending a review.

Reuters - Jim Balsillie, the co-chief executive of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd., has stepped down as chairman on Monday as the company announced a $250-million earnings restatement relating to mistakes in how it granted stock options in the past.

Reuters - The U.S. service sector grew for the 47th straight month in February, though the rate of expansion moderated more than expected from January's torrid pace and pricing pressures eased, a report showed on Monday.

Reuters - Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. said on Monday that it plans to buy rival grocer Pathmark Stores Inc. for $678.6 million, creating a larger company to compete in the U.S. Northeast.

A computer systems technician secretly taped calls with a reporter for The Times, a spokeswoman said today.

Most big insurers are cutting back coverage in Florida and other coastal states after a string of hurricanes, but one businessman is using a nonprofit model to offer policies for well-off customers.

Research in Motion said it would restate $250 million in results, far more than it originally predicted, after a review of its stock-option grants.

European and Asian markets fall as the global share sell-off hits its second week, although the US Dow Jones index bucks the trend.

The UK economy will grow by 2.9% this year, although interest may need to rise further, the IMF forecasts.

Reuters - The global equity sell-off continued on Monday, driving down the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq stock indexes as concerns about the subprime mortgage lending market aggravated a move away from risky investments.

AFP - Share prices in New York stabilised Monday but elsewhere investor unease persisted, driving down values in Europe and Asia.

As most big insurers cut back coverage, one businessman is using a nonprofit model for well-off customers.

The global stock market slump enters its second week, hitting shares in the US, Europe and Asia.

Green credentials are hailed as the car industry motors into Geneva for its annual jamboree.

The UK economy will grow by 2.9% this year, although interest may need to rise further, the IMF forecasts.

Virgin Media threatens to take legal action against BSkyB if a row between the two sides is not resolved.

Reuters - Jim Balsillie, the co-chief executive of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd., stepped down as chairman on Monday as the company announced a $250-million earnings restatement relating to mistakes in how it granted stock options.

Reuters - U.S. stocks fell on Monday, sending the Nasdaq Composite index down more than 1 percent, amid rising concerns about the subprime mortgage lending market and the diminishing appetite for risk in the latest leg of the global equity sell-off.

Reuters - In a mining market awash with cash and parched for discoveries, there are rock-solid reasons why the junior mining sector should consolidate, but ego and economics could get in the way of such deals.

Reuters - U.S. stocks slid on Monday as a worldwide flight from riskier assets moved into a second week, fed in part by heightened concerns about the flagging health of the subprime mortgage market.

Reuters - Citigroup is set to launch a tender offer for scandal-hit Nikko Cordial Corp. (8603.T), and the Japanese brokerage is considering the bid favorably, a Nikko Cordial spokesman said on Tuesday.

Another big sell-off in Asia and more modest declines in European markets preceded the downturn in the United States.

The Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Bernard J. Ebbers, the former WorldCom chief executive, who was convicted of orchestrating an $11 billion accounting fraud.

With budgets tight, conference planners are feeling squeezed as they try to balance rising food and labor costs with increasingly sophisticated palates.

Alexandra Wallace, a vice president of the news division, will replace John Reiss, and be charged with maintaining the program?s lead in the ratings over ?World News With Charles Gibson? on ABC.

Research in Motion said that a top executive stepped down from one of his posts after the company said it would restate about $250 million in earnings.

Maurice R. Greenberg acted in good faith in selling assets of the Starr Foundation to the companies he controls, according to a report from the foundation.

Initial worries that advertising would annoy airplane passengers have now been allayed, US Airways and its advertising partner say.

The bookseller said it was closing its Internet distribution center in Memphis, eliminating 200 jobs.

The Fremont General Corporation put some of its staff on paid leave ?pending further information? and said it would stop offering subprime mortgages.

The deal will create a 550-store $11 billion supermarket chain, the latest merger in the quickly consolidating grocery industry.

As the price war with Intel continued to take its toll, shares of Advanced Micro Devices fell 23 cents, or 1.6 percent.

Reuters - Google Inc. is spinning off mounds of cash from operations, but Chief Executive Eric Schmidt appeared to rule out seeking big mergers or making other dramatic changes in how the company uses cash.

Investor's Business Daily - Europe's largest bank by market value said its profit rose 5% in '06 to $15.8 bil, while operating income jumped 14% to $70 mil, despite losses in its mortgage operation. HSBC projected it'll take 2-3 years to emerge from problems caused by home-loan defaults. Still, HSBC's CEO rejected claims the bank made unnecessarily risky U.S. loans. 'This is not trailer park lending,' Michael Geoghegan said. 'This is Main Street America.' Shares slid 0.4% to 85.91.

Pressure is growing on Beijing?s financial leaders to tap their foreign exchange reserves for social spending.

The administration has signaled a new willingness to work with Democrats on three pending trade deals, with talk of labor rights guarantees.

Four large radio station owners agreed to pay $12.5 million to resolve claims that they accepted cash in exchange for playing songs.

The Blackstone Group agreed to buy the Tussauds Group, owner of the Madame Tussauds wax museums, for £1 billion ($1.9 billion) in cash.

Two former network heads signed a deal to provide programs across all the company?s television channels.

Patients with a potentially fatal lung condition have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on a drug that was not approved for their disease but was promoted for that use.

A coalition of organizations plans to introduce a marketing campaign comparing the effects of so-called unfair lending practices with the havoc wreaked by natural disasters.

The chairman of a House committee asked two medical device companies and three drug makers for documents as part of an investigation.

Speaking in Geneva, the chief executive of DaimlerChrysler said the all options were open for the Chrysler Group?s financing arm.

February was the 47th consecutive month of business activity growth, according to a trade group, but the pace of expansion has slowed.

Comments suggest that Motorola may stand up to Carl C. Icahn as he presses the chief executive to use $11.2 billion in cash to buy back stock and reward investors.

The judge presiding over a Vioxx personal injury trial in Atlantic City rejected a motion to give one of the two plaintiffs a second chance at winning damages.

Citigroup, the financial giant, is expected to announce an offer to increase its stake in the scandal-tainted Japanese brokerage company the Nikko Cordial Corporation, said a Nikko spokesman, Shigeyuki Teshima. The potential $5 billion deal would mark Citigroup?s resurgence in Japan. Nikko Cordial faces a delisting from the Tokyo stock exchange because of an accounting scandal. According to media reports, the talks are aimed at Citigroup raising its stake in Nikko to above 50 percent, from under 5 percent. A Citigroup spokeswoman, Atsuko Yoshitsugu, declined to comment.

Accor, the hotels group, said it had agreed to sell 72 hotels in Germany and 19 in the Netherlands to Moor Park Real Estate for 863 million euros ($1.1 billion). The Novotel, Mercure, Ibis and Etap Hotel properties involved in the transaction represent a total of 12,000 rooms, the company said. Accor will continue to operate the hotels under 12-year variable-rent leases. Accor said it would use the proceeds to reduce debt.

BP said it had agreed to buy Chevron?s manufacturing company in the Netherlands, Texaco Raffinaderij Pernis, for about $900 million, excluding working capital and hydrocarbon inventory. BP will acquire Chevron?s 31 percent minority shareholding in the Netherlands Refining Company as well as Chevron?s stake in the jointly owned wind farm located at the refinery; shareholdings in the nearby crude oil terminal and storage facility; and a number of associated pipelines. The deal, which is expected to be completed during the first half of the year, would make the refinery a 100 percent BP- owned asset.

HSBC Holdings reported that profit rose 5 percent in 2006 despite losses in its mortgage operation in the United States that had led to the removal of two senior executives. The chief executive, Michael F. Geoghegan, said problem loans would take up to three years to work out. HSBC, which is based in London and operates in Europe, Asia and the Americas, reported net income of $15.79 billion for 2006, up from $15.08 billion in 2005. Loan impairment charges and other risk provisions rose to $10.57 billion, from $7.08 billion, largely because of a 20 percent increase in bad debt charges in the subprime mortgage market in the United States.

The government, goaded by presidential candidates into responding to large job cuts at the airplane maker Airbus, said it was ready to pump cash into the company and shake up a Franco-German power-sharing pact. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin also called on the parent of Airbus, the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company, to abandon paying a dividend this year to its shareholders, which include the French government, after announcing plans to cut 10,000 jobs. Some 4,300 of those jobs are in France. Mr. Villepin, above, said the government stood ready to participate if the holding company decided to tap its shareholders for more cash through a capital increase to shore up a company badly hit by delays to the new Airbus A380 superjumbo airliner. ?The state will play its role,? he said. However, EADS?s biggest private shareholder, the German car company DaimlerChrysler, has battled for years to prevent what it regards as state meddling.

The country?s trade deficit narrowed in January as coal and manufacturing exports rose, signaling that growth may pick up in the Asia-Pacific region?s fifth-largest economy. The trade shortfall narrowed to 876 million Australian dollars ($677 million) from 1.38 billion Australian dollars in December, the Bureau of Statistics reported. Exports rose 2 percent and imports dropped 1 percent. Total exports climbed to 18.12 billion Australian dollars in January. Farm exports like meat, sugar, wheat and wool declined 1 percent. Shipments of nonrural goods, which include minerals, increased 3 percent. Total imports fell to 18.99 billion Australian dollars from December. Imports of intermediate goods, which include fuel, decreased 1 percent.

Reuters - Citigroup is set to launch a tender offer for scandal-hit Japanese brokerage Nikko Cordial Corp., a Nikko spokesman said on Tuesday, a potential $5 billion deal that would mark Citigroup's resurgence in Japan.