BUSINESS

On June 20 Microsoft officially unveiled its Windows Phone 8, which will be closely tied to its upcoming Windows 8 operating system. The new mobile device is expected to launch this fall along with the new Windows software for tablets and PCs.

Uruguay's government may begin selling marijuana if a bill proposing the tactic as a means to fight crime passes the legislature

Natalee Holloway's mother has filed a lawsuit against The National Enquirer that claims the tabloid published untrue stories to profit from her daughter's 2005 disappearance in Aruba. According to the Associated Press, the lawsuit filed by Beth Holloway on Wednesday, June 20, claims that the magazine and its publisher, American Media Inc., published false headlines, articles and statements for nearly seven years.

Lanai, Hawaii, was once known as the pineapple capital of the world. Then the pineapple plantations became four-star resorts. What's next? That's up to the new owner: American billionaire Larry Ellison.

A new technology allows for musicians to create music in real time.

Spain's banks would need between 51 billion and 62 billion euros ($64-78 billion) in extra capital to weather a serious downturn of the economy and new losses on their books, two independent audits of the sector showed on Thursday.

The Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) says it's talking to Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) about an official response to reports employees have been refusing to sell iPads and products to customers speaking Farsi, the Iranian national language.

Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), the world's biggest software company, has won major support from smartphone makers led by Samsung Electronics (Seoul: 005930) to battle Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), the world's most valuable technology company.

Prosecutors asked an Oslo court on Thursday to declare Norwegian mass murder Anders Behring Breivik insane.

One of Microsoft?s major highlights from E3 2012 was the introduction of its newest project Smart Glass. The company has just revealed that the first title to be compatible with this feature is the Xbox Live Arcade baseball title ?Homerun Stars.?

Where else to go when markets in North America and Europe are stagnating?

Don't expect fugitives in Bergen County, N.J., to like the county sheriff office's Facecrook site set up to apprehend them. The Facecrook site is the brainchild of Bergen County Sheriff Office Inspector Mickey Bradley, who told the Bergen Record that he believes Facecrook is the first site of its kind in the country. Bradley bought the domain, facecrook.us, for $17 about a year ago.

Japan's gaping trade shortfall with the EU could exacerbate its fiscal woes by worsening its debt situation and subjecting Japanese government bonds to rising yields in the face of mounting market fears and increasing skepticism among U.S investors.

To that end, Hollande wants to slap a 75 percent tax rate on those Frenchmen earning in excess of ?1 million per year.

Chinese market regulators announced Thursday they could be easing the rules that currently allow only a small group of foreign banks to invest in the national equity and bond markets, a move that is seen as part of a wider campaign to open the country's financial system to global competition. Whether by design or by coincidence, however, the move also takes a tremendous amount of pressure off the country's central bankers, who are between a rock and a hard place in deciding whether or n......

Yesterday the Fed announced that they will extend their yield curve 'twisting'

Advanced readings for German flash PMI came in at 44.7 versus a consensus of 45.2 while the euro zone services came in slightly better than expected at 46.8 versus 46.4

Manufacturing has been one of the few bright spots of the otherwise frail U.S. economic recovery, but Markit said weaker overseas demand could be starting to slow hiring in the sector. U.S. manufacturing grew in June at the slowest pace in almost a year and hiring in the sector also slowed.

U.S. sales of existing homes fell 1.5 percent to an annual rate of 4.55 million units due to low inventory, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday, missing expectations and raising doubts about a housing recovery.

A listing on the German division of online retailer Amazon has indicated a Dec. 21 release date for Nintendo?s Wii U console. However, this could just be a placeholder for the European launch of the Wii U, according to Game Informer.

It may not be the sexiest feature, but it may be one of the most rumored. Although Apple doesn't discuss product pre-releases, several tech sites claim that Apple has built smaller dock connectors for its new phone, dubbed the iPhone 5, by some. TechCrunch is the latest to report on the mini dock connector, but the first to confirm it.

U.S. 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell to a new record low of 3.66 percent following weak economic indicators, mortgage financier Freddie Mac said Thursday.

Greek officials will present the proposed revisions at a euro zone finance ministers' meeting in Luxembourg on Thursday.

Expectations for U.S. company earnings are on a slippery slope down Wall Street. While the downward slide in estimates highlights the caution analysts and companies are expressing, investors should also be aware that companies are setting lower goals so that they can look better or be able to ?beat estimates? when the results come out.

First-time claims for jobless benefits in the U.S. fell by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 387,000 in the week ended June 16, Labor Department said Thursday, but the overall level still shows a weak labor market.

Rumors about Apple ditching the current 30-pin dock connector in favor of something smaller are nothing new. Reports surfaced last month suggesting that Apple would bring the change to its upcoming iPhone iteration, presumably called the iPhone 5.

Larry Ellison, the CEO of software giant Oracle, is said to have paid between $500 million and $600 million for the 141 square mile Pineapple island.

Onyx Pharmaceuticals, QuinStreet, Molycorp, EZchip Semiconductor, Red Hat, Ampio Pharmaceuticals, Mechel OAO, Chimera Investment and Nokia Corp. are among the companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trading Thursday.

The U.S. State Department has released a new report on human trafficking around the world and estimates that about 21 million people are directly victimized by the criminal practice.