UNITED STATES

A three year 'mad cow' scare has left japanese consumers, restaurants and retailers weary despite a lifted ban on U.S. beef last week.

Don't be surprised to see the Big Three automakers lower production forecasts for the rest of the year in light of soaring gasoline prices, slowing economic growth, and the sorry state of affairs in the automobile industry.

Core U.S. consumer prices rose 0.2 percent in June, continuing a steady march that has taken the year-on-year rate of nonfood, nonenergy inflation to 2.4 percent, its highest since September 2002, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday.

It has been tremendously successful abroad but now, Cyworld is trying to make a successful landing in Myspace territory.

U.S. health regulators will meet immediately with Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. about the over-the-counter status of the Plan B contraceptive known as the morning-after pill, according to a report on cable network CNBC Monday.

Employees of retail giant Wal-Mart have set up their first trade union in China, a move analysts said on Monday could lead to more unionization in the sector.

Microsoft Corp has submitted documents required by the European Commission in an effort to avoid further fines for breaching an antitrust ruling, a spokeswoman for the European Union regulator said on Monday.

U.S. economic expansion slowed abruptly in the second quarter to less than half the pace at the start of the year, while a key inflation gauge shot up at the fastest rate since 1994, the government said on Friday.

Wendy's International, one of the world's largest restaurant chains, announced its second quarter earnings on Thursday, blaming losses on impairment charges for its Baja Fresh Mexican Grill operation.

Apple Computer strengthened its grip on the digital media market this week, adding three major media sources to its list of iTunes content providers.

After three years of holding out, hard rockers Metallica are now allowing individual song downloads from their albums on Apple's iTunes Music Store.

Motorola Inc. on Friday launched its first online-game-playing mobile phone, picking China for the initiative in a bid to tap into one of the world's top game markets.

Microsoft's might, and cash flow, will go up against Apple's iPod in the digital music and player markets.

Legislation to overhaul the U.S. private pension system suffered another setback on Thursday as key House Republican lawmakers boycotted a negotiating meeting in a fight over whether to keep some $35 billion in tax breaks in the bill.

The health care and information technology industry received the most funding from Venture Capitalists during the 2006 second quarter, according to a new report..

South African agricultural representatives are looking at their own governments to see what can be done in the wake of recently suspended trade talks of the World Trade Organization.

ConocoPhillips, the third largest U.S. oil company, released its earnings for the second quarter of 2006 on Thursday, showing a surge in net profit attributed to the inclusion of the recently acquired Burlington Resources and high oil prices.

At the annual Microsoft analyst conference, the software giant unveiled plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars investing into its new Zune portable music device.

At a spartan hall converted from a closed textile company east of Manila, hundreds of Filipinos milled around small corporate booths looking for work. The longest lines at the job fair were for call center or business process outsourcing firms.

Countries such as India, South Africa and South American Mercosur nations will continue trade negotiations following the indefinite suspension of global trade talks through the World Trade Organization.

The U.S. economy grew overall during June through mid-July but some regions reported slowing activity, and there were scattered reports of rising prices, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday.