A federal judge Wednesday approved legal settlements that will return more than $6.13 billion to investors who suffered losses in the massive WorldCom Inc. accounting fraud.
The deals, approved by U.S. District Judge Denise Cote, will divide payments among approximately 830,000 people and institutions that held stocks or bonds in t

Oracle Corp. CEO Larry Ellison said Wednesday the business software maker probably won't make another major acquisition for at least another year to give the company ample time to assemble all the pieces snapped up during a recent $18 billion shopping spree.
After that respite, Oracle will return to the takeover trail to real

America Online Inc. is switching the vendor it uses to protect its Internet access subscribers from spyware and other malicious threats, a move the company says will mean more comprehensive scans.
A tool powered by Computer Associates International Inc.'s technology replaces one using Aluria Software LLC's. AOL had been considering

BOSTON - What a difference a year and $2.6 billion makes. The renegade cool that once surrounded Skype Technologies SA at past gatherings of the Internet telephone industry has been replaced by mockery and awe at this week's VON show.
Nearly every speech or conversation at the conference that opened Tuesday has turned at least briefly t

Cultural relics preservation, environmental protection and transparency are getting much attention as construction of venues for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games proceeds smoothly, the chief of construction announced yesterday.
The Beijing Municipal Bureau of Cultural Relics has prospected 1.1 million square metres in the construction of

International Business Machines Corp., worried the United States is losing its competitive edge, will financially back employees who want to leave the company to become math and science teachers.
The new program, being announced Friday with city and state education officials, reflects tech industry fears that U.S. students are falling be

Music giants Universal, EMI, Warner, Sony BMG and their local subsidiaries are suing China's largest search engine Baidu for allegedly infringing the copyright of hundreds of songs, the company said.
"We confirm that Baidu is being sued over alleged infringement of music copyright," said Baidu's vice president of marketing, Liang Dong,

DOHA, Qatar, September 16 (Xinhua) -- Houston Rockets center Yao Ming had 27 points and 15 rebounds to give China the biggest-margin win in the history over South Korea by 93-49 on Thursday in the semi-finals of the men's Asian Basketball Championships here.

A travel agency found liable in a traffic collision that left seven people injured and one dead now says its reputation has been damaged and is taking its own legal action against the lawyer of some of the victims.
Last month, the Shanghai Jing'an District People's Court ordered Shanghai CYTS Tour Corporation to pay damages totalling 84

Heart disease, cancer and stroke are now the top killers of middle-aged people in China, fueled by high blood pressure and smoking, which have developed alongside the country's economy, according to one of the largest surveys of its kind. AP reported.
The research into the major causes of death in adults found that over the past 45 years

Laura Bush, addressing a group of her African peers about the    AIDS crisis on their continent, said Thursday that education and compassion were the keys to progress in stopping the spread of the deadly disease.
"Experience teaches us that we can turn the tide on this epidemic," Bush told the opening ceremony

SAN FRANCISCO - A new Google Inc. specialty search engine sifts through the Internet's millions of frequently updated personal journals, a long-anticipated development expected to help propel "blogging" into the cultural mainstream.
The new tool, unveiled Wednesday at http://blogsearch.google.

SEATTLE - Microsoft Corp. and Time Warner Inc. have been discussing potential online partnerships that would help the two companies better compete against rivals Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news), two people familiar with the talks said Thursday.
They two said the discussions have been going on for months and that any poss

More women — particularly those in their late teens and 20s — are experimenting with bisexuality or at least feel more comfortable reporting same-sex encounters, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The survey, released Thursday by the    CDC's National Center for Healt

A Moroccan magistrate questioned an 18-year-old science student in court on Tuesday about his alleged role in unleashing computer worms that disrupted networks across the United States last month.
Farid Essebar appeared before the investigating magistrate in Rabat for three hours of questioning about the Zotob worm, his lawyer said.