Three executives at Samsung Electronics have agreed to plead guilty on charges of conspiring to fix the price of computer memory chips.
The three men each agreed to serve terms of between seven and eight months in prison and to each pay a fine of $250,000 (£143,000).
The long-running US government probe has resulted in more than $731m in fines against 12 people and four firms
Manufacturers of some of the world’s most glamorous perfume and cosmetics brands were fined by French competition authorities yesterday after it was ruled that the companies had colluded to keep prices high at the expense of the consumer.
Thirteen iconic brands, including Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Dior and Guerlain, and three leading French retailers were fined almost £32 million between them for inflating prices between 1997 and 2000.
The French competition council said that under the price-fixing arrangement, a “price police” was set up between them to artificially inflate prices, put pressure on individual vendors and threaten reprisals against those that refused to apply the prices set by the perfume and cosmetic brands
Microsoft’s efforts to comply with the European Commission’s anti-competition ruling are “entirely inadequate”, Brussels has warned.
The Commission said it would impose fines of up to 2m euros (£1.4m) a day if the firm continued to drag its feet
Coca-Cola warned the British education secretary it might withdraw its vending machines network from schools over her ban on “junk food”, letters show.
The company told her last November that the proposed ending of fizzy drinks sales would make the business unviable.
It said schools would lose money and pupils would suffer from the removal of such “a highly efficient country-wide beverage distribution system”
The US Department of Justice is investigating allegations of price fixing by top music labels on their charges for digital downloading.
The inquiry mirrors an ongoing probe by New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer into what the industry charges firms such as Apple to sell music online.
Labels have been at loggerheads with Apple over what it charges for tracks sold through its iTunes online service
Insurance broker Xsavi has had its permission to trade cancelled by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).
The broker, which is now insolvent, sold travel insurance to 2,000 consumers without having an underwriter in place.
As a result, consumers travelled abroad unaware that if something went wrong they could have been left in the lurch
Iraq has suspended business dealings with Australia’s monopoly wheat exporter AWB, the company has said.
The suspension will remain in force until the completion of an inquiry into allegations that the firm paid bribes to the former regime of Saddam Hussein.
“AWB is disappointed by the decision,” said chairman Brendan Stewart
Meat from whales caught under Japan’s “research” programme is so abundant that it is being sold as pet food, according to a UK conservation group.
Thousands of tonnes of whale meat has been stockpiled as more animals are killed each year, says the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS).
The Japanese government has attempted to sell the whale meat to schools but the price has continued to fall
Supermarket giant Asda discriminated against trade union members, an employment tribunal has ruled.
Workers at a depot in Washington, Tyne and Wear, had voted against a move to bring their conditions in line with non-union workers at a similar depot.
The company was found to be in breach of trade union legislation and faces paying out £850,000 in total – up to £2,500 to each of the 340 workers
The internet giant Yahoo has been accused of providing China with information that led to the jailing of a second internet writer.
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders claims that Yahoo released data which led to the arrest of Li Zhi.
The online writer was jailed for eight years in 2003, after posting comments that criticised official corruption