A leading US digital rights campaign group has warned against using Google software which lets people organise and find information on their computers.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation said the latest version of Google Desktop posed a risk to privacy.
This is because a feature in the software lets Google keep personal data on its servers for up to 30 days
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
Insurance giant American International Group has agreed to pay more than $1.6bn (£920m) to settle state and federal charges of accounting abuses.
Under the settlement, AIG also agreed to change the way it carries out its business to ensure proper accounting practices in the future
A former CIA official has accused the Bush administration of “cherry-picking” its intelligence on Iraq before the 2003 invasion.
Paul Pillar writes in the Foreign Affairs journal that the White House used the intelligence to justify a decision it had already reached.
Mr Pillar was the national intelligence officer for the Near East and South Asia from 2000 to 2005
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
The chief executive of General Motors (GM) is to take a 50% pay cut to help the struggling carmaker save money.
Rick Wagoner and other executives have agreed to reduce their pay and forgo bonuses as part of radical measures aimed at improving GM’s finances.
GM is also halving its annual investor dividend – the first cut in 13 years – which will save it $565m (£323m)
A Chinese editor has died as a result of a police beating he received for his paper’s reporting on corruption, journalists and rights groups say.
Wu Xianghu had been in hospital since the attack in October, suffering from an existing liver problem made worse by the beating, earlier reports said.
Wu was reportedly attacked by some 50 policemen after his paper accused them of charging illegal bicycle fees
South Korea’s largest firm, Samsung, is to donate more than $825m (£473m) to charity after scandals hit the company.
The company chairman, Lee Kun-Hee, who recently returned to South Korea after a five-month overseas trip, apologised for “wrongful” previous practices.
He left the country in September after allegations of illegal donations to politicians, of which he was cleared
Catering group Compass says an internal probe has found serious irregularities regarding work awarded to its Eurest Support Services unit by the UN.
It found “issues in relation to the behaviour of a few individuals” at the service, but did not believe they extended beyond the individuals.
Compass, which has fired some Eurest employees, is under investigation by US authorities over the contracts