IBT Staff Reporter

Microsoft Corp will stop making video players based on the HD DVD standard for its Xbox 360 game system, a move that comes days after Toshiba Corp pulled the plug on the high definition movie technology.

Treasuries fell on Monday after a better than expected report about existing home sales lowered concerns about the housing sector.

Gold futures fell sharply on Monday, the most in almost two weeks after the U.S. said it supports limited sales of gold reserves held by the International Monetary Fund.

The dollar gained slightly against the euro and yen on Monday after a better than expected report about home sales in the U.S. in 2008.

Gold advanced on Monday to trade just below a recent historic high on investor buying, but pared gains later as the dollar rose against the euro, traders said.

The dollar and euro both gained against a weaker yen on Monday as positive news for the U.S. financial sector boosted appetite for stocks and other riskier trades and helped underpin high-yielding currencies like the New Zealand dollar.

Goldman Sachs said it expects additional writedowns of about $1 billion to $12 billion each for several major U.S. brokers in the first quarter, with Citigroup estimated to record the highest amount of about $12 billion.

The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals involving European, U.S. and Asian companies were reported by 1430 GMT on Monday.

Lavenderblu was a young girl when she got her first taste of domestic violence. After suffering at the hands of her father and witnessing repeated attacks on her mother, she ended up in a violent relationship of her own before finally managing to leave and find refuge with a women's support group.

There's not much you can do to shave the taxes on your salary. But when it comes to the taxes you pay on savings and investments, there's a lot you can do to protect your profits from the tax man. It makes sense to try: After all, it's not what you make, but what you get to keep that counts. Tax-advantaged products and strategies can help you keep more, as long as you don't go overboard -- giving up return and paying too much just to save on taxes. That's called let...

The distressed housing market should benefit from bargain prices but tighter lending will curtail the chance of a boom.

Enter the e-waiter. Restaurants in Europe, the United States and Japan are testing technology to let diners order their food direct from a screen at their table instead of depending on a fellow human being to note their choice -- sometimes grumpily or erroneously.

Microsoft Corp said on Monday it would test a new way to measure the effectiveness of Internet advertising in a challenge to an industry standard that has helped the likes of Web search leader Google Inc. Microsoft's Engagement Mapping is due to begin in beta form on March 1 and departs from a standard that ties sales, leads and traffic to the last ad that a user clicked on online. Instead, it attempts to take into account all the Internet interactions that lead a consumer to buy a pro...

PionPioneer Corp will stop making 42-inch plasma panels and instead buy panels in that size and smaller from Panasonic maker Matsushita Electric Industrial or Hitachi Ltd to turn around its loss-making flat TV business, the Asahi newspaper said.eer Corp will stop making 42-inch plasma panels and instead buy panels in that size and smaller from Panasonic maker Matsushita Electric Industrial or Hitachi Ltd to turn around its loss-making flat TV business, the Asahi newspaper said.

Video game giant Electronic Arts on Sunday said it had made an unsolicited $1.9 billion offer for Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two Interactive Software, escalating its battle with Activision for the title of biggest video game maker. Electronic Arts said it had pursued the deal privately since December, and Take-Two on Sunday immediately rejected the offer, a 50 percent premium to its Friday close, and accused EA of trying to scoop up a company in turnaround with an inadequate bid jus...

Retailer Lowe's Cos reported lower quarterly profit on Monday and forecast full-year earnings below Wall Street estimates, citing challenging days to come as the slumping housing market hurts sales.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will deploy his most reassuring bedside manner in congressional testimony on Wednesday and Thursday to explain how the U.S. central bank, which has already cut interest rates 2-1/4 percentage points since mid-September, can trim them further to prevent recession without letting inflation get out of hand.

Japan today launched the Kizuna, an experimental communications satellite that enables both, urban and remote areas in the Asia Pacific region to access super-high-speed internet service.

A research team at Princeton University has found a method to break into an encrypted hard drive to access protected information.

Just a day away from the glamorous night of the Academy Awards and predictions are still flying high over who will get one of the night's most coveted awards -the best picture award. One thing is for sure, the show will be free from striking picketers.

A Microsoft executive assured employees in his division on Friday that the software maker would keep many of Yahoo's staff in their northern California headquarters if its bid to buy the Web portal company is successful.

U.S. stocks will face a heavy lineup of economic indicators next week

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Forget Saving Humanity, The Club Shoots For Style

A man who impersonated a member of a royal Moroccan family on the Internet site Facebook was beaten unconscious and sentenced to 3 years in jail.

Technology related stocks rose Friday afternoon while tax-maker Intuit stumbled after reporting a drop in second quarter profit.

Copper prices in New York fell from their highest level since May 2006 after inventories climbed and concerns about demand continued.

The Federal Communications Commission on Friday rejected an appeal from Fox Television on Friday to overturn an indecency complaint over a 2003 episode of a short-lived reality TV show.

Energy stocks pulled out of their slump to end Friday slightly higher with on a final hour rally.