Business

<noinclude> Speaking in Washington Tuesday at the conclusion of the China-U.S. trade summit, Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi warned the U.S. not to pursue a 'blame game' in continued trade negotiations. "We should not easily blame the other side for our own domestic problems," Wu said, speaking through an interpreter. "Confrontation does no good at all to problem-solving." The valuation of the Chinese Yuan has been closely tied to the U.S. Dollar for years. Critics charge that this resulted in a relatively low value, making Chinese goods cheaper i

<noinclude> Gun battles erupted today as the Internal Security Forces of Lebanon, mainly the police and the Lebanese Army, tried to arrest suspects of a bank robbery that occurred a day earlier in Amyoun, southeast Tripoli. Clashes erupted between the Lebanese Army and a Palestinian Islamist group, Fatah al-Islam, in the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp early morning just after police raided a militant-occupied apartment. Twenty-two ISF personnels and over ten militants and civilians were killed or injured. Fatah al-Islam is a Palestini

Microsoft have today paid $6 billion (£3 billion) for the online marketing firm Aquantive. The takeover will pave the way for Microsoft to expand into the $40 billion online advertising market currently dominated by Google and Yahoo!. Kevin Johnson, the head of Microsoft's platforms and services division, said "This deal takes our advertising business to a new level" and follows the recent acquisitions by Google and Yahoo who bought DoubleClick for $3.1 billion, and the remaining 80% of Right Media Exchange for $680 million respectively. Aqu

<noinclude> Insurgents in Iraq have used a chemical car bomb to kill at least 32 people and injuring at least 50 in the Diyala Province, in the village of Abu Saydah on Tuesday. Reports say that the vehicle used in the attack was parked at a market near two tea stalls. "A small van with gas canisters exploded in a crowded market, there were many people dead at the scene," said Iraqi police officer, Captain Sadiq Mohammed. According to police, the bomb was described as being filled with chlorine gas and injuries reported at the local hospital

<noinclude> On Wednesday, it was raining rocks in Toronto. A 115 Kilogram marble panel fell 51 stories from the side of First Canadian Place, 100 King Street West, which is the heart of Toronto's Business district. The panel was one of many that were identified as a risk during an inspection. The rock fell onto a third story roof, where its fall was broken. There were no reports of injuries, but the event snarled traffic in Toronto, as many major roads were closed. It also backed up street car traffic along King Street. King St. W. from York

<noinclude> The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) announced that it is setting August 31, 2011 as the deadline for over-the-air (OTA) television transmissions to go digital. In Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2007-53, the commission outlines that OTA broadcasts should be digital in all markets, with possible exceptions in northern and remote communities where analog transmissions will not cause interference. This follows the United States' Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decision to go all digital in F

The Executive Directors of the World Bank have issued a statement to the effect that Paul Wolfowitz is to resign as President of the World Bank Group effective 30th June 2007, and that further meetings will take place tomorrow to deal with arrangements for the interim period. Wolfowitz has faced a number of calls for his resignation in recent weeks after accusations that he had behaved improperly and overlooked a conflict of interest with regard to the pay rise given to his partner, Shaha Riza, an employee of the Bank at the time of his appoin

<noinclude> Shortly after 5:00 pm EDT on Monday, a northbound R6 SEPTA Regional Rail train collided with a northbound R5 train in the Center City section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The collision occurred underground past Philadelphia's Market East Station, near 9th and Vine Streets. About 30 to 40 people on board the two trains suffered minor injuries, most of whom were riding in the front of the R6 train, however no serious or life-threatening injuries were reported. The R6 train, heading towards Norristown, Pennsylvania, departed Subu

<noinclude> A bomb explosion killed two people and injured ten others in the capital of the northeast Indian state of Assam on Monday. Assamese protesters who were blockading a highway over the killing of a local civilian in an anti-insurgency operation last week, clashed with tea-plantation workers whose supplies were interrupted by the blockage. Five people died in the ensuing violence on Sunday. Senior Superintendent of Police S.N. Singh says that the bomb had been left on a motorbike in the market area of the capital, Guwahati. Separat

<noinclude> The online payment service PayPal has received a banking licence in Luxembourg, promoting it to the status of a bank. As a consequence PayPal will move their headquarters to Luxembourg. Since 2004 PayPal had the status of an Electronic Money Issuer supervised by the U.K. Financial Services Authority. Having an official bank status opens new prospects for the company: "This will allow us to actively scout retailers in different European countries. With our British licence, we could only do that in the U.K. itself, and in other coun

<noinclude> Jerry Falwell was found unresponsive by Ron Godwin, Liberty University's executive vice president, around 10:45 am ET. He was taken to Lynchburg General Hospital where "CPR efforts were unsuccessful". As of 2:10 pm ET, during a live press conference, a doctor for the hospital confirmed that Falwell had died of "cardiac arrhythmia, or sudden cardiac death". Godwin had eaten breakfast with Falwell earlier and stated that he seemed "fine, business as usual." Falwell, a controversial minister, suffered from two health conditions in 20

<noinclude> Oxfam and several other fair trade-organisations organised coffee tables all over Flanders to celebrate the World Fair Trade Day. The combined length of the tables at different locations was meant to exceed 2015 meters (to remind people of the U.N. millennium development goals for 2015), but eventually reached over 3000 meters. The fair trade organisations distributed a petition addressed to European commissioners for Trade Peter Mandelson and commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid Louis Michel, in which they asked fo