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This Reuters video shows, Earthrace, a futuristic-looking bio-diesel powered boat with a net zero carbon footprint, will attempt to break the round the world speed record.

The project aims to promote awareness of the environment and the sustainable use of resources. More at Reuters.

Excerpts from Wired article “Around the World in a Boat Fueled by Human Fat“:
“This Wired article writes in detail about an engineer and sailor from New Zealand still hopes to circumnavigate the globe in world-record time at the helm of a boat powered in part by the ultimate renewable fuel - human fat.

Pete Bethune, a former oil exploration engineer, is so committed to proving bio-diesel is a viable alternative to fossil fuel that he and two other Earthrace crew members underwent liposuction. Together they stripped more than 2.5 gallons of fat from their bodies, which produced almost two gallons of fuel - enough to go 9 miles under optimum conditions.

Circumnavigating the world - a 27,600-mile journey - is the ultimate maritime challenge, and this is the second time Bethune and his crew will attempt it. The first ended disastrously in March when Earthrace collided with a fishing vessel off the coast of Guatamala. One fisherman was injured and another lost at sea; Earthrace’s insurance carrier paid the families a settlement. Earlier voyages have ended with propeller failures and when the Colombian navy fired upon the boat.” More at Wired.

Dec 30, `07 — This Slashdot article highlights the latest strategy of the RIAA to sue consumers who have ripped their legally purchased CDs on to a PC.

“With this past week’s announcement by Warner to release its entire catalog to Amazon in MP3 format with no Digital Rights Management, you would think that the organization that represents them, The RIAA, would begin changing its tune.

Instead, they are pressing on in their campaign against consumers by suing individuals who merely rip CDs they’ve purchased legally. ‘The industry’s lawyer in the case, Ira Schwartz, argues in a brief filed earlier this month that the MP3 files Howell made on his computer from legally bought CDs are “unauthorized copies” of copyrighted recordings.”

The Washington Post article further writes, “”I couldn’t believe it when I read that,” says Ray Beckerman, a New York lawyer who represents six clients who have been sued by the RIAA. “The basic principle in the law is that you have to distribute actual physical copies to be guilty of violating copyright. But recently, the industry has been going around saying that even a personal copy on your computer is a violation.”

The RIAA’s legal crusade against its customers is a classic example of an old media company clinging to a business model that has collapsed. Four years of a failed strategy has only “created a whole market of people who specifically look to buy independent goods so as not to deal with the big record companies,” Beckerman says. “Every problem they’re trying to solve is worse now than when they started.”" More at WashingtonPost.

London — BBC News reports on Experts developing a flexible surgical robot, known as the i-Snake, which they say could revolutionize keyhole surgery. It could enable surgeons to do complex procedures previously possible only through more invasive techniques.

A team at Imperial College London has been granted £2.1 million for the work.

The i-Snake, a long tube housing special motors, sensors and imaging tools, has the potential to allow complex heart and bowel operations to be carried out without making an incision.

According to the research team, the i-Snake could also be used to detect problems in the gut and bowel by acting as the surgeon’s hands and eyes in hard to reach places inside the body. The Imperial College team, which includes health minister and surgeon Lord Ara Darzi, will test the device in the laboratory first, before using it on patients.

Lord Darzi said i-Snake could be in use within five years, resulting in cheaper operations and faster recovery times for patients. The robot’s diameter will vary between that of a 5p and a 10p piece and it will contain fibre-optic cables to relay information to the surgeon.

“The unrivalled imaging and sensing capabilities coupled with the accessibility and sensitivity of i-Snake will enable more complex diagnostic and therapeutic procedures than are currently possible, BBC quoted Lord Darzi, as saying. More at BBC News.

ETNews of Korea reports on Shinhan Card rolling out Korea’s first ever USB type credit card on Thursday, December 27.

ETNews further writes, “The USB credit card provides the online and contactless payment function and works the post-paid transportation card as well. The built-in IC chip includes the public authorization and the internet credit payment programs.

During the online payment, users do not need to insert the credit card number. Rather, they can pay by connecting the USB to the slot. At the franchise stores with the IC card reader, it enables the no-touch payment.

The card also supports the information inquiry and the automatic log-in service using the public authorization and the built-in internet payment programs. However, it is limited for users to delete or save data so that the USB itself cannot be used as a portable storage device.” More at ETNews.

A federal appeals court handed Google a setback in a patent fight on Wednesday, Dec 26, tossing out part of a summary judgment in Google’s favor in a lawsuit filed by Hyperphrase Technologies.

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit revived part of HyperPhrase Technologies’ lawsuit, throwing out a lower court ruling that Google’s AutoLink feature didn’t infringe the company’s patents.

As part of the Google toolbar, AutoLink gives users more information than standard links. It recognizes data such as addresses and book titles, then provides links to online maps or books at Amazon.com.

The appeals court ruled that Google’s immensely profitable AdSense did not infringe on Hyperphrase’s patents. It handed down a split decision on AutoLink, agreeing that Google did not infringe, as claimed, on one of the Hyperphrase patents. But it vacated a summary judgment in Google’s favor on two others and sent it back to the Wisconsin district court.

HyperPhrase claimed in an April 2006 suit that Google used its inventions without permission. It sought cash compensation and an order blocking Mountain View, Calif.-based Google from using the technology.

More at the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruling here (in pdf).

Cape Canaveral, Florida — The Space Shuttle Program met Thursday, Dec 27, to assess the progress made to troubleshoot an issue with the engine cutoff sensor circuit that occurred during the recent launch attempts and tanking test. Instrumentation installed for the tanking test indicate that there are one or more intermittent open circuits in the area of the feed through connector on the external tank’s liquid hydrogen tank.

The external parts of the connector will be removed and replaced with others that have been strategically soldered to ensure pin-to-socket connectivity and allow continuous electrical flow from sensors inside the external tank to the shuttle’s computers.

This work will take some time to properly accomplish and to certify the redesigned configuration before flight. While a launch on Jan 10 is no longer achievable, no launch date has been discussed. The program will take time to assess progress of the work before setting a target launch date. More at NASA.

SEATTLE & NEW YORK –BUSINESS WIRE– On Dec 27, `07 Amazon.com and Warner Music Group announced that DRM-free music audio downloads from Warner Music Group are now available to customers on Amazon MP3, Amazon’s a la carte MP3 digital music store where every song and album is playable on virtually any personal digital music capable device.

Beginning Dec 27, songs from WMG’s digital audio catalog will be available for purchase and download from Amazon MP3. In addition, Amazon and WMG will make available to consumers digital music products such as album bundles containing exclusive tracks.

Warner had been holding out against using the format because MP3 tracks are easier to share between users and may be freely burned onto CDs.

Amazon’s download store is a major competitor to Apple’s iTunes, which uses Digital Rights Management (DRM) to restrict the use of some of its tracks.

Sony BMG is now the only major recording group not signed up with Amazon MP3, which is only available to US customers at present.

Amazon launched its MP3 download store in September after reaching agreements to sell unprotected tracks from Universal Music Group and EMI. More at Amazon.

Little Rock, AR — The world’s biggest retailer, Wal-Mart, has closed its video downloading service less than a year after it started selling films online.

The retreat for Wal-Mart, which accounts for about 40 percent of all DVD sales, follows the company’s 2005 decision to abandoned efforts to build an online DVD rental service. The world’s largest retailer instead turned its rental service over to Netflix.

It stopped the service on Dec 21, according to a message on the discount chain’s video download website. Wal-Mart said the decision had been forced by Hewlett-Packard withdrawing the software running the site.

The move ends a challenge to Apple’s iTunes store, Amazon and Netflix to win customers who rent films over the web.

The market for online video downloads has become very competitive with video rental chain Blockbuster buying Movielink over the summer to expand into this area.

Dec 30, `07 — The browser that helped kick-start the commercial web is to cease development because of lack of users. Netscape Navigator, now owned by AOL, will no longer be supported after February 01, 2008, the company has said.

Netscape’s usage dwindled with Microsoft’s entry into the browser business, and Netscape all but faded away following the birth of its open-source cousin, Firefox.

“While internal groups within AOL have invested a great deal of time and energy in attempting to revive Netscape Navigator, these efforts have not been successful in gaining market share from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Recently, support for the Netscape browser has been limited to a handful of engineers tasked with creating a skinned version of Firefox with a few extensions.” Netscape Director Tom Drapeau wrote in a blog entry Friday.

In recent years, Netscape has been little more than a repackaged version of the more popular Firefox, which commands about 10 percent of the Web browser market, with almost all of the rest going to Internet Explorer.

Browser Wars
Netscape was developed by Marc Andreessen, co-author of Mosaic, the first popular web browser. Mosaic was written while Mr Andreessen was a student at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois in 1992.

After graduation he set up Netscape Communications Corporation and began development of the Navigator browser. The first version was released in 1994.

It was quickly a success and dominated the browser market in the mid-1990s. But other companies followed its success, notably Microsoft, which bundled its Explorer software with its operating systems.

People will still be able to download and use the Netscape browser indefinitely, but AOL will stop releasing security and other updates on Feb 01, `08. Drapeau recommended that the small pool of Netscape users download Firefox instead.

Microsoft is expected to launch a new version of IE 8 in 2008, whilst the third version of Firefox, codenamed Minefield,  is currently available as a beta, or test version.

Tokyo, Japan — Hitachi, Japan’s biggest electronics conglomerate, plans to exit the business of making small hard disk drives as demand shifts to flash memory chips, Reuters reports citing the Nikkei business daily reports on Sunday.

“Hitachi’s hard drive unit, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies has already stopped production of 1-inch hard drives and plans to stop shipping 1.8-inch drives around next summer, the newspaper said.

The Nikkei also said Hitachi rival Fujitsu has given up on plans to enter the market for small drives. Fujitsu had been developing 1.8-inch drives with U.S.-based Cornice with plans to bring a product to market in 2007.

Hitachi will focus on 2.5-inch and 3.5-drives, anticipating strong demand for the bigger drives that are used in personal computers and digital electronics such as DVD recorders, the Nikkei said.” More at Reuters.

NEW YORK - Police have found a way to help save the planet and perhaps sneak up on bad guys at the same time: an all-electric, ultra-quiet scooter, Newsday reports.

Newsday further writes, “The New York Police Department will begin road testing four of the plug-in Vectrix scooters early next month _ part of a broader campaign to make the nation’s largest police department a greener one as well.

The 36,000-officer NYPD has been looking for ways to retool its massive motor fleet to guzzle less gas and inflict less harm on the environment. A handful of NYPD hybrid cars and so-called flex-fuel vehicles, which can run on both gasoline and ethanol, are already on the road.

Vectrix recently approached several big city police departments with the sleek, two-wheel scooters, but the NYPD was the first to take a serious look, said Andrew MacGowen, president of the Rhode Island-based company.

MacGowen said the Vectrix scooters, assembled in Poland, are the first all-electric vehicles to be government-certified to travel on any highway, street or road.

The Vectrix, which has a battery pack, is heavier than the Piaggio, but with a top speed of more than 60 mph, it’s nearly as fast. And riders cruise past the fuel pump: The scooters can be recharged simply by plugging into a standard outlet for two hours. MacGowen said recharging costs a fraction of refueling _ a savings he says would quickly cover the difference in price with Piaggios, which cost the NYPD about half as much.

The Vectrix can only travel 40 to 60 miles per charge, but police officials said they may be willing to sacrifice some range for zero emissions. Plus, the scooters would have the dual benefit of “reducing air pollution and noise pollution,” said Robert Martinez, the NYPD fleet director.” More at Newsday.

Dec 25, `07 — Slashdot reports on Google linking up Google Reader with Google Talk to make shared items visible to your contacts on Google Talk.

“One week ago Google Reader’s team decided to begin showing your private data to all your GMail contacts. No need to opt-in, NO way to opt-out. Complaints haven’t been answered. Some users share their problems, including one family who says they won’t be able to enjoy this Christmas because of this ‘feature.’ Will Google start doing this with all their products? You can browse the thread in Google Groups.”

Comments from Google Groups

User ‘banzaimonkey’ writes:
“I think the basic mistake here, as Modulo has noted, is that the people on my contact list are not necessarily my “friends”. I have business contacts, school contacts, family contacts, etc., and not only do I not really have any interest in seeing all of their feed information, I don’t want them seeing mine either. This is a major privacy problem.”

User ‘Paul Russell’ writes:
“Using my Gmail contacts as a friends list is a dangerous thing. Especially because a lot of the addresses in there were added automatically when people emailed me. I understand that sharing is a public activity, but to date Google reader shares were pseudo private by obscurity. In reality the only people that were going to see my share were people I told about it. I don’t like the idea of an opt out only mechanism. Facebook just took a bath on this concept. Granted Beacon was a complete disaster, but I think the lesson to be learned is when you change personal sharing to become more public it should be an opt in process.”

Chrix Finne at Official Google Reader Blog invites your feedback on Google Reader features here at Google Groups.

LAS VEGAS, Dec 24, `07 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Harrah’s Entertainment today announced that the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) notified Harrah’s that it will allow the consummation of the proposed acquisition of Harrah’s by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, L.P. and TPG Capital to proceed while the NIGC finalizes its review.

There are no remaining regulatory approvals needed to close the transaction.

Harrah’s and the buyers received the go-ahead for the deal last week from the Nevada Gaming Commission, capping a 10-week campaign to obtain approvals from state gambling regulators in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Mississippi.

Harrah’s, which had nearly $10 billion in revenue last year, operates more than 50 casinos including Caesars and the Imperial Palace in Las Vegas and Bally’s in Atlantic City. Indian Gaming Commission approval is needed because Harrah’s operates several tribal casinos as well. More at Harrah’s.

Dec 25, `07 — DigiTimes is reporting on AMD adjusting its triple-core CPU model numbers and launch dates, citing sources at motherboard makers.

“AMD will launch two B2 stepping triple-core CPUs, Phenom 8600 and 8400 in March of next year, while in the second quarter, the company will launch three more models, Phenom 8700, 8650 and 8450.

The Phenom 8400 and 8600 will feature core frequencies of 2.1GHz and 2.3GHz, respectively, while the Phenom 8700 will clock at 2.4GHz. Phenom 8650 and 8450 will be based on B3 stepping cores, and will have frequencies of 2.3GHz and 2.1GHz, respectively. All five CPUs will have a 95W TDP.

The high price/performance ratio of the triple-core CPUs could force Intel to cut prices of its quad-core products which could cause higher-end models to cut into sales of lower-end CPUs, noted the sources. However, AMD could also face the same problem, they added.” More at DigiTimes.

Dec 25, `07 — BBC News is reporting on British Airways being accused of colluding in setting prices of fuel surcharges and other levies in the provision of air freight services.

“BA confirmed it received a letter of complaint from European Union regulators, alleging that it was part of a suspected air freight cartel. The complaints were also sent to Germany’s Lufthansa, Air France-KLM and Scandinavia’s SAS. The airlines have the right to respond, but if found guilty, they face fines.

The European Commission that it had sent official letters, known as statements of objection, to a number of air freight firms, concerning “violation of EU rules on restrictive business practices”.

Officials did not name the specific airlines involved, but BA, Air France-KLM and SAS confirmed they had each received the European Commission letter.” More at BBCNews.

Dec 25, `07 — Nvidia will launch the mid-range part for its GeForce 9600 GPU series, codenamed D9P or G94, in February 2008, DigiTimes is reporting citing graphics cards makers.

“The G94, the first mid-range GPU to feature a 256bit memory interface, is expected to pose a strong challenge to AMD’s Radeon HD 3850 (RV670PRO) of the same class, the sources commented.

The sources revealed that while Nvidia’s latest entry-level G98 (D8M) GPU, made at the 65nm process, has started shipping since early December, the G94 will make its debut on February 14. The G94 will also be made on a 65nm process at TSMC, the sources added.

The G94, with its official price temporarily set at US$169, features 64 stream processors and supports PureVideo Gen 2, the sources said.” More at DigiTimes.

Tokyo, Japan — Dec 25, `07 –BUSINESS WIRE– Hitachi, Canon and Matsushita Electric today reached a basic agreement on a comprehensive alliance aimed at reinforcing and growing the liquid crystal display (LCD) panel businesses and technologies.

Under this alliance, the three companies will merge their strengths to accelerate the development of cutting-edge display technologies and expand their scope of application. Hitachi possesses sophisticated liquid crystal-related technologies, including the world-acclaimed In-Plane Switching (“IPS”) technology that enables outstanding color reproducibility, wide viewing angles and other superior features. Canon, meanwhile, excels in the camera, printer and medical equipment fields while Matsushita commands global leadership in the flat-panel TV field.

Moreover, it has been basically agreed by the three companies that Canon and Matsushita will, by transfer of shares from Hitachi, each acquire 24.9% of the shares of Hitachi Displays, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi engaged in small- and medium-sized LCD panel-related businesses, by March 31, 2008, subject to approvals by regulatory authorities. As a result, Hitachi’s stake in Hitachi Displays is to become 50.2%.

Hitachi will strengthen its competitiveness in the flat-panel LCD TV sector by using state-of-the-art LCD panels to develop the world’s thinnest flat-panel LCD TV and its ultra-thin flat-panel LCD TVs “Wooo UT series.”

Canon aims to accelerate ongoing development of organic light-emitting diode (“OLED”) displays by teaming up with Hitachi, which also boasts advanced display technologies.

Matsushita is expanding and strengthening its mainline PDP operations. It is also deepening its involvement in the businesses of Hitachi Displays, a designer, manufacturer and marketer of IPS liquid crystal panels for large TVs, and of IPS Alpha. The aim is to exploit the outstanding performance and cost advantage of the IPS alpha Panel toward increasing the competitive edge of the VIErA Series of flat-panel TVs in step with PDP models.

As the second stage, the three companies are planning ownership changes that would have Canon, a company with extensive know-how in small- and medium-sized displays from the user side, take a majority holding in Hitachi Displays, and Matsushita, a universally acknowledged leader in the TV sector, take a majority holding in IPS Alpha. More here.

Dec 24, `07 — The website of the National Bureau of Corruption Prevention (NBCP) crashed on Tuesday, Dec 18, just hours after its launch, as droves of people logged on to complain about corruption among officials, ChinaDaily reported on Dec 20.

ChinaDaily further reports, “The website, yfj.mos.gov.cn, was closed for most of the afternoon, Beijing Youth Daily reported.

An NBCP official, who did not want to be named, confirmed the breakdown had occurred. “Repairs were carried out soon after the website broke down and normal service has now been resumed, he told the Xinhua News Agency.

“The number of visitors was very large and beyond our expectations,” he said. As of 4 pm of Wednesday, Dec 19, visitors had left 22 pages of messages in the website’s guest book.

While many of them referred to report specific cases of official corruption, these were redirected by the webmaster to other sites, such as that of the Ministry of Supervision.

Other visitors made calls for the strengthening of the government’s anti-corruption efforts, and comments about the need for special attention to be given to cases involving institutes of higher education and grassroots governments.

“The corruption problem in China is a fatal illness. Establishing more institutions will not solve the problem,” one comment read.

The enthusiasm that greeted the launch of the website reflects the growing frustration felt by the public toward corruption at government level, which has been accentuated by several high-profile cases in recent years.” More at ChinaDaily.

Dec 24, `07 — Badoo, a social networking website which offers users the chance to pay to be popular while banning all advertising, is set to launch into an increasingly crowded UK market, says Mark Sweney of Guardian Unlimited.

Sweney further writes, “At the moment, Badoo is a relatively unknown web brand. However, Google recently rated it number two on its “fastest rising” list - behind the iPhone and ahead of Facebook - in its annual report based on the most popular web searches.

The fledgling company positions itself as a “natural evolution of existing social network and blogging sites”.

Badoo’s unusual business model works against the received wisdom of the primarily advertising-led efforts of established firms such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo.

“We wanted to be advertising free in order to have a ‘clean’ site so our users weren’t subject to adverts which we know can be a turnoff,” said Neil Bryant, the managing director of Badoo.” More at Guardian Unlimited.

Dec 24, `07 — DigiTimes is reporting on AMD notifying its partners that the launch of higher-end quad-core Phenom processors, including the 9700 and 9900, will be postponed to the second quarter of 2008 from the original schedule of early 2008, citing sources at motherboard makers.

“However, whether AMD’s triple-core Toliman series CPUs will also see delay will be the key decision for the company, since Toliman offers a high price/performance ratio compared with Intel’s quad-core CPUs. A delay for Toliman will hurt AMD the most, noted the sources.

The sources commented that the reason for the delay of 9700 and 9900 is because AMD has not yet been able to solve the translation lookaside buffer (TLB) erratum found in the chips.” More at DigiTimes.

BRACKNELL, UK –BUSINESS WIRE– Dec 21, `07 — Dell has signed an agreement to acquire privately held The Networked Storage Company (TNWSC), a leading IT consultancy, that specializes in transitioning customers to proven, simplified and cost-efficient IT data storage solutions.

Terms were not disclosed and the purchase will not be final until all closing conditions are met. TNWSC is based in Epsom, United Kingdom.

TNWSC’s unique Point of Proof methodology provides an auditable end-to-end process to evaluate, select and implement proven solutions that deliver robust, simplified and cost-effective IT infrastructures.

The approach, primarily implemented with storage networks, can be extended across the entire IT environment, helping to reduce overall costs and complexity of IT infrastructure maintenance and management. TNWSC has a blue chip customer base including several of Europe’s leading

More at BusinessWire, Dell.com/ics.

DENVER –BUSINESS WIRE– On Thursday, Dec 20, MPEG LA announced that it has commenced an action against Audiovox for breach of contractual obligations as a Licensee to MPEG LA’s MPEG-2 Patent Portfolio License and 1394 Patent Portfolio License.

According to the complaint filed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Audiovox has breached its contractual obligations by failing to report fully its manufacture or sale of products such as DVD players and digital TVs that use the MPEG-2 digital video compression standard or employ the high-speed transfer digital interface provided for in the IEEE 1394 standard, failing to make full payments for its manufacture or sale of such products, and refusing to allow an audit as permitted by the MPEG-2 Contract and 1394 Contract.

MPEG LA seeks, among other things, monetary damages, an order requiring Audiovox to allow the contractually required audit, an accounting of all products manufactured or sold by Audiovox subject to the Contracts, as well as injunctive relief prohibiting Audiovox from the manufacture or sale of MPEG-2 and 1394 products. More at MPEG LA (in pdf).

Brussels — On Thursday, Dec 20, the Protocol Freedom Information Foundation (PFIF), a non-profit organization created by the Software Freedom Law Center, signed an agreement with Microsoft to receive the protocol documentation needed to fully interoperate with the Microsoft Windows workgroup server products and to make them available to Free Software projects such as Samba.

Microsoft was required to make this information available to competitors as part of the European Commission March 24th 2004 Decision in the antitrust lawsuit, after losing their appeal against that decision on September 17th 2007.

After paying Microsoft a one-time sum of 10,000 Euros, the PFIF will make available to the Samba Team under non-disclosure terms the documentation needed for implementation of all of the workgroup server protocols covered by the EU decision.

Although the documentation itself will be held in confidence by the PFIF and Samba Team engineers, the agreement allows the publication of the source code of the implementation of these protocols without any further restrictions. This is fully compatible with versions two and three of the GNU General Public License (GPL). Samba is published under the GNU GPL which is the most widely used of all Free Software licenses. In addition it allows discussion of the protocol information amongst implementers which will aid technical cooperation between engineers.

Under the agreement, Microsoft is required to make available and keep current a list of patent numbers it believes are related to the Microsoft implementation of the workgroup server protocols, without granting an implicit patent license to any Free Software implementation.

No per-copy royalties are required from the PFIF, Samba developers, third party vendors or users and no acknowledgement of any patent infringement by Free Software implementations is expressed or implied in the agreement. More at Samba.

Brussels — Dec 21, `07 — The European Commission said on Friday it has contacted a number of companies regarding their alleged participation in an air freight cartel.

The European Commission can confirm that a Statement of Objections has been sent to a number of companies, concerning their alleged participation in a cartel in the provision of airfreight services, in violation of EU rules on restrictive business practices (Article 81 of the EC Treaty and Article 53 of the Agreement on the European Economic Area).

Procedural background

A Statement of Objections is a formal step in Commission antitrust investigations in which the Commission informs the parties concerned in writing of the objections raised against them. The addressee of a Statement of Objections can reply in writing to the Statement of Objections, setting out all facts known to it which are relevant to its defense against the objections raised by the Commission. The party may also request an oral hearing to present its comments on the case.

The Commission may then take a decision on whether conduct addressed in the Statement of Objections is compatible or not with the EC Treaty’s antitrust rules. Sending a Statement of Objections does not prejudge the final outcome of the procedure. More at European Commission.

It named no companies in the statement but Scandinavian airline SAS said earlier on Friday it had received a statement of objections accusing the airline’s cargo unit of breaking competition rules.

“SAS Group confirms that it has received a Statement of Objections from the European Commission within the framework of an industry-wide investigation of the air cargo sector, involving a large number of cargo companies and air carriers, including SAS Cargo.

In the Statement of Objections the EU Commission alleges that certain investigated practices in the air cargo sector constitute infringements of EC competition rules. SAS Group intends to review the Statement of Objections immediately and will also have to review the underlying documentation as soon as it has received access to the Commission’s comprehensive investigation file. Therefore SAS cannot comment on the alleged irregularities until this review has been completed.” More at SAS.

Seoul, S Korea — Dec 21, `07 — South Korean prosecutors probing corruption accusations against the giant Samsung Group said on Friday they had narrowed their focus down to around 400 accounts that might be linked to an alleged slush fund, Reuters reported.

A former top legal executive with the country’s biggest conglomerate last month accused Samsung of running a 200 billion won ($212.7 million) fund to bribe public officials to avoid investigation into its operations.

“The list of accounts has become a lot shorter,” a prosecution official said by telephone. “It’s roughly about 300 or 400.” Media reports have said the number of accounts searched by prosecutors was well in excess of 1,000.

The former Samsung employee, Kim Yong-cheol, said the firm hid the illicit funds in scores of deposit accounts in the names of current and former executives.

The company, whose group sales are equivalent to about a sixth of the entire economic output of the world’s 13th largest economy, has denied any wrongdoing. More at Reuters.