John Ribeiro

Middle-East mobile operator Emirates Telecommunications, known as Etisalat, is suspending its network and services in India, following a court order cancelling the mobile licenses of its Indian joint venture.

The move will affect close to 1.7 million mobile subscribers of the Indian startup, which is still a fraction of the about 894 million mobile subscribers India had at the end of December, according to data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system will have the U.K. version of English as a display language option, to address customers in that country, and some other countries like South Africa, India, Ireland, and Australia that use the version of the language.

Windows 8, the next version of the company's OS, will also have 13 new language interface packs (LIPs) that install on top of a standalone Windows display language, Ian Hamilton, a program manager in Microsoft's Windows International Team said in a blog post on Tuesday. The packs contain localized user interface elements for the most commonly used Windows features.

Microsoft's privacy protection feature in Internet Explorer, known as P3P, is impractical to comply with while providing modern web functionality such as cookie-based features, Google said Monday in response to an accusation from Microsoft that Google had bypassed privacy protections in Internet Explorer.

Google is already facing allegations that the company circumvented privacy settings in Apple's Safari browser to plant cookies on users.

Microsoft's privacy protection feature in Internet Explorer, known as P3P, is impractical to comply with while providing modern web functionality such as cookie-based features, Google said Monday in response to an accusation from Microsoft that Google had bypassed privacy protections in Internet Explorer.

Google is already facing allegations that the company circumvented privacy settings in Apple's Safari browser to plant cookies on users.

The board of directors of Samsung Electronics has decided to spin off the company's LCD (liquid crystal display) panel manufacturing unit, it said Monday.

The new company, provisionally named Samsung Display Co. will be launched on April 1, and will have an investment of 750 billion won (US$665 million) in capital, the company said.

Three lawmakers from the U.S. House of Representatives have asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether last week's report of privacy violations of Safari users by Google violated a consent agreement the company had reached with the FTC last year.

Google's alleged circumvention of do-not-track controls on Apple's Safari browser could have a wide sweeping impact because Safari is a major web browser used by millions of Americans, according to a letter to the FTC on Friday from Republican Representatives Cliff Stearns of Florida and Joe Barton of Texas, and Democrat Edward Markey of Massachusetts.

Twitter has tied with American Express to offer its merchants and card members early access to an online advertising platform for small businesses that the social networking company is launching in late March, the card company said on Thursday.

The first 10,000 eligible businesses that register will receive US$100 in free Twitter advertisements when using the platform, it said.

Microsoft's MSN launched its msnNow site that puts together brief summaries on topics that are trending on Facebook, Twitter, Bing, and news site BreakingNews.com on a website accessible on PCs, tablets, and mobile phones.

"It cuts through the clutter of the Web, providing an up-to-the-minute view of breaking trends and the hottest social conversations, what people are saying about them, and why they matter," Microsoft said in a statement on Wednesday.

Norwegian mobile operator Telenor said Wednesday that it has issued a notice to its Indian joint venture partner seeking indemnity and compensation after the cancellation earlier this month of its 22 2G licenses by India's Supreme Court.

The court ordered 122 licenses issued in 2008 to be canceled, as they had been purchased by business entities that manipulated the system. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is to auction the spectrum and licenses released as a result.

The Global Square, an online global collaboration platform for activists backed by WikiLeaks among others, plans to have a functional prototype by March, its sponsors said.

Styled on social networks like Facebook and Twitter, The Global Square, targeted at activists and the global community, will be developed around Tribler peer-to-peer technology.

New Research In Motion CEO Thorsten Heins has a small window of opportunity to resuscitate the long-stumbling smartphone maker.

Analysts and industry partners think Heins, promoted to lead the company late last month, may have only until December to prove his mettle. By then, they say, he must get new BlackBerry 10 smartphones out the door and also get sales off to a good start for the Playbook 2 tablet, which is slated to start shipping next month.

Microsoft is investigating a "limited compromise" of the company's online store in India, the company said Monday.

"The store customers have already been sent guidance on the issue and suggested immediate actions," the company said in a statement.