A review of content on Google Inc.’s YouTube service turned up dozens of videos selling stolen credit card data, according to an Internet-safety research group trying to shed more light on an $18 billion illicit industry. The group, called the Digital Citizens Alliance, accused YouTube of failing to block the videos while profiting from legitimate advertisements that run next to them. Doing a search for how to get valid 2014 credit card numbers yielded almost 16,000 results, according to a 13-pa

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Apple has reached an out-of-court settlement with a group of U.S. states who had accused it of conspiring with publishers to fix the prices of e-books.Eleven months after the U.S. Justice Department found Apple guilty of violating antitrust laws in its effort to push into the e-books business, the company reached a deal on Monday to settle the states’ class-action suit, which sought up to $840 million in actual and punitive damages, according to court documents.The details of

Chinese Premier Li meets Queen Elizabeth II

TOKYO (AFP) ― Japan’s trade deficit narrowed in May as imports turned down for the first time in a year and a half, data showed Wednesday, but weaker shipments abroad helped keep the trade balance in the red.The figures ― which suggested the world’s number three economy was slowing ― reflected a fall-off in spending after sales taxes rose in April, a move seen as crucial to paying down a huge national debt but one that threatened to stall the nation’s budding economic recovery.The trade deficit

BERLIN (AP) ― Engineering giants Siemens of Germany and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan on Monday jointly offered to buy parts of France’s Alstom and start a long-term partnership, a move that could derail a competing bid by General Electric. Siemens AG said it is offering 3.9 billion euros ($5.3 billion) to acquire Alstom’s gas business entirely, including related service contracts. Mitsubishi would purchase a 10 percent stake of Alstom and inject 3.1 billion euros into the company. Strugg

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― The International Monetary Fund on Monday slashed its forecast for the United States and urged policymakers to keep interest rates low and raise the minimum wage to strengthen growth in the world’s largest economy.The global crisis lender said in its annual report card on the U.S. economy that the country will likely grow only 2.0 percent this year, compared with the previous 2.8 percent estimate, blaming mainly the unexpected contraction in the first quarter.It said growth is

Brent crude was projected by Wall Street analysts to average as much as $116 a barrel by the end of the year. Now, with violence escalating in Iraq, how far the price will rise has become anyone’s guess. The international benchmark surged above $114 on June 13 for the first time in nine months as militants routed the Iraqi army in the north and advanced toward Baghdad, threatening to ignite a civil war. The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, known as ISIL, has halted repairs to the pipeline f