Apple Inc. milked the popularity of its iTunes store to form an illegal cartel with publishers to raise electronic book prices, a federal judge decided in a case swayed by the words of the late Steve Jobs.Wednesday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan sided with government regulators' contention that Apple joined five major book publishers to gang up on Amazon.com in a price-fixing conspiracy that caused consumers to pay more for electronic books.Determined to protect one of

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said China's rise is good but its theft of U.S intellectual property must stop as the global powers held annual talks that signaled more cooperation on tackling climate change while underscoring their deep differences on human rights.The gathering took place a month after the U.S. and Chinese presidents' summit in California that tried to set a positive tone in relations but also made clear Washington's growing anxiety about Chinese cybertheft.``We both will benefit

Portugal's president said Wednesday he is keeping faith with the bailed-out country's troubled coalition government and rejecting opposition parties' demands for an early election, though he appealed to all the main parties to put aside their differences and find a broad compromise that will spare the Portuguese from needing a second financial rescue.The government came close to collapse last week when the two coalition partners disagreed over the scale of austerity measures. The finance and for

Chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday that the U.S. economy still needs help from the Federal Reserve's low interest rate policies.Bernanke told the National Bureau of Economic Research that because unemployment remains high and inflation is below the Fed's target, the policies are still necessary. He also said the economy is also being held back by higher taxes and federal spending cuts.``If you put all of that together, you can only conclude that highly accommodative monetary policy for the for

The WikiLeaks anti-secrecy website said Tuesday that fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden had not yet formally accepted asylum in Venezuela as was claimed by a top Russian lawmaker in a Twitter posting that was later deleted.Pro-Kremlin lawmaker Alexei Pushkov sparked confusion when he tweeted Tuesday that Snowden had agreed to an offer from Caracas. He deleted the posting after about 30 minutes."Edward Snowden has not yet formally accepted asylum in Venezuela. The Russian lawmaker con

Russia's U.N. ambassador said Tuesday that Russian experts determined that Syrian rebels made sarin nerve gas and used it in a deadly chemical weapon attack outside Aleppo in March.Ambassador Vitaly Churkin blamed opposition fighters for the March 19 attack in the government-controlled Aleppo suburb of Khan al-Assal, which he said killed 26 people, including 16 military personnel, and injured 86 others.The rebels have blamed the government for the attack.  The U.S. Britain and France have said t

Egypt's military-backed interim leader named a new prime minister and won $8 billion in promises of aid from wealthy Arab allies in the Gulf on Tuesday in moves aimed at stabilizing a political transition less than a week after the army deposed the Islamist president.The armed forces warned political factions that ``maneuvering'' must not hold up its ambitious fast-track timetable for new elections next year. The sharp message underlined how strongly the military is shepherding the process, even

Ratings agency Standard and Poor's on Tuesday downgraded the sovereign rating of crisis-hit Italy by one notch to 'BBB' on worries over the country's ability to resist effects of a dilapidating recession."The rating action reflects our view of a further worsening of Italy's economic prospects coming on top of a decade of real growth averaging minus 0.04 percent," it said.The agency also lowered its gross domestic product growth forecast for Italy in 2013, to negative 1.9 percent, compared with a

The United States and China plan to discuss wide-ranging issues, including North Korea, cyber security, climate change and energy security, when their top diplomatic and economic officials meet in Washington later this week, officials said Tuesday.The 5th U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) opens Wednesday for a two-day run.The U.S. will be represented by Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of the Treasury Jacob Lew, the Treasury said. Their Chinese counterparts will be Sta

Chrysler Korea, the local importer and distributor of U.S. automaker Chrysler Group LLC., is voluntarily recalling Jeep Compass vehicles for problems with the vehicle's seat belts and airbags, Seoul's transportation ministry said Wednesday.According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the car's seat belt pretensioner may not work properly in the case the vehicle is overturned.Also, the vehicle's side airbags may not deploy properly under the same condition, it added.The recall

South Korea's jobless rate inched up in June from a month earlier but job creation quickened sharply, raising hopes that labor market conditions might be improving, a government report showed Wednesday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, the jobless rate stood at 3.1 percent last month, up from the previous month's 3 percent. The jobless rate adjusted for inflation remained unchanged at 3.2 percent over the cited period.The pace of job creation, however, accelerated. The number of emplo

A new study links heavy air pollution from coal burning to shorter lives in northern China. Researchers estimate that the half-billion people alive there in the 1990s will live an average of 5{ years less than their southern counterparts because they breathed dirtier air.China itself made the comparison possible: for decades, a now-discontinued government policy provided free coal for heating, but only in the colder north. Researchers found significant differences in both particle pollution of t

South Korea's advance party for working-level government talks aimed at normalizing the inter-Korean industrial complex crossed the demarcation line that separates the two Koreas on Tuesday, the government said.The 25-member team of eight government officials and 17 engineers crossed the demilitarized zone into North Korea at 8:30 a.m. and headed for Kaesong. The team will help set up the venue and check communication and power lines for the Wednesday talks, as well as other infrastructure facil

Greece secured a much-needed 6.8 billion euros ($8.7 billion) in rescue loans Monday after squeaking by an inspection from its international creditors, who are demanding it slash thousands of civil servant jobs and government spending.Experts from the European Central Bank, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund said Greece's finances are improving, although they warned that it is making reforms too slowly and that the outlook for its economy, which has been in recession since 20