New head of AOL takes the long view
Randy Falco is repositioning AOL for the long term by focusing on attracting a bigger audience, selling more advertising and increasing the amount of time people spend on its services.

Briefing: Swisscom buys back stake in its mobile unit
Also: Valassis battle for Advo ends with a purchase; Former Medco employee charged in virus plot; SEC sues "pump and dump" hacker; Check Point raises offer for Swedish firm; ASML buys rival

Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons under fire for diamond trip
The dialogue surrounding the Warner Brothers film "Blood Diamond" and its implicit criticism of the diamond industry took a new turn this month, as the hip-hop producer and entertainment mogul Russell Simmons returned from an industry-paid trip to Africa and began vocally defending the diamond trade.

Speeding delivery to lure the procrastinating buyer
Online retailers are improving Christmas delivery times, saving last-minute shoppers a trip to the mall.

With NASA, Google hopes to create 'virtual flyovers' of the Moon and Mars
The NASA Ames Research Center and Google announced Monday that they had signed an agreement to collaborate on a broad set of projects that could include virtual flyovers of the Moon and Mars and other initiatives that would make NASA's vast trove of space and weather data widely available on the Internet.

Deal signed for U.S.-China cable
Verizon Business said Monday that it had signed an agreement with five Asian communications providers to link China and the United States with a state-of-the-art fiber optic cable.

Oracle takes a hit on license sales
Oracle, the software company, reported continued strong profit growth for its second quarter, but the company's stock took a tumble when softness in new license revenue disappointed investors.

VNU to cut 4,000 jobs as it restructures
VNU Group, the world's largest market research firm, announced Monday that it would cut 4,000 jobs, or about 10 percent of its work force, and sell its European business magazines to 3i, a private equity firm.

BCE to sell Telesat satellite division to Loral Space
BCE said Monday that it would sell its Telesat satellite division to Loral Space & Communications and a Canadian pension fund for 3.25 billion Canadian dollars.

O.J. Simpson's editor fires back
With Judith Regan's authors still reeling from their publisher's abrupt dismissal, the sparring between the headline-making Regan and her former employer, News Corp., has grown more intense, more personal and more specific over accusations that she had made anti-Semitic comments that prompted her firing.

Popularity of YouTube brings out the competition
NBC Universal, News Corp. and Viacom consider joining forces to create a new Web site to knock the Google-owned upstart off its Web perch.

European search engines take on Google
Google may dominate Internet search in most of the world, but a surging European market for Internet advertising, combined with demand for locally focused searches, is creating space at the table, analysts say.
- Despite founder from Russia, Google has not found its way there

Wireless: Can mobile phones give you 'presence?'
To Jyri Engestrom, most cellphone speed-dial systems might as well be a list of obituaries.

Swisscom, the former Swiss telecommunications monopoly, said Tuesday that it would buy back a 25 percent stake in its mobile unit from Vodafone Group for 4.25 billion Swiss francs.

Vodafone bought the stake in Swisscom Mobile for 4.5 billion francs in March 2001. Last month, Swisscom opened negotiations with the British company to buy it back.

The Swiss government, which still owns more than half of Swisscom's shares, approved the purchase, worth $3.5 billion.

The Swisscom chief executive, Carsten Schloter, acknowledged that the price paid was "on the high side." But Schloter said that Swisscom executives expected to increase net income and cash flow annually from 2007 by around 180 million francs after a deduction for financing costs.

$@

Valassis battle for Advo ends with purchase

WILMINGTON, Delaware: Valassis Communications, the largest U.S. provider of newspaper inserts, agreed to buy Advo, a direct mailing company, for $1.2 billion, or $33 a share, compared with $37 a share that Valassis had agreed to pay before suing to cancel the deal.

The accord ends a four-month legal battle over the purchase of Advo. Valassis hopes the acquisition will lift sales and profit, which have been hurt by falling newspaper circulation and reductions in advertisers' spending. The company said that it would save $40 million in costs under the deal, which stalled in August when Valassis challenged Advo's financial data.

Suits the companies filed against each other will be dismissed.

$@ (Bloomberg)

Former Medco employee charged in virus plot

NEWARK, New Jersey: A former systems administrator at Medco Health Solutions, the biggest U.S. manager of employee drug benefits, was charged in a failed plot to damage company computers by setting off a "logic bomb" virus.

A U.S. federal indictment unsealed in Newark, New Jersey, alleges that Yung-Hsun Lin put destructive code in Medco's computers in 2003 because he feared that the company's spinoff from Merck would cost him his job.

The code failed to trigger in 2004 as planned, and Lin reset it, prosecutors alleged. $@ (Bloomberg)

Sony BMG Music Entertainment agreed to pay $750,000 to settle a California lawsuit stemming from consumer complaints over damage to computers from copyright- protection software that the company installed on its compact discs. As many as 450,000 Californians purchased Sony CDs with the software on it, and an unknown number of these buyers suffered computer damage, said the California attorney general, Bill Lockyer. $@(Bloomberg)

Check Point Software Technologies, an Israeli maker of computer security software that is seeking to add data encryption products, raised its offer for the Swedish company Protect Data by 6.7 percent to about 4.3 billion kronor, or $629 million. Under the new offer, Protect Data shareholders would receive 187 kronor a share. $@ (Bloomberg)

ASML Holding, one of the world's largest makers of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, agreed to buy a privately owned rival, Brion Technologies, for $270 million.

$@(AP)

POWERCHIP SEMICONDUCTOR, ProMOS Technologies and Advanced Semiconductor Engineering won preliminary approvals in Taiwan to invest almost $800 million in China to set up operations closer to their customers.$@ (Bloomberg)

AXEL SPRINGER, the largest newspaper publisher in Europe, agreed to acquire 99.5 percent of the Swiss publisher Jean Frey for 139.3 million Swiss francs. Financial debt at the date the deal closes will be deducted from the purchase price, Springer said. Jean Frey publishes a consumer advisory magazine and a business magazine. $@(Bloomberg)

THOMSON, a French company that is the largest supplier of satellite decoders in the world, won a "long- term" contract from ITV, the biggest British commercial-television company, to handle broadcast operations. $@(Bloomberg)

VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS named Denny Strigl as president and chief operating officer. Strigl, who had been president and chief executive of Verizon Wireless, will oversee operations of Verizon Wireless, Verizon Telecom, Verizon Business and Verizon Service operations. He succeeds Lawrence Babbio, who is retiring as Verizon's president. $@(AP)

FIVE U.S. MOVIE STUDIOS won a court case against a Beijing shop accused of selling pirated copies of films, the Motion Picture Association said after a Beijing court ruling. $@ (AP)