Millions are silenced in BlackBerry blackout
Technical problems at Research In Motion cut off wireless e-mail service to millions of BlackBerry users in the United States for more than 10 hours.

Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners raise offer for Clear Channel
The two private equity firms raised their offer by more than $1.5 billion, to about $27.6 billion, according to people involved in the negotiations.

At Yahoo, new initiatives have yet to add to bottom line
The company said net income for the first quarter fell 11 percent from a year earlier, while revenue, excluding certain payments made to partners, was up 9 percent.

IBM strategy shift pays off
The company's shift toward higher-margin software and services has shown marked progress.

Beijing blocks Baidu.com's Japan Web site
Baidu.com, operator of the most-used Chinese Internet search engine, said its Japan Web site, which has links to pornography and critics of the Chinese government, has been blocked in mainland China.

France to choose president with help of electronic voting
Up to 1.5 million of the 43 million eligible French voters will break from the past to use computers at the voting booth to elect their president for the first time.

Russian telecommunications firm calls in $1.35 billion debt from Cukurova.
The Russian company, Altimo, owns a stake in Turkcell, which is controlled by Cukurova.

Sharp Electronics aims to explain 'what solar is all about'
Using the ad agency ReichesBaird, the subsidiary of the Japanese company and one of the biggest makers of rooftop solar panels has embarked on a six-month campaign to teach homeowners in California about how the process functions.

From reality TV, video games
Electronic Arts, the largest video game publisher in the world, and Endemol, the developer of reality TV shows like "Big Brother," announced a partnership to create online versions of the format.

Microsoft raises antitrust concerns over Google's purchase of DoubleClick
Microsoft was joined by AT&T in saying that antitrust authorities in the United States should examine whether the Google-DoubleClick deal will reduce competition in online advertising.

Sony's game division said that its European unit might cut up to 160 jobs, or 8.4 percent of its work force, as it faces stronger competition from Nintendo and Microsoft.

Sony Computer Entertainment's other regional operations, like those in the United States and Japan, could also take some streamlining measures, but nothing has been decided, a SCE spokesman, Satoshi Fukuoka, said Wednesday.

The development comes less than a month after the PlayStation 3 console made its delayed debut in Europe, where the electronics and entertainment conglomerate planned to ship 1 million units of the machine.

Two people have been arrested and cautioned for using someone else's wireless Internet connection without permission, known as "piggy-backing," the British police said Wednesday.

The practice, which sharply divides Internet users, has been fueled by the rapid growth of wireless broadband in homes and people's failure to secure their networks.

On Saturday, a man was arrested after neighbors spotted him sitting in a car outside a home in Redditch, England, using a laptop computer to browse the Internet.

A 29-year-old woman was also arrested in a car in a similar incident in the same area last month. Both received an official caution, a formal warning one step short of prosecution, for "dishonestly obtaining electronic communications services with intent to avoid payment."

Intesa Sanpaolo, one of the biggest banks in Italy, said talks with investors about buying an indirect stake in Telecom Italia were still "preliminary."

Intesa "has no update with respect to the disclosure already made" in a news release on April 10, it said in a statement distributed by the Italian stock exchange. Italy's market regulator, Consob, asked the Milan-based bank for a comment and update on the negotiations.

Lagardère's chairman, Arnaud Lagardère, said during an interview with a French magazine that he would never sell the company. Lagardère, who is also the co-chairman of European aerospace group EADS, told Le Point magazine that although the controversial pay-off to Noël Forgeard, the former head of the aircraft maker Airbus, might seem "shocking," it was part of his contract. Commenting on speculation over his future at the helm of Lagardère, which is structured as a general partnership, Lagardère is quoted in the magazine as saying: "Let it be known that I do not want to sell the company and that I will never sell it."

Infineon, a German chip maker, will invest about €200 million, or $271 million, to expand its research and development activities in Singapore, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.