French police, tax authorities search Microsoft offices

French authorities are probing Google for potential tax avoidance, a source close to the matter said Tuesday, with the US Internet giant facing a possible bill of over 100 million euros ($132 million).

French minister Frederic Lefebvre and Microsoft on Saturday announced a partnership to cultivate promising Internet startups in France.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Wednesday he wants "Internet giants" to pay tax in France, shortly before he was due to meet the founder of the micro-blogging site Twitter.

France's federation of telecommunications operators called Tuesday for the introduction of a "Google tax" on foreign firms like Google that benefit from French infrastructure.

The French government on Wednesday kickstarted plans for a so-called carbon tax on energy-hungry products, to be rolled out by 2011 as part of France's efforts to slash global warming emissions.

The European Commission referred France to the Court of Justice Wednesday due to tax breaks granted to France Telecom.

Yahoo! pressed on with its shopping spree on Thursday with the acquisition of a startup that powers games played on smartphones, tablets, consoles or personal computers.

Hollywood will have the box office heating up this summer with dozens of blockbuster films. But whether a movie is a worldwide box office bomb or a box office bonanza has a lot to do with the culture and release strategy ...

Apple has asked a federal judge in Silicon Valley to add Samsung's new flagship Galaxy smartphone to the list of devices targeted in a patent lawsuit involving Siri personal assistant software.

South Korea's Samsung Electronics said Thursday its latest flagship Galaxy S4 had become its fastest selling smartphone to date, topping 10 million units globally less than a month after its debut.

Computer maker Lenovo Group said Thursday its latest quarterly profit rose 90 percent as sales of smartphones and mobile computing technology expanded.

The United States should consider curbs on Chinese investment or even offensive operations against hackers to address the growing toll from intellectual property theft, a report said Wednesday.