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France is floating a proposal that the European Union ease an arms embargo for Syrian rebels but delay acting on the decision to intensify pressure on Damascus to negotiate an end to Syria's civil war, a French diplomat said on Wednesday. Sweden, Austria and some other EU member states are resisting efforts by France and Britain to modify the ban to strengthen rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.   The embargo is part of a package of EU sanctions on Syria that expires on June 1. EU foreign ministers will discuss the issue on May 27 and it could come up at an EU summit on May 22. The French diplomat's suggestion that the arms embargo could be linked to the outcome of a new initiative from the United States and Russia for a diplomatic solution in Syria appears designed to win support for the French-British proposal. It would effectively introduce a brake on the lifting of the arms embargo, allowing for it to take effect only if the proposed peace conference

Germany's economy crept back into growth at the start of the year but not by enough to stop the euro zone from contracting for a sixth straight quarter, and France slid into recession. Falling output across the bloc meant the 17-nation economy is in its longest recession since records began in 1995.   It shrank 0.2 percent in the January to March period, the EU's statistics office Eurostat said on Wednesday, worse than the 0.1 percent contraction forecast by a Reuters poll. "The misery continues," said Carsten Brzeski, a senior economist at ING in Brussels. "Almost all core countries bar Germany are in recession and so far nothing has helped in stopping this downward spiral. As well as France, the economy shrank for the quarter in Finland, Cyprus, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal and Greece . Data last month showed Spain's economy contracted for a seventh consecutive quarter. Germany, which generates almost a third of the euro zone's economy, gr

Nigeria launched a military campaign on Wednesday to flush Islamist militants out of their bases in remote border areas, after President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in the northeast. Nigerian troops deployed in large numbers, part of a plan to rout an insurgency by the Boko Haram Islamist group that has seized control of parts of the region. "The operations, which will involve massive deployment of men and resources, are aimed at asserting the nation's territorial integrity," a Defense Headquarters statement said. The campaign targets semi-desert areas of three states in which Jonathan declared an emergency on Tuesday - Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, three of the country's poorest and most remote. The Islamist insurgency has cost thousands of lives and destabilized Africa's top energy producer since it began in 2009, but it has mostly happened far from economic centers such as Lagos. The capital Abuja was, however, bombed in 2011 and 2012.  

Factory output dropped in April and manufacturing activity in New York state contracted this month, a sign that slowing global demand is weighing on the economy. The anemic growth picture was highlighted by another report on Wednesday showing the largest decline in wholesale prices in three years. The data gives the Federal Reserve latitude to keep priming the economy with an easy monetary policy. "The somewhat sluggish economic growth and limited inflation are the equivalent of rocket fuel for the Fed," said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors in Holland, Pennsylvania. U.S. Treasury debt prices rose on the reports and the dollar retreated from 4-1/2 year highs against the yen as investors fine-tuned their bets on Fed policy. Stocks on Wall Street trended higher while gold prices fell to their lowest in nearly a month.   Manufacturing production fell 0.4 percent last month after declining 0.3 percent in March, the Fed said. That pushed overall indu

Billionaire hedge fund investor Daniel Loeb on Tuesday called on Sony Corp to spin off its lucrative entertainment arm, setting the stage for a clash between his activist Wall Street fund and management at the Japanese electronics maker. Loeb said his Third Point hedge fund had accumulated a little more than 6 percent of Sony's shares - a stake worth $1.1 billion - making it the largest stakeholder in the inventor of the Walkman portable music player and Trinitron TV.   In a letter Loeb personally delivered to CEO Kazuo Hirai at Sony's headquarters, the fund manager said Third Point was willing to put up another 200 billion yen ($1.97 billion) to support an initial public offering of up to a fifth of the entertainment arm, which includes one of Hollywood's top film studios and a leading music label. Loeb, 51, is one of the best known figures in the secretive hedge fund industry with a record of clashing with corporate executives over strategy, including engineering a

Yahoo Inc plans to ramp up advertising and marketing efforts as it seeks to break its reliance on an "aging demographic" and become more relevant among young adults, the company's finance chief said on Tuesday. The struggling Web portal's brand will be more visible on outdoor billboards and at sporting events, among other places, as it seeks to woo 18-to-34-year-olds and get the word out about new products, CFO Ken Goldman said at the J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Telecom conference in Boston on Tuesday. "Part of it is going to be just visibility again in making ourselves cool, which we got away from for a couple of years," said Goldman. He noted that the efforts will require spending to advertise across various mediums. Goldman gave no specifics on budget or expenditures. Yahoo is trying to reverse a multi-year decline in revenue and user engagement on its website, amid competition from new social networking and mobile websites such as Fa

The European Commission plans to send a formal warning to China that it is ready to levy sanctions against telecoms equipment makers Huawei and ZTE Corp over illegal subsidies, people close to the matter said. EU trade chief Karel De Gucht is set to win support from the bloc's executive on Wednesday to send the warning letter and show China's new president, Xi Jinping, that Brussels is serious about countering what it says is state support. "We want to send a warning to the Chinese, a letter of intent that if they don't change their practices, there will be duties," said one person involved, adding that De Gucht had the full backing of European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. The decision will mark an intensification of the European Union's efforts to guard against what Brussels says is dumping by China, the EU's second-largest trading partner. From June, the Commission will also levy duties on billions of dollars of solar panels from Chin

Microsoft Corp's forthcoming update to its personal computer operating system will be called Windows 8.1 and will be available later this year free to existing Windows 8 customers, the marketing chief for the Windows unit said on Tuesday. _0"> The world's largest software company has been touting the update, previously code-named 'Blue,' as a series of improvements to the Windows 8 software, launched in October, which has not been as popular as it had hoped. Microsoft has sold 100 million Windows 8 licenses in the six months since launch, roughly in line with the previous version, but wants to combat sputtering interest in its flagship software with a substantial update to make it easier to use and compatible with smaller tablets. "Windows 8.1 will be delivered as a free update to Windows 8 and to Windows RT and it will be easy to get right from the Windows start screen through the app store," said Tami Reller, head of finance and marketing at M

BlackBerry announced plans on Tuesday to offer its popular instant messaging system on rival devices and introduced a new mid-tier smartphone targeted at countries where its faded brand remains strong. Tapping into its still robust popularity outside North America, BlackBerry said the new Q5 smartphone would be available starting in July in selected markets in Europe, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The Q5 includes the tiny qwerty keyboard that still sets BlackBerry apart from most rivals.   It gave no prices, but as BlackBerry opens the latest chapter of its turnaround attempt, it will clearly target a younger, more price-sensitive crowd with the device, which will be available in colors including pink, red and white. "BlackBerry is clearly aiming to replicate the success of the BlackBerry Curve in emerging markets," Ovum analyst Adam Leach said, referring to the company's Curve smartphone, which has been popular in India and other developing count

Cars that "talk" to each other to avoid crashes or traffic jams, like those being tested here, will save lives but the cost of the systems will determine consumers' acceptance of such technology, the U.S. transportation secretary said on Tuesday. "These are definitely safer vehicles. At what cost though?" Ray LaHood told reporters at a connected-vehicle conference in Ann Arbor, Michigan. "To me, that's what the bottom line's going to be. Safety has a cost and we're going to have to make that judgment." LaHood declined to estimate what the cost of the technology that allows vehicles to communicate with each other and surrounding infrastructure would need to be to attract wide adoption by consumers. "It will be up to car manufacturers to help us figure out what the cost of all this is going to be," LaHood, the outgoing transportation chief, said at a University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute conference. Since l

Nokia unveiled a lighter, metal model in its Lumia smartphone range, as it tries to catch the eye of buyers to close the huge market lead of rivals Samsung and Apple Inc in the lucrative handset market. The Lumia 925 is the latest in Nokia's range using Microsoft's Windows Phone software and will be sold for 469 euros ($610) before taxes and subsidies through carriers such as Vodafone and China Mobile. Nokia Chief Executive Stephen Elop has pinned the future of the loss-making company on Windows Phone, hoping to reverse a dramatic drop in revenue over the last two years. The phone weighs 139 grams, compared with 185 grams for the earlier 920 model, which some critics had said was too heavy. It also utilizes a new smart camera mode, a photo editing function which Nokia intends to introduce to all Lumia devices. "Lumia 925 looks like a solid product and should be able to attract new customers who have considered 920 too bulky for their taste," said Nordea analys

Google Inc Chief Executive Larry Page gave the main open subtleties of the voice infirmity that sidelined him from talking commitment the previous summer, saying that he has constrained development in his left and right vocal ropes.  The 40-year-old fellow benefactor of the world's No. 1 Internet web crawler said that specialists have been not able to distinguish a reason for the "extremely uncommon" nerve issues influencing his vocal ropes, yet that he has been gaining ground in his recuperation and is "completely ready to do all I have to at home and at work," he composed on his Google+ page on Tuesday.  Page likewise said his voice is presently "gentler" than previously, making it hard to convey long monologs. Since vocal rope nerve conditions can likewise influence breathing, his capacity to practice at "top oxygen consuming limit" is diminished, however he noticed that he keeps on getting a charge out of kitesurfing.  He likewise said t

Square Inc, a closely watched payment-processing company, made a significant push into the hardware business on Tuesday, unveiling a new credit-card reader that it claimed could be the centerpiece of the next-generation checkout counter. At a press event in a sunlit San Francisco cafe, Chief Executive Jack Dorsey introduced the "Square Stand," a white, molded-plastic iPad holder that lets businesses accept credit cards with a mounted iPad and an integrated card reader.   Coupled with an iPad and Square's free iPad software, which processes credit-card payments wirelessly and tracks sales, the new Stand represents a complete offering for small businesses that can replace existing point-of-sale systems, Dorsey said. "We wanted to unveil not just a great piece of software that allows them to build their business up, but also hardware to match," Dorsey said. "Square is extending its hardware story." Square's Stand, which is aimed at brick-and-m

Google Inc has signed licensing deals with Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment to launch a subscription music service that would compete with fast-growing start-up Spotify, according to a report on Tuesday in technology blog The Verge. _0"> Google, the world's No. 1 search engine, could unveil the streaming music service at its annual developer conference, which kicks off on Wednesday, according to the report, which cited anonymous sources. Google plans to create separate music subscription services to its mobile-focused Google Play store and to its YouTube video website, according to The Verge. The deals with Sony Music and Universal, whose catalogs include popular artists such as Rihanna and Bob Dylan, follow reports earlier this year that Google had signed a subscription deal with Warner Music Group. Music streaming, or playing songs over the Internet, has in recent years begun to come into its own as listeners increasingly choose to stream songs fro

A surge in option market bets on Sony Corp just before a large hedge fund investor announced a big stake and called for a major restructuring of the company has raised concerns that some traders may have had advance word of the news. U.S.-listed shares of Sony Corp jumped 9.9 percent to close at $20.76 after Daniel Loeb's Third Point hedge fund said on Tuesday it accumulated more than 6 percent of Sony's shares - a stake worth $1.1 billion - making it the largest shareholder in Japan's biggest electronics company.   But on Monday, the day before that announcement, trading volume in Sony options soared by more than seven times the average daily activity in the last three months. Volume in its stock rose to 6.1 million shares, more than doubling the average 2.7 million shares over the past 25 days. Investors zeroed in on June call options at $19 a share on Monday, which at the time were slightly out-of-the-money when U.S.-listed shares closed at $18.89. Nearly 10,000 of

Apple Inc responded to Justice Department accusations it conspired with publishers to push up electronic book prices, saying it negotiated with a number of publishing companies separately and crafted different agreements with each. U.S. authorities have termed Apple a go-between among several publishing houses who had long wanted to break Amazon.com Inc's grip on the low-cost digital book market, which had kept publishers' prices low.   The Justice Department accused Apple in April 2012 of colluding with five publishers to push up prices as the Silicon Valley giant prepared to launch its iPad in early 2010. It has since settled with the publishers. The publishers were News Corp's HarperCollins Publishers Inc, CBS Corp's Simon & Schuster Inc, Lagardere SCA's Hachette Book Group, Macmillan, a unit of Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH, and Pearson Plc's Penguin Group. In a filing dated April 26 and released on Tuesday, Apple said that the major p

As Amazon.com Inc seeks to transform itself into a leading provider of technology to the world's largest corporations, it's discovering that it needs help. The online retailer, which since 2006 has moved aggressively into the business of renting remote computing, storage and other IT services, is roping in thousands of consulting and technology partners, from Cap Gemini SA to BMC Software Inc, in a major push to woo big-spending corporate customers to its cloud computing division.   Amazon Web Services (AWS), as the business is known, has been a hit with startups which need robust and inexpensive Web services that they can purchase as the need arises. But big corporations and government agencies, often referred to as enterprise customers, represent a far larger opportunity: they spend more than $300 billion a year on data centers, Bernstein Research estimates. That market opportunity has helped Amazon's stock price more than triple in the past five years as investors

A breach of security at two payment card processing companies in India that led to heists at cash machines around the world has reopened questions on the risks of outsourcing sensitive financial services to the Asian nation. Global banks that ship work to be processed in India, either in-house or to big IT services vendors, were already under pressure to step up oversight of back-office functions after a series of scandals last year.   Last week, U.S. prosecutors said a global criminal gang stole $45 million from two Middle Eastern banks by breaking into the two card processing companies based in India and raising the balances and withdrawal limits. "India is exposed in two ways: The threat that the same theft could happen in India and the fact that the outsourcing industry will also get affected," said Arpinder Singh, partner and national director for fraud investigation and dispute services at consultancy Ernst & Young. The episode is reopening debate on banks se

The European Commission plans to send a formal warning to China that it is ready to levy trade duties against telecoms equipment makers Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and ZTE Corp over what it says are illegal subsidies, people close to the matter said. EU trade chief Karel De Gucht is set to win support from the bloc's executive on Wednesday to send the warning letter and show China's new president, Xi Jinping, that Brussels is serious about countering what it says is state support.   "We want to send a warning to the Chinese, a letter of intent that if they don't change their practices, there will be duties," said one person involved, adding that De Gucht had the full backing of European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. China's foreign ministry, as well as Huawei, the world's second-largest telecom equipment maker behind Sweden's Ericsson, and fifth-biggest vendor ZTE say the companies' operations conform with international trading re

Billionaire hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb says Sony Corp reminds him of Yahoo Inc before he waged a bitter proxy fight that triggered a boardroom shake-out at the Internet company last year. Loeb's Third Point hedge fund has built up a $1.1 billion stake in Sony, making it the Japanese group's biggest shareholder, and Loeb said on Tuesday he was pushing Sony to sell up to a fifth of its profitable music and movie business in a move he says would help turn around its struggling electronics business. "I rely a lot on my experience and pattern recognition. The Sony situation reminded me a lot of Yahoo," Loeb said in an interview with Reuters in Tokyo on Wednesday. In the case of Yahoo, Loeb began pushing the company in 2011 to go back to basics to compete against the likes of Google Inc and Facebook Inc. Just as Yahoo struggled to adapt to developments like social networking and mobile computing, Sony has been overtaken by nimbler consumer electronic rivals such a

Tencent Holdings more than tripled the number of active users for its mobile chat application in the first quarter, a boon to China's largest online gaming and social networking firm as it tries to diversify its revenue stream. _0"> Tencent, which is hoping to monetize its Weixin, or WeChat, app, said on Wednesday active user numbers soared 228 percent to 194 million in the quarter that ended March 31. Weixin is similar to WhatsApp, Line or KakaoTalk, apps that allow users to swap messages, stickers, voice messages over a data connection.   Tencent has invested heavily in the app and e-commerce to stimulate revenue growth, as other Chinese Internet companies also try to broaden their business. In May, Alibaba Group bought stakes in Sina Corp's social-networking website Weibo and in navigation and maps firm AutoNavi. Strong sales of online advertising and gaming helped Tencent report a 37 percent rise in first-quarter profit to 4.0 billion yuan ($645 million), in l