BLACK GOLD: Of the 12 trading days this year, oil has risen on only four, and three of them have been Fridays, the day when traders typically consolidate their positions
Oil prices rose on Friday, recovering from their decline below US$50 a day earlier as traders who had made bets on the market falling took profits.

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Wall Street's main indexes were mixed over the past week amid market turmoil over corporate earnings and the outlook for profit growth.

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CLOUDED BY UNCERTAINTY: In Taipei, the TAIEX shed 0.7 percent as bellwether technology stocks were weighed down by Apple's disappointing guidance report
Asian stocks closed mixed on Friday as investors focused on domestic issues and consolidated in the wake of recent sharp gains and overnight falls on Wall Street.

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The US dollar inched up against the yen in Asia on Friday as Japan's finance minister said that the yen's exchange rate was in line with economic fundamentals.

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European stock exchanges advanced on Friday, powered by news that US consumer confidence last month, according to one survey, had shot up to its highest reading since January 2004.

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MORALITY: Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Vodafone are cooperating with human rights groups to codify a set of rules for Internet firms faced with civil liberties dilemmas
Two US human rights groups said on Friday that they were working with Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Vodafone to protect civil liberties online.

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TELECOMS TREND?: Last week, Sprint announced that it was letting off 5,000 workers, while Finland's Perlos and it planned to cut 4,000 jobs this year
Motorola Inc, the world's second-largest mobile phone maker, announced 3,500 job cuts on Friday after reporting a sharp fall in earnings because of an industry price war.

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Monaco, Europe's tiny gambling paradise, is seeking to tap the huge Chinese appetite for games of chance in a new promotional drive -- one that targets the highest of the high-rollers.

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Clothes from leading international fashion have been declared substandard in China with some containing large levels of a chemical that can cause respiratory and eye irritations, Chinese authorities said.

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Tesco PLC, Britain's largest supermarket chain, unveiled a £500 million (US$986.2 million) strategy on Friday to cut carbon emissions and persuade its customers to buy environmentally friendly products.

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■ Computers
ProMOS invests in China
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