UNHAPPY STORY: The Securities and Exchange Commission's investigation into Dell's accounting practices is still ongoing and the company still faces shareholder lawsuits
Dell Inc executives have finally wrapped up a yearlong internal investigation into accounting problems at the computer company, and the mistakes could end up costing them as much as US$150 million.

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SUPER STORE: The merger would help the firms compete in a market where sales have fallen 16 percent since 1997 as the population shrinks and spending habits change
Mitsukoshi Ltd said it's in takeover talks with Isetan Co to form Japan's largest department store chain after sales in the industry slumped for a ninth year.

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Asian shares tumbled again yesterday, with the Tokyo benchmark nose-diving 5.4 percent, as the region showed little sign of staging a recovery amid a global sell-off over US credit fears. European stocks, meanwhile, were mixed in early trade.

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Nokia Oyj's battle with Qualcomm Inc over royalties for chips that run mobile phones led to a new patent infringement complaint before US trade officials.

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First Magnus Financial Corp, a US national mortgage lender that was on track to fund US$36 billion in loans this year, stopped originating new loans on Thursday and said it was suspending operations.

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OFFLINE: There were posts from users on Skype's Web site lamenting the lack of connections, some were humorous while others said it was caused by hackers
Many Skype users from Europe to Latin America were not able to use the popular program to make long-distance calls using their computers on Thursday because of a software problem, the company said.

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■ STEEL
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