AP - In the latest sign of its ambitious growth plans, Google Inc. has signed a 40-year lease to secure space for a huge office complex that will be built on a federal government research center near the Internet search leader's Silicon Valley headquarters.

AP - In the latest effort to placate restless investors, Yahoo Inc. president Sue Decker laid out plans Wednesday for building the company's online advertising operations, and Yahoo announced a slew of new partnerships.

AFP - A US-based blogger who allegedly accused a Singapore judge of "prostituting herself" was released on bail Thursday and had his passport confiscated.

AFP - Japan's top film rental chain Tsutaya on Thursday unveiled a download-on-demand broadband service, letting customers rent titles from home without going to the store.

AP - Dissident investor Carl Icahn escalated his attacks on Yahoo Inc.'s beleaguered board Wednesday in an acerbic letter demanding the directors scrap an employee severance plan that drove up the potential costs of a Microsoft Corp. takeover.