Taiwanese regulators cleared on Tuesday China's Xiaomi Inc [XTC.UL] and other smartphone brands of breaching local data protection laws after national security concerns triggered the government to launch a probe in September.

The National Communications Commission, in a report concluding the investigation, said all the 12 brands it had tested, which include

 handsets sold by Apple Inc, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, LG Electronics Inc and Sony Corp, did not violate the laws.

James Lou, an NCC official who was involved in the testing, said the commission, however, would request mobile phone makers make information transmission more secure.

The probe, which also involved Chinese handset makers Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and ZTE Corp, was a reminder of the scrutiny Chinese technology firms are subject to abroad as governments become increasingly wary of potential cyber security threats from the world's second-biggest economy.

It also highlights Taiwan's sensitivity to security issues involving China, its largest trading partner but one which has never renounced the use of force to take back what it deems a renegade province.

Privately owned Xiaomi, whose budget smartphones are popular throughout Asia, was previously accused of breaching data privacy. In August, the company apologized and said it would change a default feature after a Finnish security company said Xiaomi collected address book data without users' permission.

In September, Taiwan's government began performing independent tests on Xiaomi phones after media reports said that some models automatically send user data back to the firm's servers in mainland China.

The probe was then widened to include local and foreign handsets. The NCC report said handsets made by local firms HTC Corp, Asustek Computer Inc, Far EasTone Telecommunications Co Ltd, Taiwan Mobile Co Ltd and U.S.-based InFocus Corp, whose handsets are made by Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, were also cleared of breaching the data protection laws.

Reuters

China said on Monday it opposed all forms of cyberattacks but there was no proof that North Korea was responsible for the hacking of Sony Pictures, as the United States has said.

North Korea has denied it was to blame and has vowed to hit back against any U.S. retaliation, threatening the White House and the Pentagon. The hackers said they were incensed by a Sony comedy about a fictional assassination of North

 Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which the studio has pulled.

China made no reference to calls by the United States for joint action with it and other countries to counter any similar cyberattacks.

"Before making any conclusions there has to be a full (accounting of) the facts and foundation," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said. "China will handle it in accordance with relevant international and Chinese laws according to the facts."

She said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi "reaffirmed China's relevant position, emphasizing China opposes all forms of cyberattacks and cyber terrorism" in a conversation with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday.

China is North Korea's only major ally, and would be central to any U.S. efforts to crack down on the isolated state. But the United States has also accused China of cyber spying in the past and a U.S. official has said the attack on Sony could have used Chinese servers to mask its origin.

South Korea, which is still technically at war with North Korea, said computer systems at its nuclear plant operator had been hacked and non-critical data stolen, but there was no risk to nuclear installations or reactors.

"It's our judgment that the control system itself is designed in such a way and there is no risk whatsoever," Chung Yang-ho, deputy energy minister, told Reuters by telephone.

He made no mention of North Korea and could not verify messages posted by a Twitter user claiming responsibility for the attacks and demanding the shutdown of three aging nuclear reactors by Thursday.

U.S. President Barack Obama and his advisers are weighing how to punish North Korea after the FBI concluded on Friday it was responsible for the attack on Sony.

It was the first time the United States had directly accused another country of a cyberattack of such magnitude on American soil and set up the possibility of a new confrontation between Washington and Pyongyang.

"SYMMETRIC COUNTERACTION"

North Korea's state news agency said it did not know who had hacked Sony Pictures.

"We do not know who or where they are but we can surely say that they are supporters and sympathizers with the DPRK," the KCNA news agency said. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is the North's official name.

"Our toughest counteraction will be boldly taken against the White House, the Pentagon and the whole U.S. mainland, the cesspool of terrorism, by far surpassing the 'symmetric counteraction' declared by Obama," it said in a typically aggressive commentary.

Japan, one of Washington's closest Asian allies, said it strongly condemned the attack on Sony, but also stopped short of blaming North Korea.

"Japan is maintaining close contact with the United States and supporting their handling of this case," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference.

He did not answer when asked if Japan was convinced North Korea was behind the cyber attack, but repeated that he saw no effect on talks with North Korea over the fate of Japanese citizens abducted by Pyongyang agents decades ago.

Obama put the hack in the context of a crime.

"No, I don't think it was an act of war," he told CNN's "State of the Union" show that aired on Sunday. "I think it was an act of cyber vandalism that was very costly, very expensive. We take it very seriously. We will respond proportionately."

The hack attack and subsequent threats of violence against theaters prompted Sony to withdraw the comedy, "The Interview," which had been due for release during the holiday season.

Republican Senator John McCain disagreed with Obama, telling CNN the attack was the manifestation of a new kind of warfare.

Republican Representative Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, would not call the hacking an act of war. But he did criticize Obama for embarking on a two-week vacation in Hawaii on Friday without responding to the attack.

"You've just limited your ability to do something," Rogers said.

"I would argue you're going to have to ramp up sanctions. It needs to be very serious. Remember - a nation-state was threatening violence."

Reuters

BlackBerry Ltd (BB.TO)(BBRY.O) on Friday reported a bigger-than-expected drop in third-quarter revenue, sending shares of the struggling smartphone maker lower, even as it eked out a small adjusted profit and began generating cash flow again.

Revenue fell to $793 million from $1.19 billion a year earlier, falling short of analysts' expectations of $931.5 million.

"It's a number that obviously, to us, is not satisfying,"

Chief Executive Officer John Chen said on a conference call, noting that the focus has been on margins and cash flow. "We achieved that, but now we're going to turn our attention to revenue."

Shares fell 5.4 percent to $9.52 in morning trade.

Chen said hardware sales in the quarter were weaker than expected as production was limited and the company could only fulfill all device orders early in the fourth quarter.

At an analyst conference in San Francisco last month, Chen had said revenue could slide faster than expected as its sales profile changes.

BlackBerry had long made money charging system access fees, but now offers some basic services for free. As older devices are retired, that erodes revenue, but the company is aiming to boost hardware sales with its new Passport and Classic phones, buying time to scale up new premium services, which are not free, in 2015.

Cash flow was positive $43 million in the third quarter, versus negative $36 million in the second quarter. BlackBerry had said it was targeting break-even cash flow by the end of the fiscal year in February 2015.

Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Partners in New York, said Chen did a good job controlling expenses.

"The fact that he overachieved by turning cash flow positive this quarter - that's a great milestone," said Gillis. "It gets easier from here."

Excluding a one-time non-cash debenture charge and restructuring charges, the company reported a profit of 1 cent a share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S expected a loss of 5 cents.

The Waterloo, Ontario-based company's net loss narrowed to $148 million, or 28 cents a share, in the quarter ended Nov. 29, from a year-earlier $4.4 billion, or $8.37 a share.

BlackBerry launched its long-awaited Classic smartphone on Wednesday, hoping to help win back market share and woo customers still using older devices with a keyboard. The phone resembles its once wildly popular Bold and Curve handsets.

Reuters

The U.S. government on Friday blamed North Korea for a devastating cyber attack against Sony Pictures, calling it an unacceptable act of intimidation and vowing to impose "costs and consequences" on those responsible.

It was the first time the United States had directly accused another country of a cyber attack of such magnitude on American soil and sets up a possible new confrontation between longtime foes Washington and Pyongyang.

The destructive nature of the attack, and threats from the hackers that led the Hollywood studio to pull a comedy movie depicting the assassination of North Korea's leader, set it apart from previous cyber intrusions, the FBI said.

President Barack Obama was expected to address the issue at a 1:30 p.m. (1830 GMT) end-of-year news conference, but his options for responding to the attack by the impoverished state appeared limited.

North Korea has been subject to U.S. sanctions for more than 50 years, but they have had little effect on its human rights policies or its development of nuclear weapons. It has become expert in hiding its often criminal money-raising activities, largely avoiding traditional banks.

"As a result of our investigation, and in close collaboration with other U.S. government departments and agencies, the FBI now has enough information to conclude that the North Korean government is responsible for these actions," the FBI said in a statement.

"North Korea’s actions were intended to inflict significant harm on a U.S. business and suppress the right of American citizens to express themselves," it said. "Such acts of intimidation fall outside the bounds of acceptable state behavior."

NORTH KOREAN MALWARE

The FBI said technical analysis of malware used in the Sony attack found links to malware that "North Korean actors" had developed and found a "significant overlap" with "other malicious cyber activity" previously linked to Pyongyang.

North Korea has previously denied involvement, and a North Korean U.N. diplomat on Thursday declined to comment on the accusation that Pyongyang was responsible.

"Working together, the FBI will identify, pursue, and impose costs and consequences on individuals, groups, or nation states who use cyber means to threaten the United States or U.S. interests," said the FBI, the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

It stopped short of threatening specific U.S. action.

U.S. experts say U.S. options could include cyber retaliation, financial sanctions, criminal indictments against individuals implicated in the attack or even a boost in U.S. military support to South Korea to send a stern message to North Korea.

But the effect of any response could be limited given North Korea's isolation and the fact that it is already heavily sanctioned over its disputed nuclear program.

The attack on Sony, more than three weeks ago, was conducted by hackers calling themselves "Guardians of Peace."

It brought down the computer network at Sony Pictures Entertainment, prompted the leak of embarrassing emails, and led to Sony's cancellation of the Christmas Day release of "The Interview," which culminates in a scene depicting the assassination of President Kim Jong Un.

U.S. movie theaters had said they would not show the film after hackers made threats against cinemas and audiences. Many in Hollywood and Washington criticized Sony's cancellation as caving in to the hackers.

"CRIMINAL ACT"

Former Senator Chris Dodd, now the head of the Motion Picture Association of America, called the cyber attack on Sony Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp, a "despicable, criminal act."

Obama’s national security team is seeking a response tough enough to get its message across but not so extreme as to provoke North Korea to engage in further cyber warfare.

A dilemma for the administration is how much evidence it could make public without divulging the technological means it has to trace cyber attacks back to the source.

"This is unprecedented," said Dmitri Alperovitch, chief technology officer of cyber security firm CrowdStrike. "We have a dictatorial regime that attacked a private company on U.S. soil. Will we see a response from the U.S. government?"

Some of Hollywood's biggest names howled over the cancellation of the $44 million film, which stars James Franco and Seth Rogen, the latter also a co-director of the movie with partner Evan Goldberg.

The hacking of Sony appeared to mark a new phase in already-fraught relations between the United States and the reclusive government in Pyongyang, which have largely centered on U.S. efforts to rein in Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.

Non-conventional capabilities such as cyber warfare and nuclear technology are the weapons of choice for the impoverished North to match its main enemies, defectors from the isolated state said in Seoul.

Reuters

T-Mobile US has agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by the U.S. government over unauthorized charges placed on customers' bills, a practice known as cramming, and to pay at least $90 million in refunds and fines, two U.S. government agencies said on Friday.

The FTC had filed a complaint against T-Mobile in July, saying that the company had put subscriptions for services like horoscopes or celebrity gossip delivered by text message, 

which often cost $9.99 a month, on consumers' mobile phone bills often without their knowledge.

T-Mobile USA received 35 to 40 percent of the amount charged, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said in July.

The Federal Communications Commission and state attorneys general were also involved in the probe.

Reuters

 Google will try to persuade a U.S. judge on Thursday to dismiss an antitrust lawsuit over its Android smartphone operating system, as the Internet search company faces increased regulatory pressure from European authorities.

The hearing in San Jose, California, federal court is over the lawsuit filed by two smartphone consumers who say Google Inc 

requires Android handset manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics Co Ltd to restrict competing apps like Microsoft Corp's Bing search, partly by making Google's own apps the default.

Google argues in its court filings that the proposed class action should be dismissed because consumers still are free to use the other apps. The plaintiffs counter that most consumers either do not know how to switch default settings, or will not go to the trouble.

Last month, the European Parliament overwhelmingly passed a non-binding resolution urging antitrust authorities to break up Google. The lawmakers called on the European Commission to consider proposals to unbundle search engines from other commercial services.

Google is the subject of a four-year investigation by the Commission, over allegations that it improperly manipulated search results to rank its own services higher than competitors. European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who took over the post last month, said she would sample industry views and developments before taking any action.

Separately, Google's competitors including Microsoft filed a complaint with the European Commission over some of the same issues at play in the U.S. consumer lawsuit.

Google apps "are widely used on Android by requiring default placement and other mechanisms for disadvantaging competing apps," the companies said in a summary of their complaint.

Should U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman allow the class action to proceed, plaintiffs' attorneys would be allowed to delve into internal Google emails and contracts with smartphone companies, and could interview Google executives under oath.

"I'm confident we will get into juicy stuff, and I think that will up the pressure on Google as some of the material we discover becomes public," lawyer Steve Berman said in July.

Google, however, said in filings that its deals with handset makers do not prevent rival search engines "from reaching consumers through the various distribution channels available to them."

The case is Gary Feitelson and Daniel McKee, on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated vs. Google Inc, in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California No. 14-2007.

Reuters

 Two of Europe's top three remaining telecommunications equipment companies, Nokia Networks (NOK1V.HE) and Alcatel-Lucent (ALUA.PA), have revived talks on a possible merger, Germany's Manager Magazin reported on Thursday, citing company sources.

The two companies could agree to merge or strike up a close cooperation, the magazine

 said, adding that the contacts had resumed in the autumn.

Shares in Alcatel rose 8 percent following the report. Nokia was up 2.85 percent.

Both Alcatel and Nokia declined to comment on the report.

Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia have held on-again, off-again talks for years before Nokia sold its struggling handset business in April to Microsoft in a 5.6 billion euro ($7 billion) deal that left Nokia to concentrate on developing the networks business.

"The old rumour comes back to the table," Inderes Equity Research analyst Mikael Rautanen said in reaction to the report. "The pressure for the market to consolidate is obvious."

The Manager Magazin article said that Nokia, with its strength in wireless networks, could benefit from a tie-up with Alcatel-Lucent, with its fixed-line network assets, as distinctions blur between wired and wireless networks in a mobile broadband world.

Nokia is looking for a modest return to growth in its core network equipment and services business next year, while Alcatel has remained focused on restructuring and cost-cutting as well as generating cash to cut its debt payments.

One source familiar with the matter said merger talks between the two have never really stopped over the last five years. But any deal is likely to be hampered by French politics, with the threat of Alcatel job cuts - possibly as high as 15,000 - far more than lawmakers could bear, the source said.

Rautanen, the Finnish analyst, said there were many hurdles to a successful deal, starting with the fact that large parts of Alcatel Lucent would not make a good fit with Nokia and would need to be spun off or sold for any deal to make sense.

Nokia has the cash following the Microsoft deal to contemplate buying Alcatel-Lucent and a deal would help bolster its position in the U.S. market, he noted. But Nokia could simply end up buying market share unless there was a deeper strategy, the analyst said.

"One should remember that mergers in this sector have a poor success history, they are very risky," Rautanen said.

Reuters

Space Exploration Technologies is delaying the planned launch on Friday of an unmanned Falcon 9 rocket, which will carry a cargo ship to the International Space Station for NASA, to early January, officials said on Thursday.

Liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida had been planned for 1:22 p.m. EST, but an undisclosed technical issue with the 

rocket prompted SpaceX, as the company is known, to postpone the flight until Jan 6.

The problem surfaced during routine prelaunch test firing of the rocket’s engines, SpaceX spokesman John Taylor said.

“The test did not run the full duration," he said. "The data suggests we could push forward without a second attempt, but out of an abundance of caution, we are opting to execute a second static fire test prior to launch.”

SpaceX, founded and run by technology entrepreneur Elon Musk, is one of two companies hired by NASA to fly cargo to the space station following NASA's retirement of its space shuttle fleet in 2011.

The other company, Orbital Sciences Corp <ORB.N,> has been temporarily grounded after its Antares rocket exploded seconds after liftoff Oct. 28 from Wallops Island, Virginia, destroying a Cygnus cargo ship.

Orbital said last week it would buy up to two rocket rides for Cygnus from United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Lockheed Martin and Boeing to fill the gap until Antares is able to return to flight in 2016. Orbital’s next station cargo run, which will launch aboard an Atlas 5 rocket, is expected in late 2015.

Orbital on Wednesday said it would buy Russian RD-181 engines to power the Antares, replacing the AJ-26 motor suspected of causing the accident. The AJ-26s are Soviet-era engines refurbished and resold by Aerojet Rocketdyne, a GenCorp company.

The space station, a $100 billion research laboratory that flies about 260 miles (418 km) above Earth, is in no danger of running out of food or supplies for its six-member crew, NASA said.

SpaceX so far has flown four of 12 missions under its $1.6 billion NASA contract. The delay leaves SpaceX with a total of six Falcon launches in 2014, about half as many as planned, but double its 2013 rate.

Reuters

The United States and China are making progress in talks over Beijing's acceptance of new biotechnology for crops, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on Wednesday.

The countries are "moving toward an understanding of how we might be able to establish a strategic dialogue on biotechnology," Vilsack told Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang in a bilateral meeting in Chicago.

Biotech crops are a key trade issue between the countries because China has rejected more than 1 million tons of U.S. corn containing traces of a type of genetically modified corn, Agrisure Viptera, in the past year. The strain, developed by Syngenta AG, is approved for planting in the United States but not for import by Beijing.

U.S. seed makers have complained that China's regulatory review of new biotech crops has slowed over the past year and that decisions to delay import approvals for new strains are not always based on science.

China's barriers to imports of some U.S. genetically modified crops are disrupting seed companies' plans for new product launches and keeping at least one variety out of the U.S. market altogether.

The countries will "deepen our agro-technology cooperation," Wang said later in a speech at the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade.

Topics discussed at the forum included food security in China. Beijing has said it wants to be self sufficient in grain production, and the United States is "willing to collaborate significantly in agricultural research" with China, Vilsack said later in a speech at the forum.

China accounts for 20 percent of all U.S. farm exports, he said.

Reuters

Space Exploration Technologies will attempt to land its Falcon 9 rocket on a sea platform following launch on Friday, company officials said, a vital step to prove its precision landing capabilities needed before it can gain a ground landing license.

SpaceX, as the California-based firm is known, has been working on developing technology to return its rockets intact so they can be 

refurbished and reflown, dramatically cutting costs.

Falcon rockets practiced ocean touchdowns in September 2013 and twice the following year, demonstrating their ability to relight engines, position nose-up and deploy landing legs. But the rockets toppled over and smashed into the sea. “Returning anything from space is a challenge, but returning a Falcon 9 first stage for a precision landing presents a number of additional hurdles,” the company said in a statement.

“At 14 stories tall and traveling upwards of 1,300 miles per second (2,092 km per second), stabilizing the Falcon 9 first stage for reentry is like trying to balance a rubber broomstick on your hand in the middle of a wind storm,” SpaceX said.

SpaceX put the odds of success at about 50 percent. “Though the probability of success ... is low, we expect to gather critical data to support future landing testing,” it said.

Launch is scheduled for 1:22 p.m. EST from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

After separating from the capsule and the rocket’s upper-stage booster, the first stage will attempt to slow its fall back through the atmosphere by relighting its Merlin engines three times and positioning itself using steerable fins.

The landing target is a specially made floating platform that will be positioned in the Atlantic Ocean about 200 miles (322 km) northeast of Cape Canaveral.

Though the barge has thrusters for stability it will not be anchored. “Finding the bullseye becomes particularly tricky,” SpaceX said.

Reuters