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News

• Courts OK Apple group's $4.5B Nortel patent buyout

  U.S. and Canadian courts have approved the sale of thousands of patents from bankrupt Nortel Networks to a consortium including Apple and Microsoft for about US$4.5 billion.

• LightSquared raises $265M more despite GPS worries

  Mobile broadband startup LightSquared has raised another US$265 million that it can use for building its 4G LTE network, despite the uncertainty of that network being approved by the FCC.

• Vodafone buying out Indian partner in mobile joint venture

  Vodafone ended on Friday a fractious relationship with its Indian joint venture partner, Essar Group, but will end up paying more than earlier planned for the partner's 33 percent stake in the mobile joint venture, Vodafone Essar.

• HP to open cloud, R&D centers in China

  Hewlett-Packard is opening two new centers in China, one focused on cloud computing, and the other on research, as the company ramps up to address this large market.

• HP to build regional China HQ in Shanghai

  HP plans to expand its manufacturing base in Shanghai and build a regional China headquarters in the city as part of the company's efforts to grow in a country expected to become the world's largest PC market.

• Alibaba's online payment service granted Chinese license

  The online payment service at the center of a dispute between Yahoo and Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group has been granted a license by Chinese authorities to operate its services.

• LinkedIn explores opportunities in China

  LinkedIn is exploring opportunities in China, a market with 100 million working professionals that the business networking site believes it can attract, according to the company's vice president Arvind Rajan.

• Alibaba, Yahoo try to mend ties with joint statement

  Yahoo and Alibaba Group issued a joint statement on Sunday, in what appeared to be a symbolic effort by the companies to move past a dispute involving a Chinese online payment service.

• Gartner: Enterprise software spending rebounds 8.5%

  Global spending on enterprise software grew 8.5 percent in 2010 to US$245 billion following a 2.5 percent drop-off in 2009, suggesting the industry is shaking off the effects of the economic downturn and starting more new projects, according to figures released by analyst firm Gartner on Thursday.

• China's Facebook, Renren, faces stiff competition

  It's been called the Facebook of China. And to 24-year-old Kuang Yaqiong, it pretty much is.

• SEEK expects solid international growth

  Online job advertising company, SEEK Limited (ASX:SEK), believes the international companies it has invested in are well-positioned for growth as internet penetration improves in their various markets.

• US court approves Google's $900M bid for Nortel patents

  Nortel Networks has obtained court approval to accept a US$900 million bid from Google for the entirety of its remaining patent portfolio, it said Monday.

• Visa gets behind mobile payment startup Square

  Square, a mobile credit card processing startup, received an undisclosed strategic investment from Visa, the world's largest credit card company. The investment is strategic because Square probably doesn't need the cash. The company was started in 2009 by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, and recently closed a $27.5 million round of funding at a $240 million valuation.

• Huawei open to more US acquisitions

  Huawei Technologies may seek more acquisitions in the U.S. after its ill-fated purchase of assets from 3Leaf Systems, and it thinks an ongoing dialog it has set up with the federal government could help to ease those deals through.

• Cloud storage startup Cirtas retreats

  Another cloud storage operation shut down last week when startup Cirtas Systems, which developed a controller for storage in the cloud, announced it was leaving the market to regroup.