Google, seemingly torn between Chinese censorship and Chinese opportunity, is now “99.9 percent” certain that it will shut down its Chinese search engine, Google.cn.
According to a Financial Times source “familiar with the company’s thinking,” the search giant, having reached an apparent impasse with the Chinese government officials, has drafted detailed plans to close the Chinese search business, though it remains optimistic about finding a way to maintain its overall operations in China.
For Google, which, amid an investigation into alleged Chinese hacking of prominent U.S. Web properties, expressed in January that …

If you’re a systems engineer who wonders whether you’ve chosen the right profession, I bring you good news.
Please take a deep breath, stand up, and be prepared to leap so high, you will touch the sky. Then you will, perhaps, want to touch the Skyy. For a survey has declared that systems engineer is the best job in America.
Focus.com, perhaps spurred on by the grumbling that can be heard from so many places of work in the world, performed this most important of tasks.
The site first looked at more than …

The step-down agreement was put in place as a condition of raising debt, which stood at $470m in July 2008.
But although HIT remains a profitable company, it has not managed to reduce its net debt/earnings ratio in line with the targets set by the banks in the agreement. According to the sources, the company will seek an “amend and extend” arrangement with the lending syndicate. HIT will agree to pay a higher level of interest on its loan payments to the banks in the syndicate.
HIT, which is owned by UK-based …

The Humboldt penguins – which often mate for life – caught the eye of Adam as they stood lovingly grooming one another.
As he approached to photograph the male and female bird almost appeared to know what was coming.
In this sequence the penguins appeared to adjusted one another’s feathers before lining up to show Adam their best side.
Mr Foster, 23, a web developer from Manchester, was visiting Chester Zoo last month when he noticed the birds and decided to take some pictures.
He said what happened next was uncanny.
He said: “When I …

But he made clear the package on March 24 will not feature details of where cuts in public spending will fall – instead focusing on measures to encourage economic growth.
He also refused to rule out more tax rises beyond the hikes on top earners and national insurance already announced.
Interviewed on Sky News’ Sunday Live programme, Mr Darling said of the Budget: ”Of course it is important because the economy and the decisions we take that will affect the next five, 10, 20 years are pretty critical to the big decision, …

The retirement nest egg of an entire generation is stashed away in this small town along the Ohio River: $2.5 trillion in IOUs from the federal government, payable to the Social Security Administration.
It’s time to start cashing them in.
For more than two decades, Social Security collected more money in payroll taxes than it paid out in benefits — billions more each year.
Not anymore. This year, for the first time since the 1980s, when Congress last overhauled Social Security, the retirement program is projected to pay out more in benefits than …

President Barack Obama’s top political adviser says lobbyists are gathering on Capitol Hill “like locusts” to try to derail health care legislation.
But David Axelrod says he’s confident the overhaul will soon become law, but it will be a struggle.
He says the public understands that “this is the moment” for major changes to the country’s health care system — and things will only get worse if Congress fails to act.
Axelrod tells CNN’s “State of the Union” that insurance industry lobbyists have “landed on Capitol Hill like locusts” and will be doing …

Two guns used in high-profile shootings this year at the Pentagon and a Las Vegas courthouse both came from the same unlikely place: the police and court system of Memphis, Tenn.
Law enforcement officials told The Associated Press that both guns were once seized in criminal cases in Memphis. The officials described how the weapons made their separate ways from an evidence vault to gun dealers and to the shooters.
The use of guns that once were in police custody and were later involved in attacks on police officers highlights a little-known …

Hunch, a buzzy start-up that answers questions using crowdsourced recommendations, has resolved one query of its own: who’s going to fund our B round?
Sources tell me that Khosla Ventures is leading a new round that will add another $10 million to $12 million to the start-up’s bank account. General Catalyst Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Ron Conway, who put $2 million into the company a year ago, are reinvesting.
I’m told that Gideon Yu, the former chief financial officer of both Facebook and YouTube, is steering the investment for Khosla.
Hunch was …

Handset leader Nokia and iPhone creator Apple will seek a U.S. court hearing in a key patent battle in two years, raising the specter of a prolonged legal struggle.
Nokia sued Apple last October, saying the company used its patented technologies without paying them.
Analysts say that Nokia is seeking payment of up to $1.36 billion.
Apple fought back by filling a countersuit in Delaware on December 11, accusing Nokia of infringing 13 Apple patents.  Four patents were later removed from the list.
Legal battles for the mobile industry are becoming increasingly popular as …