EU not to sign free trade pact with Pakistan
Islamabad: The European Union has declined to sign a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Pakistan saying that the size of Pakistan's economy was not big enough for such a deal. In this backdrop Pakistan would be the only country in the region in the coming years to lose its biggest market, a senior Pakistan government official told the media on Thursday.

The official said "Pakistan's reliance on the EU market and the US is too much and in case the EU market is lost, Pakistan would stand nowhere with regard to exports," the official was quoted as saying.

The EU has decided to ink an FTA with India that would facilitate greater demands for Indian products at zero duty.
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EU may impose new fines against Microsoft
Brussels: The European Union has threatened to impose new fines against Microsoft Corp with fines as high as euro3 million (US$4 million) a day, saying the software company was still not offering a fair deal to rivals seeking to make Windows-compatible server products.

Microsoft said the EU Commission's demands were not reasonable. "It is hard to see how the Commission can argue that even patented innovation must be made available for free," the company said in a statement.

The EU complained that three years after a landmark antitrust ruling to open up the market, the U.S. software giant still refused to cooperate. Under a 2004 antitrust ruling by the European Union, Microsoft had to disclose complete and accurate interface documentation on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms, allowing its competitors to interoperate with Windows PCs and servers. Under a so-called "statement of objections," the EU's executive Commission said there was "no significant innovation" in the requested information. It also rejected 1,500 pages of submissions by Microsoft over the past three months and said Microsoft's price proposals were unreasonable.

Microsoft has four weeks to reply to the Commission after which the EU could impose fines going as high as euro3 million (US$4 million) a day.

Microsoft is also challenging the EU's original 2004 antitrust order at the EU's Court of First Instance. The 2004 antitrust order found the company broke competition law for abuse of a dominant position and fined the software maker a record euro497 million (US$613 million).

To remedy Microsoft's antitrust abuse, the EU ordered the company to sell a copy of Windows without its media player software and told it to share communications code and information with rivals to help them develop server software that worked smoothly with Microsoft's ubiquitous Windows desktop operating system.
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Ford restructuring cost estimated at $11.18 billion
Washington: Ford Motor Co's restructuring plan is likely cost $11.18 billion, with more than half of the expenses as compensation to laid-off workers.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ford estimated spending $5.96 billion on a jobs bank and other "personnel-reduction programs," $2.74 billion to scale back its pensions, $2.2 billion for fixed asset impairment charges and $281 million to idle plants.

The company also disclosed that it has pledged all its buildings, trademarks, intellectual property, shares in the main company, and shares in Volvo, Jaguar, Aston Martin, Ford Motor Credit Co. and other operations as collateral for a $23.4 billion line of credit to fund its restructuring plan and cover losses expected until 2009.

Ford said it had already accrued $9.9 billion in 2006 and the balance, mostly related to salaried personnel-reduction programs, would be accrued during the first three months of 2007.
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Nooyi to step down from the board of Motorola
New York: Indian born corporate executive Indra Nooyi who was recently elevated to the post of Pepsico Inc chairperson from May this year, is stepping down from the board of Motorola, the world's second-biggest mobile phone maker.

A Motorola director since 2002, Nooyi cited additional responsibilities of her new posts as the reason for her decision.

H Laurance Fuller, 69, a former co-chairman at BP Amoco plc, has also opted not to stand for re-election at Motorola's annual meeting on May 7.

Their departure in May will reduce the size of Motorola's board from 13 to 11, Motorola said.
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