Probe may cost Google $22.5M

Probe may cost Google $22.5M Google is nearing an agreement to pay $22.5 million to settle a Federal Trade Commission probe over claims it violated user privacy on Apple's Internet browser, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

The settlement would resolve an investigation over how Google's software tracked user activities when they accessed the Safari browser, said the person, who asked not to be named because the matter hasn't been made public. A Stanford University grad student found this year that Google, using its DoubleClick ad network, violated users' privacy via the Safari browser on devices such as the iPhone and iPad.

More May job openings Job openings increased in May after plunging the prior month, easing concern the job market was faltering.

The number of positions waiting to be filled climbed by 195,000 to 3.64 million, partially countering the 294,000 drop seen in April, the Labor Department said Tuesday in Washington.

Spain's banks to get eurohelp European governments will jump-start as much as 100 billion euros ($123 billion) in loans to shore up Spain's banks and may move the costs off the Spanish government's balance sheet in an effort to shield the euro region's fourth-largest economy from the debt crisis.

Thirty billion euros will be lent by the end of July with the goal of eventually using the euro-area bailout fund to recapitalize banks directly instead of saddling the Spanish government with the debts, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said.

From Fitch, an 'AAA' for USA Fitch Ratings has retained the U.S. at its top 'AAA' credit rating but also left the outlook negative, citing the failure of Congress and the Obama administration to forge an agreement on reducing the budget deficit. The major credit rating agencies have been warning for months of possible downgrades if deficit reduction isn't worked out. Last year Standard & Poor's cut its rating of long-term U.S. Treasury securities by a notch from 'AAA" to 'AA+' -- the first downgrade of U.S. government debt in history.

CFTC charges Peregrine, exec The Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Tuesday charged a futures firm and its chief executive with fraud and making false statements after nearly $200 million in customer funds went missing.

The regulator is seeking a restraining order against the Peregrine Financial Group, also called PFG, to prevent the destruction of any information that may be needed in the course of the investigation. The commission is also asking a federal court to appoint a receiver for the firm and freeze its assets. A day earlier, the chairman and chief executive, Russell Wasendorf Sr., tried to commit suicide outside of the firm's offices in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

GE inks 2 deals in Vietnam General Electric signed two deals with Vietnamese companies Tuesday as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited the Southeast Asian nation to promote economic engagement.

GE will supply one steam turbine generator for Cong Thanh, a private Vietnamese company, for its 660-megawatt thermal power plant in the Nghi Son Economic Zone, in Thanh Hoa province, Vietnam. The project includes $36 million in U.S. export content, according to a State Department statement.

GE will also work with the Vietnamese National Power Transmission Corp. to supply electricity transmission capacitors to the company in a three-phase project valued at $50 million.

The maker of BlackBerry devices put its nine-passenger Dassault Aviation SA F50EX up for sale, trying to fetch $6 million to $7 million, one of the people said, declining to be named because the sale hasn't been completed. Selling the midrange jet would leave RIM with one Dassault F900EX, a longer-range aircraft that can fit 14 passengers, the person said.

Chief Executive Officer Thorsten Heins, who at RIM's annual shareholder meeting Tuesday asked investors to be patient, is trying to rein in costs as RIM's smartphones fall out of favor and losses mount.