Microsoft was set to talk peace with the government on Tuesday, but with pessimism ruling the day its lawyers instead continued their efforts to beat back antitrust charges. The company said Monday that it had filed papers in Federal District Court in Washington, DC, seeking additional email and other materials from America Online and Sun Microsystems. Microsoft also revealed that it had received permission from the judge in the case to depose AOL's chief executive Steve Case, as well as other executives at Sun and AOL's Netscape division.
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Also:
Samsung claims tiniest Net cell phone
Big chill hits China-US tech trade
Europe readies Mars Express
AT&T-BT clears regulatory hurdle
Nordic telecom power born
Microsoft (MSFT) argues that AOL's acquisition of Netscape makes the government's antitrust case against it irrelevant.
Microsoft said it has received only a small portion of the email that it needs to help prove its case, and asked the judge to order AOL (AOL) to turn over more. A spokesman for AOL said the company was reviewing Microsoft's filing.
- Back to top Samsung claims tiniest Net cell phone: How small? Weighing 158 grams (5.5 oz.), the device has a 30 by 70mm (1.1 by 2.7 inch) touch-screen panel.
The Internet phone was developed to stimulate cell-phone sales in Korea, where the saturated market has been slumping. The electronics company expects some 18.5 million Koreans, more than a third of the population, to own cellular phones by the end of this year. Its target market is people in their 20s and 30s.
Samsung officials said the price has not been fixed yet but expect it will cost 100,000 to 150,000 won (US$82-$123), more than the company's current cellular phones.
In addition to being able to access the Internet without having to first be connected with a notebook PC, the phones can store 2,000 addresses, a one-year calendar, and as many as 100 memos at a time.
5. Back to topBig chill in Beijing: Allegations that China stole US nuclear technology have cast a cloud over American technology trade in China, Commerce Secretary William Daley said on Tuesday.
"Because of the possible illicit transfer of technology, many Washington veterans have told me this is the worst climate for high-tech trade with China in 20 years," Daley told US business leaders in Beijing.
Exports have been hurt by allegations that China stole secrets from the US research labs, and Washington is bracing for the House panel's report on the transfer of arms technology to China over the past two decades.
The report "will no doubt be used by some as an excuse for tightening controls," Daley said. "Some export licenses may be more difficult to obtain – especially if an organization had even minor involvement with the military."
5\. [Back to top](#top)__Europe readies the Mars Express:__ Matra Marconi Space, a joint English-French venture, said on Tuesday it will design and develop Europe's first satellite to explore Mars.
The company said it has signed a contract worth 60 million Euros (US$64.4 million) with the European Space Agency to supply the Mars Express satellite. Matra Marconi is 51 percent owned by France's Lagardere group and 49 percent by Britain's GEC.
The spacecraft, to be launched in 2003, will [search for water](https://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/17104.html) beneath Mars' surface as it orbits in an elliptical, quasi-polar path. Earlier this year, US space agency NASA sent the Mars Polar Lander into space. It's due to touch down on the edge of the Martian south pole, a cap of frozen carbon dioxide, on 3 December, also seeking to detect traces of water.
4\. [Back to top](#top)__AT&T-BT one step closer:__ The European Commission on Tuesday approved the $10 billion global joint venture between phone giants British Telecommunications and AT&T.
The venture, announced last July, now only needs US backing to move ahead with its launch. Dave Dorman, who headed the push-technology company PointCast, will lead the company, which will provide a range of advanced telecom services to multinational companies and other telecom operators.
European regulatory clearance of the deal came after AT&T ([T](https://www.wired.com/stocks_quotes.asp?symbol=t)) agreed to sell ACC UK, its British long-distance calls subsidiary, and said it would provide for "greater structural separation" with Telewest, the UK's second-largest cable operator. With its pending acquisition of Tele-Communications Inc., AT&T will have a 22 percent stake in Telewest.
4\. [Back to top](#top)__Nordic phone power:__ Sweden's state-run telecommunications company, Telia, acquired its Norwegian cousin Tuesday, creating a powerful industry player with a market value estimated at almost $40 billion.
"Our ambition is to be a leading player in Europe and globally with areas where the company will have unique competence," Telia said in a statement.
Telia and Norway's Telenor will base the merged group in Stockholm. Telia said the Swedish government would initially have a 60 percent stake in the new company, while Telenor would hold a 40 percent stake. Each government eventually plans to reduce its stake to one-third, the statement said.
The new group's business strategy will focus on taking advantage of the company's leading position in mobile communications, as well as in satellite and Internet technology.
*Reuters contributed to this report.*
